Cheyenne Harry is a wealth ranch owner. After his cowboys put an ad in the newspaper trying to find him a wife, Harry marries Aileen Judson-Brown. A year into their marriage, Aileen gives birth to their first child. The new family live with Aileen’s status seeking mother, Mrs. Judson-Brown. Mrs. Judson-Brown tries everything in her power to break up the marriage so her daughter can marry the wealthier Ferdie Van Duzen. Mrs. Judson-Brown steals Harry and Aileen’s baby and tells Harry that Aileen no longer loves him and their baby has died. Heart broken, Harry moves out west.

Harry receives news from Mrs. Judson-Brown’s butler that his baby is still alive. Harry finds his child and Aileen confesses her true love. The film ends with the reunited family heading West together, leaving Harry’s hateful mother-in-law behind.

As described in a film magazine, Cheyenne Harry (Carey) has a sheriff and posse on his trail because of his knowledge of a cattle rustling incident and makes a dash for safety across the Canada–US border. When the posse stops at the border, he calmly waves his gun and rolls a cigarette. The sheriff, however, has contacted the Canadian Mounted Police, and they are soon watching Harry. He finds refuge with a band of Indians, but then clashes over an Indian girl (May) with Black Michael (Harris), leader of a gang of whiskey runners. Harry's real love is with Kate (Gerber), daughter of local trader Angus McDougal (Fenton). However, his rival here is also Black Michael. Michael kills an Indian and abducts Kate, but Harry follows and rescues her. Harry beats Michael in a terrific fight, with Michael confessing to his crimes before dying.

Harper Flute is an adolescent girl living with her family in Australia during the depression. Harper Flute's little brother Tin was born on Thursday and he has far to go.

Harper starts out by saying how she and Tin go out to the creek, and start watching fish. Harper soon catches one out of the creek, and she tries to search for Tin to let him see it. She notices that he's gone and starts crying out to her house. Her dad, whom she calls Da, comes out and starts searching all over for Tin, and they eventually find him in the mud. Harper notices that he dug his way out, but she won't tell anyone about this special event. Back at the house, Audrey, her older sister, scolds Harper for letting him get away like that. Mrs. Murphy, the neighbor, starts worrying about Tin and starts talking about the new baby.

Later on in the book, her mother, whom she calls Mam, is pregnant and gives birth to a new baby boy named Caffy. Tin is considered Da's "little pet", and Harper notes how she, her older brother, Devon, and Audrey aren't pets, but they aren't nothing. She remarks how Caffy is nothing to Da though.

Harper notices how Tin loves to dig and he spends most of his time under the house. She sees how he's digging tunnels, and spends most of his year there. Mam is worried and distressed about Tin because her neighbors are asking why he doesn't come out, and how he needs to, and Da supports Tin because it reminds him of the war and how they dug tunnels. People at school come to see Tin's tunnels.

Mr. Cable, a "friend", comes over and notes how they need a farm. Da fights back, but Mr. Cable asks Devon if he can work for him for a week's wages. Devon agrees, and decides to travel the next day so he can get there sooner. Harper notes how much she misses Devon, and guesses that Caffy misses Tin, but Mam and Da argue that Caffy doesn't know Tin and he can't miss what he never had. Devon comes home a week later, and starts crying. He notes how Mr. Cable sent him home without a penny and an hour's instruction to build the fences. His dream to own a pony named Champion was ruined and he ignores everyone for a whole week. Da tries to talk to Mr. Cable, but he notes how Devon made two of his sows run away with his "lousy" fences. Da apologizes and goes back, saying "Mr. Cable has no heart, you can't talk him out of it."

Soon, Da's father dies and in his will, Grandpa gives the money to Devon. Devon wants to buy a pony and he rubs it in Audrey's face. Audrey gets very upset and asks him not to. Devon decides to buy what they need, not what he wants. He is willing to sacrifice his dream pony, but Da suggests not, and decides to buy the pony. Devon is not very optimistic about this, so when they come home, Mam starts arguing how Harper never got new clothes in her life. Devon screams out, "I told you so!" and Mam slams the door and starts crying. Da says she'll get over it. One day, a seventeen-year-old boy named Izzy moves to their town, and Audrey begins to have a crush on him. Audrey tells Harper she's going to marry Izzy one day, but Harper wonders what it feels like to get married.

One day going to school, their house collapses. Da had wanted to start a farm, just like Mr. Cable wanted them to. Harper runs back, and tries to find Tin, while Audrey and Devon try to find their parents. Da screams out in rage how this is all Tin's fault. Mam argues that it's not his fault, they'll just rebuilt it. Da is so upset that he's biting his fingernails and digging them into his skin. Harper is so upset to see Da like this, so she tries to stop him from doing that, but he slaps her. Mam gets very upset and cries out, "Don't you dare slap this child! Get to your feet, you disgust me. How dare you take your misery out on a poor infant." Harper doesn't care, she wants her Da to stop digging in his skin. Mam tells Da to build the house while she finds a place to stay for the while.

Mr. Cable comes back, complaining about how Tin keeps eating all the honey of his beehive. He complains and Da apologizes, and sees Tin wounded. Mam goes and gets clean rags to clean the wounds off. After that, Tin leaves the rags on the dirt and runs away. Mam sighs and wants Tin to talk to her, to be part of her family. When Mam finds the rags outside, she folds them neatly and puts them in a box. She keeps Tin's things in there. She put a lock of hair inside and what she can find from Tin.

One day, Caffy falls into a well, and they try to save him, but he sadly dies. Audrey is sent to work for labor and Harper is very upset with the death. Da soon rebuilds the house, but Harper feels that Tin is growing farther away from the family. He keeps on digging and digging, and won't talk to anyone, not even Mam. Harper is worried, but she doesn't talk about it.

What's even worse is that their chickens and cows were stolen by some salesmen. Mr. Cable had offered Audrey to work for him as a housekeeper. She said no, then the next morning their chickens and cows were stolen. Audrey asks Harper if she's sick of eating rabbit, and Harper says yes, but she doesn't mind. Audrey doesn't want to see her family suffer so she decides to tell yes to Mr. Cable to be his housekeeper. Harper follows Audrey when she leaves, and Audrey goes to Izzy. She tells Izzy that she has decided to work for Mr. Cable, but Izzy tells her that people have been saying that Mr. Cable paid the salesmen to take the animals away so that Audrey would say yes. Audrey doesn't believe him at first, but then she does, and she decides to tell Mam and everyone that she is leaving. That is the last that Harper sees Audrey this month.

Audrey comes home one day from Mr. Cable's, and bursts out crying. She tells her mother, that she had been raped by Mr.Cable and had run back home. Da, who is so upset, takes his rifle and charges to Mr. Cable's house. Mam begs Harper to chase after him and bring him back. Harper tries, but Da argues that she should go home and walks away, looking for Mr. Cable. Harper suddenly falls into one of Tin's tunnels, and she starts thinking of Caffy while crawling. Suddenly, she starts saying "sorry" and Tin helps her out. Harper thanks him, and finds her Da. They go on home.

The next few months, Mr. Murphy tells Da that people said that Mr. Cable ran away after hearing that Da was going to defend Audrey, and that he was the most admired man in the town now. It is also strongly hinted that Mr Cable was killed by Tin. The family then parade around the small town to soak in the fame. A few days later, the Flute family is given a chunk of gold that Tin finds in one of his tunnels. They dance around, happy, and thinking that Tin was digging to find something to help his poor family all along. However, Harper still thinks that Tin dug because he loved to do so.

Harper and Audrey move to a new house near the beach, and Mam and Da moved to find more gold. Harper proclaims that Da got bit by the mining bug. She says she misses Devon, who moved to the front, and Izzy, Audrey's sweetheart, who went to war. She misses Caffy, she misses her past, and she misses her Mam and Da. She says she misses Tin.

"It was Tin, who was mythical, and he looked just that way. He looked nothing like the boy he was supposed to be, ten going on eleven. He seemed to hover above the earth somehow, the curious glow of his flesh illuminating him. I would not have been surprised if wings had opened up behind him…… he looked into the room at us. He looked first at Mam, then Da, then at Audrey, then me. When his eyes settled on mine I felt something inside me shake free, and go to him. I didn’t give it—he wanted it, and it went to him. Then he smiled, only slightly, but enough so we agreed, afterward, that we had seen it done. With that he turned and vanished…" -Quote from the book, Thursday's Child.

Seven-year-old Anwell lives in a prestigious but coldly distant family with a mother who is always sick and a father who punishes him with physical abuse. Anwell has no friends and is on a very tight leash. He is sitting in the back yard one day when he meets wild boy his age named Finnigan, his alter-ego or second personality. Anwell now named Gabriel is never ready to be angry and never to fight. Finnigan always ready be angry and to fight. If Gabriel (Anwell) wants revenge or anything bad done, he asks Finnigan to do it for him.

Finnigan becomes Anwell's only friend, and Anwell confides in him what he has never told anyone else, of how he accidentally killed his handicapped older brother Vernon. His brother, though he was three years older than Anwell, "was never the elder of us". His parents, disgraced and humiliated by Vernon, refuse to take care of him, leaving Anwell to do the job at the young age of seven. Enjoying his task, Anwell routinely feeds, washes, and entertains his brother. One Sunday, while his father is out to church and his mother is sleeping due to a migraine, Anwell is again taking care of Vernon. When Anwell is trying to feed Vernon, he refuses, would not stop crying, and scratches Anwell on his cheek, drawing blood. Out of frustration, and anxiety their mother will wake up and be irate, Anwell puts fabric in Vernon's mouth to quiet him and throws his brother in a refrigerator.

Finnigan becomes the town arsonist, lighting the town aflame piece by piece in an act of revenge for Gabriel, but Finnigan is soon out of control and the only way for Gabriel to stop Finnigan is for Gabriel to kill himself at the young, "martyr's age" of twenty by condemning himself to a mentally caused illness.

In ''Teneke'', Kemal depicts the tragic conditions, under which the landowners (aghas) in the region Çukurova in southern Anatolia of Turkey live and the way in which the rice planters exploit them. A young and idealistic district governor ( ), who is newly appointed there, tries to back the landowners struggling against oppression and injustice by a rice planter.

The film takes place in a lawless town in southwestern Kansas during the era of outlaws and cowboys. After the marshal is killed while breaking up a saloon fight, his son, Cheyenne Harry avenges his father’s death by killing two of the men involved. His mother pleads with him to never carry a gun again and Cheyenne Harry agrees.

Harry is wooing the beautiful Conchita. Conchita is also being wooed by the devious Boone Travis. In order to eliminate his rival, Travis murders a man and frames Harry. Harry is sentenced to die, but is allowed one last visit to see his mother. During this trip he is told that his brother Bud was attacked and branded by cattle thieves. Harry escapes custody and punishes the men who attacked his brother. He is also cleared of the charge of murder.

Harry's bride is murdered at their wedding along with Harry's mother and father, and the good-hearted outlaw turns grimly malevolent. He leaves town, only to return one year later. One by one he stalks his wife's killers, dispatching them all until he finally sets his sights, mistakenly, on Sheriff Gale Thurman. The lawman bests Harry and keeps him hiding outside town in the wilderness. Straying into the same wilderness, the Sheriff's girlfriend is first overtaken by highwaymen, then rescued by Harry, only to be taken captive by Harry when he realizes who she is. At first threatening to harm the girl, Harry slowly falls in love with her, all while hostile Apaches attempt to kill them both. By the time the Sheriff tracks them down, a full-scale assault is under way, and the two men join forces. Harry realizes the Sheriff's innocence, but it is too late: the lawman is dead from his battle wounds, but he has saved his girlfriend - and Harry.

As described in a film magazine, Square Shootin' Harry Lanyon (Carey), proprietor of a gambling hall in Arizona, is in love with his ward Ruth Watson (Hope). However, he believes that she is in love with his pal Billy Lanyon (Landis), and intends to let the youth have the girl. While in this uncertain mind about his own love affair, Harry begins to read Bret Harte's story "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" and begins to liken himself to John Oakhurst in the story. Oakhurst (Carey) befriends a girl named Sophy (Hope) on a riverboat. The girl is being deserted by a gambler named Ned Stratton (Harris), who had promised to marry her, and Oakhurst saves her from self-destruction. Oakhurst brings Sophy to the questionable neighborhood of Poker Flat, and encourages her to marry some youth who loves her, although Oakhurst also cares for her. Stratton reappears and Oakhurst makes it his business to rid the camp of him. Later, the Vigilantes swoop down upon Poker Flat and, in a reform movement, send Oakhurst, Mother Shipton, the Duchess, and others into the hills. Sophy and her young husband follow. They are all caught in a violent storm from which only the latter two emerge alive. Harry Lanyon is impressed with the Bret Harte story, and vows that he will not repeat the mistake of Oakhurst and in sacrificing his love for another. Harry then discovers that Ruth loves him and not Billy after all.

Tambrey "Tammy" Tyree (Debbie Reynolds) is a seventeen-year-old girl living in a houseboat on the Mississippi River at Natchez, Mississippi (within sight of Louisiana) with her Grandpa, John Dinwitty (Walter Brennan). She runs around barefoot, dreaming of life outside of the swamp, and talking to her best friend, Nan, a goat.

One day a small airplane crashes in the swamp. Tammy and her grandfather go to see what they can salvage from the wreck and find the unconscious pilot, Peter Brent (Leslie Nielsen). Tammy and her grandfather help Peter recover at their home, during which time Tammy falls in love with Peter. However, he must return to his own home, but he tells the grandfather that, if anything happened to the grandfather, Tammy would be welcome to come and stay with Peter at his spacious house at Natchez.

Several weeks later, Tammy's grandfather is arrested for making moonshine. With no one else to stay with, Tammy sets off for Brentwood Hall, Peter's home. She arrives during a dance rehearsal and sees Peter with his friends. When Peter's friend Ernie discovers Tammy outside of the party, Tammy tries to explain her grandfather's imprisonment; however, Peter misunderstands and tells Mrs. Brent (Fay Wray) that Tammy's grandfather has died, leading the Brents to take her in. Tammy learns that Peter is busy with "Brentwood #6", an experimental tomato he is growing in hopes of making Brentwood Hall self-sustaining once again. After Tammy finally tells everyone that her grandfather isn't actually dead, Mrs. Brent is upset over Tammy announcing to everyone that she has a relative in jail. However, Peter and his Aunt Renie convince Tammy to stay, leading her to sing of her love for Peter ("Tammy").

Barbara Bissle, Peter's fiancee, drops by Brentwood Hall. Her uncle wants Peter to stop experimenting with tomatoes and offers him a deal to come to work with him in the advertising business. Peter turns down the offer. That week is also Natchez Pilgrimage Week, which includes a ball and tours of Brentwood Hall, all while in costume. Renie gives Tammy the dress Peter's great-grandmother wore. Mrs. Brent and Renie suggest that Tammy pretend to be Great-Grandmother Cratchett for the evening. At the Ball that night, Tammy tells a story for the guests and enchants everyone, even Mrs. Brent.

That night, a hail storm hits Brentwood Hall and destroys all of the Brentwood #6 plants. The next morning, Peter announces that he is going to accept the advertising offer, leading Tammy to run away back to the bayou. As Peter realizes he loves Tammy, he calls off his engagement with Barbara, then finds Tammy's grandfather and secures his release. The two men then return to the houseboat, where Peter reconciles with Tammy and they kiss.

As described in a film magazine, Cheyenne Harry Henderson (Carey) owns a cattle ranch on the border of two counties, with Yucca County controlled by outlaws and Pinkerton County law abiding. After the Yucca sheriff (Harris) refuses to help stop the cattle rustling, he goes to Pinkerton Sheriff Faulkner (Lee), who is unable to help him because he lives in Yucca County. Harry meets and becomes romantically involved with Sheriff Faulkner's daughter Madeline (Pearce), who is also loved by the Yucca sheriff. Because she hates guns, Harry gives up using them. While Yucca County may be lawless, no man may be shot unless he is armed, so the Yucca sheriff devises a scheme place an unloaded gun in Harry's hands and then have him killed. Harry sees through the ruse and uses the sheriff's gun to kill two men before they can shoot him. Harry then moves his house over the county border onto Pinkerton County, and with the aid of Sheriff Faulkner two rustlers are captured. Before the rustlers can be hanged, the Yucca sheriff frees them and also kidnaps Madeline. Harry then gets his guns and goes to rescue her.

As described in a film magazine, ranch owner Cheyenne Harry (Carey) is the victim of a plot engineered by land speculator John Merritt (Sherry), who uses a doctored title to deprive Harry of his land holdings. Powerless in the face of his opponent's superior knowledge of the law, Harry is forced to retaliate by appropriating Merritt's payroll. Later he abducts Merritt's daughter Helen (O'Connor) and holds her pending settlement of their dispute. A settlement is effected in due time, but not before Harry has won the heart of the young woman.

When Michael Scott (Steve Carell) learns that the Scranton branch's participation in a Dunder Mifflin television commercial is limited to five seconds of the staff waving at the camera, he dismisses the advertising consultants sent to the branch, and convinces the company's corporate headquarters to consider an alternative version that he will produce himself.

Michael asks Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) to design an animated logo, and she works all night on it.[http://www.cinemablend.com/television/TV-Recap-The-Office-Local-Ad-6973.html "TV Recap: The Office – Local Ad"]. CinemaBlend. October 25, 2007[http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20424648,00.html "The Office: Add TV Producer to Michael’s Résumé"]. ''People'' magazine. October 26, 2007. Phyllis Vance's (Phyllis Smith) mission to enlist visiting author Sue Grafton to appear in the ad is unsuccessful. Headed by Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson), a group of employees write and perform a jingle for the commercial, which Michael ultimately rejects. Andy Bernard (Ed Helms), meanwhile, struggles throughout the day to recall the product name from an advertising jingle that contains the lyrics "Gimme a break. Gimme a break. Break me off a piece of that..."

Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) has largely removed himself to the online virtual world of ''Second Life''. Dwight has created an avatar named Dwight Shelford, also a paper salesman, patterned after his once-perfect real life. He now uses ''Second Life'' as an escape from his real-life troubles, even going as far as creating a virtual ''Second Life'', called ''Second Second Life''. Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) also creates his own avatar named Jim Samtanko, a guitar-playing Philadelphia sportswriter, and enters ''Second Life'' in order to spy on Dwight.

Dwight has also reluctantly become Andy's confidante regarding his relationship with Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey), Dwight's former girlfriend. Dwight's spirits are lifted when he learns that, during a makeout session with Andy, Angela cried, "Oh, D!". Though, Andy is oblivious to the fact that Angela was referring to Dwight.

After the corporate headquarters rejects Michael's ad, the office employees gather at Poor Richard's Pub to watch the professionally filmed commercial, which Michael refers to as "the world premiere of corporate crapfest." After the commercial, Jim plays Michael's version of the ad on the bar's television set. Over the theme from ''Chariots of Fire'', as Michael narrates "trite catchphrases", a sheet of paper is depicted making a journey around the world, carrying a variety of messages meaningful to the recipients; as Pam's animated whirling sheets of paper coalesce into the company logo to end the ad, the employees as well as the other patrons of the bar show their approval.

The episode ends with Andy doing an interview, still trying to recall the product name from the jingle. On the basis that it has to rhyme, he incorrectly concludes that it promotes Fancy Feast cat food.

There is a villain (Charles Brinley), who's after Jim Golden's (Harry Carey) gold, and a nice post mistress (Carol Holloway), who is willing to become both wife and mother. Universal surrounded their veteran western star, Harry Carey, with a fine supporting cast in this film, including former serial queen Carol Holloway as the post mistress, rotund comedy actor George Bunny, and one Minnie Prevost, a Native American supporting player who was billed as "Minnie Ha Ha" and had made an indelible impression with Mabel Normand in the 1918 film ''Mickey''.

Married to Indihar, though from his perspective in name only, Marîd Audran gets invited to a reception at the palace of the amir of the city. Shaykh Mahali, the amir, thus wishes to end the rivalry between Friedlander Bey and Reda Abu Adil, two of the most powerful men in the city. Both Audran and Bey, or "Papa" as he's known in the Budayeen, become suspicious when their sworn enemy Abu Adil designates Audran as an officer of the "Jaish", an unofficial militia working for Abu Adil.

However, it is not until after the party that Abu Adil's scheme unfolds: Audran and Bey are put under arrest by Lieutenant Hajjar and charged with the murder of a police officer named Khalid Maxwell. They're sentenced on-the-spot into exile, never to return to the city under pain of death. Left to die amongst the burning sands of a vast desert, their luck finally turns as they are rescued by a Bedouin tribe of Bani Salim, allowing them to start planning the vengeance they'd exact upon Abu Adil and prove their innocence— if they ever make it back to the city alive.

While vacationing on the Greek Isle of Love, a repressed 30-year-old Stefania reluctantly plays chaperon to her precocious and sometimes annoying 14-year-old niece, Meggy, who plans to lose her virginity before the summer is over. Unbeknownst to Stefania, Meggy's chosen man is in fact Stefania's ex-boyfriend. Amidst a mélange of sun rash, broken diets, nervous girls, sleeping bags, orgasms, '80s music, and a little ginger and cinnamon, the two women discover themselves and their sexuality.

Accio (Elio Germano) and Manrico (Riccardo Scamarcio) are working class brothers who live in Italy in the 1960s. While his brother becomes drawn into left-wing politics, Accio, the hotheaded younger brother, is taken under the wing of a market trader and while under his influence, joins the Fascist party. Accio ("Bully") is a nickname he is proud of because it makes him seem tough. Manrico and their sister Violetta are alarmed to hear their brother listening to Benito Mussolini's speeches in his room. Manrico often physically torments his brother, including stuffing his head in the barrel under the drain pipe of their house.

Accio once runs away from home because his mother voted for the Houses Party. Their house is falling apart and she thinks the Houses Party will help them rebuild it.

As Accio and Manrico get older they start demonstrating as members of the Fascist party and the Communist movement respectively. (There are scenes of a factory occupation, and the occupation of the Rome conservatoire, where the sister is studying the cello.) The film is relatively even handed in its treatment of politics. If the young fascists seem absurd with their chanting of 'Duce! Duce!', and their actions constantly tending to violence, the communists are hardly less so: Schiller's words in the final movement of Beethoven's choral symphony are replaced by a hymn in praise of Mao Zedong, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin; a meeting of activists consists of a room full of bearded men all shouting at once and only agreeing when the time comes to shout a slogan.

Francesca, Manrico's girlfriend, becomes Accio's friend. Accio secretly likes her and thinks that she should not stay with Manrico because "he can't be depended on". The viewer is in little doubt that Accio is also attracted to Francesca himself. At the same time, he has himself become sexually involved with the wife of his fascist friend, the market trader, who has been imprisoned for his violent political activities. She buys him a car through an installment plan.

Eventually Accio ends up leaving the Fascist party and tearing up his membership card when party members burn his brother's car. He also breaks up with his older lover, telling her that he cares for someone else, but not replying when asked if he is loved in return.

But while Accio largely pulls out of political activism, his brother is drawn deeper into revolutionary violence. After disappearing for two years, he calls home. Accio travels to meet him and telephones Francesca, who twice quickly hangs up on him. When they meet in a cafe, Manrico sees Francesca arriving unexpectedly, but also the police who have perhaps been tailing her or tapping her telephone. He flees but dies in an exchange of (handgun) fire with the pursuing police.

Accio then breaks into the corrupt and inefficient housing office to seize the waiting keys and the records of the homeless. He distributes keys and a party of homeless families take possession in the middle of the same night. The film ends with Accio living with his family, including his brother's small son.

The series follows Tori Vega, a teenage girl who is accepted into Hollywood Arts, a performing arts high school for talented teens. The show follows Tori and her friends as she finds her place within Hollywood Arts, completing school projects that usually involve musical and theatrical performances, and overcoming unusual and absurd challenges. Other students at Hollywood Arts (and the students who make up Tori's group of friends) include the musical prodigy Andre Harris, the socially awkward Robbie Shapiro and his ventriloquist dummy Rex, the sweet but dim-witted red-head Cat Valentine, the sarcastic and mean Jade West (who serves as Tori's frenemy), Jade's handsome down-to-earth boyfriend Beck Oliver, and Tori's untalented and self-absorbed older sister Trina. Other characters include Erwin Sikowitz, the performing-arts teacher for Hollywood Arts; Lane Alexander, the school's guidance counselor; and Sinjin Van Cleef, an odd and often unsettling classmate that handles audiovisual.

As described in a film magazine, Overland Red (Carey), a "knight of the road," and his young pal Collie (Goodwin) find a prospector dead in the desert. On his body they discover papers giving the location of a gold mine. The sheriff of a western town and his accomplices are seeking the mine. Overland and Collie are arrested but the papers are not found on them. The sheriff plans on charging Overland with murder, hoping that he will then disclose the location of the mine. The two knights of the road escape, however, and are found on the Alacarme ranch by Louise (Vale), whom they had seen from the observation car of a train. Collie is in love with Louise and at her suggestion remains at the ranch. Overland is sought by the sheriff, but her evades him until one day Collie is shot by the sheriff's accomplices. A fight ensues and the sheriff is killed. Collie and Louise are happy in their love, and Overland departs, happy that he brought the two together.

Peaches (Mo'Nique), a hair stylist from Baltimore, and her estranged sister, Angela (Kellita Smith), the owner of an upscale salon in Beverly Hills, get reacquainted when Peaches decides to attend a celebration for Angela in Los Angeles. The reunion is bittersweet and worsens when Angela finds out that Peaches is on the run from the IRS and only has 60 days to pay $50,000 in back taxes. After some hilarious moments and passionate exchanges, the two sisters join forces to fight off a pesky rival salon owner Marcella (Gina Torres) and save Peaches from her troubles by competing for a lucrative cash prize and bragging rights at the city's annual hair show.

A parked motorist is strangled by escaped mental patient Jay Jones, a PCP addict who was institutionalized after bludgeoning his parents. Jay carjacks his victim, and runs down an old woman while driving through Los Angeles.

On the outskirts of the city, nine people have gathered to celebrate Thanksgiving at the ranch of Harold Bradley. Among the revelers are Harold's tenant Scott, and his girlfriend Jennifer. As there is no wine in the house, Harold's girlfriend Linda and her friend Gail borrow Scott's car to go and get some, while Jay cuts off the house's power. Harold turns on the emergency generator, leaves to get more gasoline for it, and happens upon Jay's abandoned station wagon. As Harold tries to take the battery out of the car, Jay body splashes on the hood down on him, crushing his skull.

Jay severs the telephone line, and when Wayne goes out to look for Harold, he is garroted by Jay, who was hiding in the backseat of his car. Linda and Gail, who had become lost, run out of gas, and as they try to find their way back to the ranch, they run into Jay. Jay slams Gail's head into a rock, and stabs Linda to death with a broken bottle. Afterward, Jay returns to the house, where the remaining guests and members of the Bradley family have sat down to a turkey dinner.

When Wayne's girlfriend Maria goes to the washroom, Jay stabs her, and proceeds to chase Harold's son "Mistake" (a Kiss Army soldier) around the property, eventually catching and fatally shocking him with his own electric guitar and portable amplifier. Scott discovers Maria's body while collecting firewood, runs back to the ranch, and secures the building with Jennifer, and Harold's young daughter, Angel. Jay manages to break inside, and as he tries strangling Scott, Jennifer wounds him with a knife.

Jay recovers, slits Scott's throat, and pursues Jennifer, who faints while hiding in Scott's room. In the morning, Jennifer awakens, and is assaulted by Jay when she ventures outside. A pair of police officers, alerted to the situation by Angel, pull up, and blast Jay with a shotgun. As one officer places Jennifer in his car with Angel, the other checks on Jay, who opens his eyes, signaling a possible yet uncertain continuity to his reign of terror.

While attending a party thrown by one of their English professors, six college students use a Ouija board to contact a spirit that identifies itself only as 'Butler'. Butler promises the six a treasure if they will go to a remote mountain location called Calamity Peak. The professor, who knows from experience that messing around with the supernatural can be dangerous, attempts to dissuade them, but the kids steal the board and set off for the mountain anyway. Once they arrive they are menaced by a machete-wielding killer, and soon begin to wonder if Butler might be trying to harm them. After discovering that the Ouija board is missing, the professor, along with her lover, sets out to rescue her. Soon, it was revealed that Butler is actually the mother of one of the students, Angela.

The book contains frankly supernatural elements alongside the more realistic horrors common to Laymon's work (including homicidal maniacs, rape, and childhood sexual abuse).

Category:1991 American novels Category:Novels by Richard Laymon

Vera Warrington and Tom Welsford enter the narrative while floating and flirting on the Saint Lawrence River. Years later, Vera is engaged to the wealthy William Lawson and has not heard from Tom. Shortly before the explosion, Tom returns to Halifax, Nova Scotia, for orthopaedic surgery for a war wound. Tom is still in hospital when the disaster occurs. As a volunteer with the Voluntary Aid Division, Vera darts to the hospital only in time to witness Will's death and her liberation from the marriage which was to occur later that day. Now free, Vera finds Tom in a hospital bed and accepts his proposal: the last line of the book belongs to Vera, agreeing to marriage.

Todd and Terry are identical twin brothers. One night at a drive-in theater in 1974, young Terry sees his mother Maddy and her date begin kissing inside the car. Upset that his mother is "back at it again", he wakes his brother and they sneak out of the car. Apparently triggered by his mother's promiscuity, Terry takes a hatchet and murders a teenager having sex with his girlfriend in the backseat of their car, then frames Todd by smearing blood onto him and placing the hatchet into his hand. Todd, too traumatized to speak in his own defense, is found guilty and committed to an asylum.

Ten years later, in 1984, a now-adult Terry lives happily with his mother in a sprawling but secluded apartment complex named Shadow Woods. On Thanksgiving Day, Terry's long dormant murderous rage is revived when his mother gets engaged to her fiancé Brad, who owns the complex. Terry also learns that twin brother Todd, whom he framed for murder a decade earlier, has escaped from his mental hospital and may be heading home. Terry murders Brad by chopping his right hand off with a machete before splitting his head. He plans on again framing twin brother Todd.

Dr. Berman and her assistant Jackie arrive at Shadow Woods in search of Todd. Terry greets Jackie before murdering him with his machete, and soon after cuts Dr. Berman in half with the machete in the woods. He discards his bloody T-shirt and changes into a vest. He then visits his neighbor Andrea, who is babysitting. Andrea attempts to seduce Terry but he seems uninterested, before her mother Julie and her date Bill arrive home. Meanwhile, Terry's friend Karen bumps into Todd, who has arrived at Shadow Woods, and she believes he is Terry. When Todd reveals his true identity, she flees to tell her friends. She also tells Terry, who immediately disappears into the night in search of his twin brother, while Karen and her friends Gregg and Artie to go to Andrea's house to party.

Upon learning that son Todd has returned to Shadow Woods, Maddy begins to panic and drink heavily. Todd comes across Dr. Berman's body and becomes emotional. He takes Dr. Berman's gun and goes off in search of his mass murdering twin brother. Back at Andrea's, Bill has been decapitated by Terry, who then stabs Julie to death. Terry spies on Gregg and Andrea playing tennis, before he murders both of them by the swimming pool. Artie finds the bodies of Gregg and Andrea, before being held at gunpoint by Todd, who tries to convince him that it is not him but actually his brother Terry who is murdering everyone. Todd flees when Terry sees him, leaving Artie with Terry. As Artie and Terry search for Todd, Artie is suddenly stabbed in the neck with a carving fork.

Karen soon discovers the truth about Terry and Todd, and Terry chases her around Shadow Woods to kill her. Karen flees to Julie's house and discovers her dead body, and takes the baby with her. After a very drunk Maddy contacts the police, she finds Terry's bloodied T-shirt in the garbage bin before making the horrifying discovery of Brad's body with his head split open. At the swimming pool, Terry has found Karen with the baby. Todd arrives and fights his brother inside the pool. As Todd is pulled out of the pool by Karen, Maddy appears and shoots Terry, killing him. She thinks she has killed Todd, not Terry. Upon realizing that she has killed Terry and not Todd, she becomes distraught, while Karen flees with the baby.

As the film concludes, a hysterical Maddy commits suicide by shooting herself in the head while Todd watches. Police sirens are heard in the distance, while Todd's fate is left unknown.

The series revolves around the Hibara sisters' encounters with Japanese demons and spirits. The older sister, Shizuru, has the ability to see these apparitions, while the younger sister, Mizuki, has a tendency to become possessed by them. They live in the countryside because their parents were unable to deal with their supernatural abilities; their grandfather is an expert in such affairs. Through their encounters with the supernatural, Mizuki and Shizuru learn about both themselves and the world at large.

The manga features a series of short stories about eight girls in middle school and high school, plus their classmates and relatives. Each chapter focuses on a different main character. These stories are intertwined and eventually lead to a main story involving most of the cast. A series relating the intertwined stories about the "first loves" of several middle-schoolers and high-schoolers. Each episode tends to focus on a different character, however the developments established during previous episodes continue to play smaller roles in those following. As the series progresses, an array of unusual and unexpected love webs begin to blossom.

This episode opens during a pitch meeting. Jerry pitches in a game he's creating called "Space Assassins". Jerry predicts that Larrity will reject the game, but surprisingly, Larrity is actually interested in it and urges Jerry to go on with creating the game. Just then, a brick message smashes through the window, inside the meeting room, and hits Dean before landing on the table. Larrity reads the message, realizing that Bellecovision has challenged Gameavision to a "wrassling" match and fight for respect. Mary is clueless about this scenario, but Larrity briefly explains it to her. Larrity then orders everyone to the break room to see who is worthy to wrestle. (To be continued) :Category:Code Monkeys
20px '''Declined'''. We cannot accept unsourced suggestions or sources that are not reliable per the verifiability policy. Please provide '''reputable, third-party''' sources with your suggestions. Third party sources are needed both to establish the verifiability of the submission as well as its notability. '''''Hersfold''''' ^(t/a/c) 20:17, 2 October 2007 (UTC) |- | style="text-align:center;" | ''This is an archived discussion. '''Please do not modify it.''''' | }

The novel is based around the Hensman brothers, Robin, John and Harold, who spend eight months living as outlaws in the forest of Brendon Chase. As in much British children's literature of the era, their parents are absent, living in India, at the time part of the British Empire. They are cared for by their Aunt Ellen, a strict and somewhat cold spinster. At the end of the Easter holidays, Harold falls ill with the measles, so Robin and John are unable to return to boarding school. They decide to run away and fend for themselves, taking some food from their aunt's house, and also taking a rifle and ammunition so they can survive in the wild.

Despite continued attempts to catch them, usually by Police Sergeant Bunting and the Reverend Whiting, the three brothers - Robin and John are joined by Harold when he recovers from his illness - prove sufficiently quick-witted and ingenious to evade capture for eight months, surviving on what they can kill and on supplies occasionally taken from other sources. In the book Robin is known as "Robin Hood", John as "Big John" and Harold as "Little John".

In the later part of their time living in the wild, the boys - who by this time have long been wearing rabbit skins, their clothes having worn out - encounter an eccentric elderly charcoal burner called Smokoe Joe, who becomes a close friend. When Smokoe Joe is seriously injured, one of the boys saves his life by running for the doctor, thereby risking capture. After a Christmas spent with Smokoe Joe in his hut, the boys are 'run to ground' when the doctor, who has kept their secret until that moment, arrives with their father who has returned, and the story ends there in the forest. The bear that had escaped in the forest near the end of their adventure settles down to hibernate for the winter in the hollow oak tree where they had lived.

Lauren (Sacha Horler) doesn't want to have a baby. She just wants to change the world into something different... the computer world. But to make changes, you sometimes have to break the code in order to make a computer that everyone can use.

A young pilot witnesses the unintentional murder of her two sons (by a rich, drunken couple driving carelessly) and, following a court's decision not to press criminal charges, she decides to get her revenge.

A young girl named Rahzel is abruptly sent off to see the world by her eccentric, doting father. She is alone on her travels until she meets Alzeid, an attractive, mysterious loner on a mission to avenge his father's murder. After aiding Alzeid in retrieving his stolen gun from a thief, Rahzel decides to follow Alzeid promising that she would make his "lousy and boring" life "more interesting and fun!" Alzeid grudgingly acknowledges that Rahzel will be traveling with him from now on. Soon after, a womanizing acquaintance of Alzeid's named Baroqueheat joins in their adventure.

In 1987, James Brennan plans to have a summer vacation in Europe after graduating from Oberlin College. His parents inform him that their current finances will not permit them to support him and he will have to spend the summer working instead. James gets a job working the carnival games at Adventureland, a local amusement park in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his childhood friend Tommy Frigo works. Another games worker, Emily "Em" Lewin, saves James from being stabbed by a cheating customer and offers him a ride home that night.

With her father and stepmother out of town, Em throws a party. At the party, Em and James discover they share a similar taste in music. Em persuades James to join her in her swimming pool, but an unfortunately timed erection humiliates him in front of everyone. After the party, Mike Connell, who is married and has been having an affair with Em, comes over and they have sex. As the love triangle between Mike, Em, and James continues to develop, other romances blossom between their coworkers at Adventureland. James also has a brief romance with rides worker Lisa P.

Another of James' coworkers tells James that one night, he saw Em and Connell doing "pushups without any pants on" in the back of Connell's car. Frigo drives James to Connell's mother's house and they see Em leaving. James tells Lisa about the affair and asks her not to tell anyone, but she tells her friend Kelly and soon afterwards the news spreads throughout the park. Em quits and moves back to New York. James gets drunk, crashes his father's car into their neighbor's tree, and passes out. The next morning, James' prospective grad school roommate decides to go to Harvard Business School instead, leaving him with nowhere to live in New York.

James heads to New York City and waits outside Em's apartment in the rain. When she arrives, she invites him in and they reconcile.

During a party, a wealthy socialite named Sally Wilkerson coaxes her lover Joe Farrell to murder her husband Carl during a duck hunt planned for the next morning. Joe has reservations because he has never killed anyone before and Carl is his friend, but Sally says this is the only way they be together.

During the hunt, Carl tells Joe how much he appreciates his friendship. When Carl turns to shoot at some ducks, Joe slams his rifle butt into Carl's head, knocking him into the lake. Joe repeatedly hits Carl until he is dead. The police arrive. Joe tells them that Carl was knocked into the water by his rifle's recoil, and that he unsuccessfully tried to help him out by extending his rifle to him as a handhold.

When he returns to Sally and Carl's house, two kids enter and call Joe "Daddy." Sally, too, treats him as her husband. At first, Joe is somewhat mystified but delighted in this change to reality. However, after he sees Carl at a party, still alive, Joe begins to realize he is reliving the events leading up to the duck shoot but with his place and Carl's place swapped. He accuses Sally of having an affair with Carl, recounting the details of their own love affair from the original reality, under the assumption that the same things would have happened between her and Carl in this reality. Sally appears shocked and adamantly denies the affair, but he chalks this up to her being a good actress.

Expecting Carl to try to kill him during the duck hunt, Joe attempts to preemptively knock him into the lake, but loses his balance and falls in. Carl extends his rifle as a handhold, but still thinking Carl wants to kill him, Joe doesn't take it and drowns. The altered reality then merges back to the original reality: Carl is again Sally's husband, and Sally and Joe plotted his murder, but it ended with Joe's death instead. Carl tells Sally what happened, and she comforts Carl, concealing her disappointment at his survival.

A doctor named Dennis Barrows drives along a dirt road in wild backcountry. His car breaks down and he gets out to walk. He crosses a fence with a sign that reads "Private Property – Keep Out" in search of help, and arrives at a coastal town. The owner of the general store, William Cooper-James, says this is a small town with no telephone service or automotive garage. A small boy named Teddy comes to the store on behalf of his mother. He offers their spare room to Dr. Barrows for the night. Dr. Barrows offers to help his sick sister, Katie, but their mother declines.

That night, the lighthouse casts its light on Teddy's house. Teddy gets up and tells Dr. Barrows that he is afraid his sister may die, so Barrows opts to help her against the mother's wishes. Dr. Barrows gives her medicine but Teddy is concerned that his mother will be upset if the lighthouse beacon "picks" Katie. He explains that whenever the beacon shines on a house, shortly after someone in that house dies of sickness or an accident. Dr. Barrows tells Teddy to take him to the beacon in order to reason with Seth, the lighthouse keeper.

The townspeople determine that the beacon has picked Katie, but she is recovering from her illness. Katie tells them what Barrows did. Dr. Barrows and Teddy reach the lighthouse, but the door is locked and secured. The townspeople arrive. Cooper-James tells Barrows that Seth is the founder of the town and ancestor of all the residents. When the town stopped being a waypoint for merchant ships, Seth kept the town's economy alive. Seth's spirit controls the lighthouse and protects the town in exchange for their obedience. Years ago, a person chosen to die was spared and the town fell on hard times as a result. Dr. Barrows doesn't believe this, and posits a different explanation: the townspeople are all mad as a result of their inbreeding, the lighthouse beacon is shining haphazardly due to a faulty mechanism, and whenever the beacon shines on a house where no one is sick, Cooper-James murders someone from the household in order to preserve the superstition that the beacon predicts death. Cooper-James maintains that since Katie survived, someone else staying in the house must die, so the people converge on Barrows and kill him.

Gus Rosenthal is a middle aged screenwriter who is dissatisfied with his life. A toy soldier of his breaks and he travels to his old house in Ohio to bury it. While Gus sits under a tree he is transported back to the 1940s, and he finds himself dressed in a suit appropriate to that era.

Gus follows his childhood self and saves him from bullies. They strike up a friendship and he tries to act like a go-between for young Gus and his father. He tells young Gus how he decided he would be successful and famous when he grew up so that he could show up everyone who bullied him, but in the process of besting them he lost sight of what he really enjoyed in life, and he helps young Gus become interested in cartooning instead.

Gus's dad Lou eventually confronts Gus and tells him the relationship he has with his son is inappropriate. Lou tries to explain that he cannot understand young Gus, and Gus tells him he only need to listen to his son and let him know that he loves him. Gus explains to Lou that he and his father did not have a good relationship and his father died early. Gus admits that he wanted to give young Gus a chance. Lou tells him that he is a good man and that he is happy he has been a part of their lives.

Gus tells his younger self that he has to go back to Los Angeles. He tries to explain that he cannot return as he is ill. Young Gus becomes angry and runs away, pronouncing that he will become successful and famous to get back at him. Gus recalls in a predestination paradox that it was his adult self he was trying to show up, not the bullies. Gus is returned to the present. Gus was glad to make peace with his father. Gus hails a cab to go to the airport, and recites the name on the taxi license as one of the old bullies. When the driver asks if he knew him, Gus replies "Not anymore".

On Christmas Eve Henry Corwin, a department store Santa Claus, takes his dinner break at a local bar, complaining to the bartender that many children will not have presents for Christmas, and wishes he had more money left to spend on alcoholic drinks. Without explanation, two dollar bills appear out of Corwin's pocket. He donates them to two homeless children outside.

When Corwin returns to work tipsy, the store owner Mr. Dundee fires him. Dundee is already upset that the custom-made coat for his wife was sold to a customer and rebukes Corwin for disappointing the children who were waiting to see him. Corwin says that the kids whose families struggle with keeping the lights on and putting food on their tables will be the ones disappointed. Depressed, Corwin goes to his apartment. He hears children caroling and says that he wishes that he had something to give them. As he takes out the garbage, toys spill out of the garbage bag.

Mr. Dundee is driving home and finds the road obstructed due to a massive party centered in the lobby of Corwin's tenement building. Corwin is giving each person whatever they want most for Christmas, in some cases without their specifically asking for it, by pulling it out of the garbage bag. Mr. Dundee suspects the items were stolen from his department store. The police interrogate Corwin. Since Corwin cannot explain where the gifts came from, they decide to confiscate all the gifts and take Corwin to the station. Before they can, receipts flow out of the bag, and the police are satisfied everything was acquired honestly.

Dundee confronts Corwin privately afterwards, having come to believe that he produced the items through a miracle. Reaching into the bag, Corwin pulls out the fur coat intended for Mrs. Dundee and a baseball with the signatures of the 1961 Yankees for Mr. Dundee. Overjoyed, Dundee asks Henry if there is anything that he would like for Christmas. Corwin says that all he wants is to be able to be charitable every year and enters his apartment. Corwin attempts to get his beard and mustache off but finds they are now real. Realizing he has become Santa Claus, Corwin disappears up the chimney. Near his car, Dundee hears bells and a jolly laugh overhead and knows that Corwin got his wish.

Retired opera singer Joachim Dallayrac (José van Dam) retreats to the countryside to teach two young singers, Sophie (Anne Roussel) and Jean (Philippe Volter). Although the rigorous training takes its toll on both teacher and students, there is plenty of time for relationships to develop among the three.

Gerold Geronimus Goblynch, the ruthless new leader of the Great Christmas Council, is determined to turn the holiday season into his personal moneymaking scheme. He wants to end children's joyous wishes by outlawing all of the old magical ways. Under his leadership, Snowmobiles are to replace reindeer; elves and angels are banned; and Santas who go against these policies are turned into chocolate.

Niklas Goodfellow, a spirited, humorous young Santa, emerges as the last, and thus real Santa. He and two angels named Matilda and Emmanuel, an invisible reindeer, and a bunch of elves go into hiding from the Council. Two children named Ben and Charlotte and Charlotte's dog, Mutt, join forces to save Niklas from being turned into chocolate.

At the start of the book, Seeker is hunting down the last two ''savanters''. He chases them through a mountain, through a mysterious valley and through the Glimmen. He finds Echo Kittle, who helps track them to a place called the Haven (which is an expensive refuge for fleeing people). He fights briefly with one of the savanters, who he does not manage to kill, instead becoming possessed by her. The other savanter flees, and manages to escape on a boat to other lands.

Meanwhile, the Wildman is head of the spiker army which formed at the end of ''Jango''; Morning Star is there too. There is restlessness in the Spiker camp, and the Wildman is forced to kill Snakey, his childhood friend, in a leadership battle. Morning Star, sickened by the events, leaves and returns to her home village. When she arrives there, she finds it mysteriously empty. Soon she finds where everyone has gone; a huge assembly of people who call themselves 'the Joyous'. The leader of the Joyous is a young man called the Joy Boy. He claims to be leading people to the 'Great Embrace', which is when all his followers will become God. Morning Star is suspicious of the Joy Boy, especially because he has no aura, but he infects her with joy, and she complies to find Seeker for him, under the premise that the Noble Warriors need joy more than anyone else. Soon after Morning Star leaves, the Wildman and the Spiker army join the Joyous.

Seeker moves through the garden, crossing a long bridge, and finds a chair in which he knows his God is sat. Seeker fears his God's nonexistence, but Jango appears, and reveals that he and Seeker are one and the same person. Jango tells Seeker to look with 'the eyes of faith'. Seeker looks at the chair and sees the All and Only. Then Noman, who has now also entered the Garden, tells Seeker to look with his own eyes.

Seeker returns to Radiance which is now ruled by the Spikers and Orlans. The Wildman hands over the Spiker army to Shab, and Caressa (who became the next Jahan when Amroth died near the start of the book) gives the silver whip of the Jahan to Sabin (the last living son of Amroth). The next day, Seeker, Morning Star, The Wildman and Caressa set off on Wildman's old ship down the river and to other lands.

As described in a film publication, to avenge his father's death Pierre Winton (Carey) turns outlaw and joins a band of bandits headed by Jim Boone (MacDonald). McGuirk (McKim), a lone bandit, is the object of his search and war is declared between the lone rider and Boone's band. Pierre goes to a masquerade ball one night and returns to find every member of Boone's band dead except for Jim's daughter Jackie (Burnham). Pierre gets on his horse to ride his enemy down to earth and see that vengeance is executed.

"Sundown Slim" Hicks (Harry Carey) leaves his life of hobo-poet and starts in as ranch cook at the Concho cattle ranch owned by Jack Corliss (J. Morris Foster). The adjoining sheep ranch is owned by David Loring (Duke R. Lee). Fadeaway (Charles Le Moyne), a bad cowboy, insults Anita (Mignonne Golden), daughter of the chief sheepherder, and Sundown exacts reprisal. Billy (Ted Brooks), Sundown's pal, is induced by Fadeaway to rob a bank. Sundown takes the blame and goes to jail. In the feud between sheepmen and cattlemen, Billy is nursed by Anita. The two learn to care for each other, and when Sundown is released from jail and goes to Anita, he sees the situation and surrenders her to Billy, again taking up to lone trail.

''The Stingiest Man in Town'' is the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, told in the 1978 version through the perspective of the insect B.A.H. Humbug (voiced by Tom Bosley), obviously a word play on Scrooge's catch phrase, "bah humbug". Scrooge (performed by Walter Matthau) is portrayed as the tightwad Charles Dickens intended him to be with his consistent resistance to assist the poor or even have Christmas dinner with his nephew Fred (performed by Dennis Day) and his family. In hopes of resuscitating the goodness of his one-time friend, the ghost of Jacob Marley (voiced by Theodore Bikel), Scrooge's former business partner, visits Scrooge in his mansion, exhorting him to change his ways. Scrooge deems this to be madness and soon prepares for bed.

Nevertheless, Scrooge's attitude soon changes after a fateful night wherein three ghosts also visit him and take him through his past and present, and show him what his future would be like if he does not change. Scrooge sees a younger caricature of himself, voiced by Robert Morse and realizes how greedy and miserly he has become. The Ghost of Christmas Present (performed by Paul Frees) proceeds to take Scrooge to the home of his diligent employee Bob Cratchit and discovers just how much poverty Cratchit and his family wallow in. Cratchit's crippled son Tiny Tim (voiced by Bobby Rolofson) touches Scrooge's heart and instigates a transformation within his personality. The Ghost of Christmas Future then brings Scrooge to a cemetery to show the result of his once greedy behaviour. The production concludes with Scrooge assisting those less fortunate than himself.

As summarized in a film publication, Jim Drew (Millett), who is a squaw man (a disparaging term for a white man with an Indian wife), receives word that his wife whom he had long deserted had died and that his daughter was coming by train to live with him. Jim is injured when his cabin catches fire, and dies just as David Brent (Carey) arrives to repay a debt of gratitude. Reading the girl's letter stating that she will meet her father in San Francisco, David decides to meet the girl and tell her of her father's death. But when Lorelei (Golden) arrives, she mistakes David for her father and is so happy with her beautiful home that David cannot bring himself to tell her the truth. She met Gordon Swayne (Braidwood), a surveyor, on the train and retains his friendship, which makes David unhappy. When Gordon discovers that David is not Lorelei's father, he threatens him. When Lorelei learns the truth, David decides to go away and leave the girl as mistress of the cabin. Lorelei stops him and tells him she loves him only.

As described in a film publication summary, the Stranger (Carey) comes to town of Broken Buckle to start a gambling hall. The Headlight, the existing gambling hall, is crooked, and the Stranger wants to start a straight one. He meets Zoe Whipple (Ferguson) who is attempting to reform the town and teaches school out of her home. Misunderstandings arise between the Stranger and Zoe that are brought about by Denver Red (Le Moyne), proprietor of the Headlight. After Zoe pleads with the Stranger not to start a new gambling den, the Stranger opens it to the public, but it turns out to be a new library and school. After running Denver out of town, the Stranger wins Zoe.

As described in a film publication, John Wesley Pringle (Carey), an adventurer, returns to Gadsden to claim the girl Stella (Golden), only to find out that she is in love with Chris Foy (Steele).

Chris has been accused of a murder that he did not commit. Sheriff Matt Lisner (Le Moyne) searches Stella's house for Chris but finds out that he is hiding in the mountains. Sheriff Lisner and his crowd set off for the mountains to get Chris and claim a reward for his capture. John gets to the mountains by a back route and pretends to rescue Chris, but he surprises both the Sheriff and Chris by claiming the reward for himself.

John then orders Sheriff Lisner to release Chris, saying that this was all a ruse to rescue Chris and get him safely from the mountain top. John then reveals evidence which shows that Lisner is the real murderer, and Chris returns to Stella, while John goes on his way without ever revealing his love for the girl.

In the Dutch city of Groningen, Kees Popinga (Claude Rains) has worked for 18 years as chief clerk and bookkeeper for a 300-year-old trading company, now run by Julius de Koster Jr. (Herbert Lom). Kees's life is comfortable but stodgy; he loves trains but has never traveled farther than Amsterdam.

One day a man named Merkemans (Felix Aylmer), who had managed a company that went bankrupt due to another man's embezzlement, pleads with de Koster for a job. De Koster refuses because his own firm has too impeccable a reputation to be connected with such a scandal, and Merkemans had had the responsibility to prevent the fraud. Then a French police inspector named Lucas (Marius Goring) arrives to talk to de Koster about Dutch money that is turning up illegally in Paris; Lucas suspects the de Koster company, but de Koster invites Kees to show him that the books are sound. That night, Kees happens to see de Koster kissing a woman (Märta Torén) goodbye at a station.

Later, Lucas questions Kees and de Koster about the woman, showing a picture. De Koster lies; Kees supports him, but now fears that he too has failed to prevent a crime. That night his fears are confirmed when he goes to the office and finds de Koster burning the books. De Koster says the firm will be bankrupt in the morning. Kees follows de Koster to a canal. De Koster shows him a suicide note. Kees is trying to stop him jumping in the water when De Koster's briefcase comes open, revealing 100,000 Dutch guilders in cash. The suicide note was a fake. Enraged, Kees attacks de Koster, who falls into the water and hits his head on a boat.

Also in the briefcase is a train ticket to Paris and the address of the woman, whose name is Michele Rozier. Kees takes the briefcase and boards the train, abandoning his family. On board he is surprised to meet Lucas, who makes it clear he suspects Kees. As they approach Paris, Kees jumps off the train. He goes to Michele, but she turns him away, not realizing he has the money. Lucas meets her and explains what has happened. He says de Koster is alive, but Kees does not know this, and Lucas fears he will now do something desperate.

As Lucas hopes, Michele wants the money enough to trace Kees, and the police follow her to him. But she helps him get away and stay with Louis (Ferdy Mayne), her lover, who lives over a garage near train tracks. She tells Kees that within a couple of days Louis will provide Kees with fake papers so he can leave the country.

Kees is suspicious enough to hide the money, in an abandoned car near the tracks, before Louis is able to search his effects. Bored with hiding out and tired of belittling remarks about his status, he decides to "live dangerously" and takes Michele out on the town. She seems to warm to him and he is seduced into trusting her. Drunk and infatuated, he phones Lucas to taunt him, promises Michele they will go away together, and then tells her where the money is. She goes there, but Lucas has already found it. He offers her immunity if she helps him find Kees.

Kees gets away from Lucas, steals a knife from a shop window, and goes to the garage. At knifepoint, Louis phones Michele and asks her to come. Kees confronts Michele and threatens to prove his worth by killing her—and then he does. With Lucas in pursuit, he runs onto the train tracks and directly toward an approaching train. At the last moment it reaches a switch and crosses onto another track. Kees rambles deliriously as Lucas arrests him.

As described in a film publication, Bart Carson (Carey) is in love with Lou (La Marr) and even goes to jail to save Walter A. Walker (Coxen), a man she says is her brother but who is really a husband who has deserted his wife and two children. After he learns the truth, Bart breaks out of jail and trails Walter, who falls off a train trying to escape. Bart then seeks refuge in a cabin with Mrs. Walker (Rich), where he is captured, but the officials have learned the truth and promise him a pardon.

The inventor of a burglar alarm (Karloff) attempts to get back at the man who stole the profits to his invention (Hinds) before he goes blind. The device is then subverted by gangsters (Baxter, et al.) who apply pressure to the inventor and use his device to facilitate burglaries.

Bea and Landy Bretthorse, a couple in a small Missouri town, are going to experience chaos when Landy's sister Grace is released from a local asylum and comes to live with the family in the summer leading up to the Great Flood of 1951.

One night at March College, a young couple are making out in a parked vehicle. An unseen assailant harasses them before murdering them both.

Meanwhile the nearby Lanier College is preparing for its final exam date. In order to ensure a group of students ace their chemistry final, a fraternity fakes a shooting on campus so that the students can have more time to study. The prank works, resulting in a small number of students remaining on campus until the following day's final. Meanwhile, the murderer responsible for the March College killings arrives on campus in a van and begins stalking the remaining students.

Bookish Courtney is studying hard for her exams, while her wealthy roommate Lisa is preparing to leave for her home in New York City. Lisa is also having an affair with one of her professors, Dr. Reynolds. At nightfall, Gary, a pledge for Gamma Delta, suffers from a prank in which he is bound to a tree. The murderer unties him, before killing him with a knife. Gary's girlfriend, Janet, goes searching for him, and mistakes a silhouette in the distance for him. When she realizes it is not Gary, she attempts to flee, but is attacked by the killer and murdered.

Another Gamma member, Wildman, is lured into a darkened gymnasium while attempting to steal prescription drugs from the football coach's office. The murderer appears and chases Wildman to the weight room, where he is garroted on a weight-lifting machine. Another student named Mark discovers Wildman's body and is subsequently chased by the murderer into the school's electrical building. The murderer emerges from a barrel and stabs Mark, killing him. Nerdy student Radish discovers the carnage and attempts to alert the police, who do not take him seriously due to all the ongoing pranks. Radish goes to warn Courtney but finds the murderer in her room instead and is also killed.

Courtney returns to her dormitory, where she discovers Radish's body pinned to her door. A terrified Courtney attempts to alert her dormitory, but everyone has gone home for the break. Lisa waits for Dr. Reynolds in the school's conservatory but the murderer enters the room and stabs her to death. Courtney goes to the conservatory to alert Lisa, only to discover her body. The murderer chases after her, and Courtney arms herself with a kitchen knife, before taking refuge in the campus's clock tower. Alerted by Courtney's cries for help, a coach arrives and shoots an arrow at the murderer, but he catches it in his hand and impales the coach with it, killing him. The murderer attempts to finish Courtney off but she manages to push him from the top floor of the tower. Thinking him dead, Courtney is seized by the murderer when he grabs her ankle. She stabs him 12 times, ultimately killing him.

The film ends as Courtney sits on the front steps of the building and begins sobbing over the events that just took place.

The Burai are an intelligent race bent on complete domination of the entire universe. They have seven facilities across the galaxy that produce their troops that are half-robot, half-animal. Only the unnamed protagonist can save the universe with his proton suit and laser gun.

Thomas (Ed Stoppard), a young German, fights unsuccessfully as one of Nazi Germany's Joy Division youth troops after the Soviet Union invades. In the early 1960s, he loses faith in the ideals he was brought up with, and works as a spy and assassin for the Russians during the Cold War. His story is mostly revealed in flashbacks.

Tom Schilling plays the younger Thomas, who sees his native Germany destroyed by the Soviet invaders. His family is killed, leaving him orphaned, and with only his girlfriend Melanie (Bernadette Heerwagen) left.

His girlfriend Melanie is repeatedly raped by Red Army soldiers and she is eventually killed by a Soviet soldier after having sex with him and two other Soviet soldiers in order to protect Thomas from being beaten and killed by the soldiers.

Years later, he falls in love with Yvonne (Michelle Gayle), while on assignment in Britain; she has no idea what he is really employed to do.

Private investigator Mick St. John dreams of being interviewed by a woman off-camera, where he reveals that he is 90 years old, and that unlike other vampires, he does not hunt women, children or innocents. Mick's job leads him to the scene of a murdered young woman, who had been pregnant with twins, and where Beth, an online newspaper reporter for the ''BuzzWire'', notices two large puncture wounds on the woman's neck. While walking around the scene, she meets Mick and tells him he looks very familiar, but he insists that they do not know each other. Beth gives the murder article a vampire theme, using the puncture wounds as inspiration. The article makes Josef, a 400-year-old vampire friend of Mick's, concerned for the safety of vampires. To gather more authentic information about the murder, Mick goes to the morgue, where his friend Guillermo (Jacob Vargas) supplies him with blood. Mick does not detect any traces of vampire contact on the dead woman, eliminating them as her reason of death. Mick then comes across Beth at the dead woman's apartment, where they find a necklace containing a blood vial.

Professor Ellis (Rudolf Martin), a lecturer of the dead woman, gives a eulogy at her funeral. Chloe, a friend of the dead woman, attacks and slashes the neck of Ellis, whose blood Mick recognizes from the vial. Beth tracks down Chloe, who explains that the professor believes he is a vampire and has a vampire-worshipping blood cult. Later, Mick finds Chloe's body and realizes that she was murdered by Ellis. Knowing that Beth has gone to Ellis's class, he rushes to save her. After the class, Beth talks to Ellis about vampires and the young woman's murder, but he discovers that she is wearing a wire. Ellis attacks Beth and although she escapes, she is kidnapped by the professor's assistant. Mick finds the assistant, defeats him, and carries unconscious Beth to his apartment. In flashbacks to 22 years in the past, Mick investigates the case of a missing girl. In a domestic fight between Mick and his ex-wife Coraline over the kidnapped girl, Mick stabs Coraline's heart with the leg of a broken chair. He lights the house on fire and rescues the girl, leaving Coraline to the fire. It is revealed that the little girl is Beth, and that Mick has tried to watch over her and keep her safe. In the present, Beth awakens and remembers that Mick was stabbed by the assistant, and that he was the one who saved her as a child. Mick dismisses these claims as being caused by her head injury. Thanking him for saving her, she hugs him.

Shakyamuni is meandering around Paradise one morning, when he stops at a lotus-filled pond. Between the lilies, he can see, through the crystal-clear waters, the depths of Hell. His eyes come to rest on one sinner in particular, by the name of Kandata. Kandata was a cold-hearted criminal, but had one good deed to his name: while walking through the forest one day, he decided not to kill a spider he was about to crush with his foot. Moved by this single act of compassion, the Buddha takes the silvery thread of a spider in Paradise and lowers it down into Hell.

Down in Hell, the myriad sinners are struggling in the Pool of Blood, in total darkness save for the light glinting off the Mountain of Spikes, and in total silence save for the sighs of the damned. Kandata, looking up by chance at the sky above the pool, sees the spider's thread descending towards him and grabs hold with all the might of a seasoned criminal. The climb from Hell to Paradise is not a short one, however, and Kandata quickly tires. Dangling from the middle of the rope, he glances downward, and sees how far he has come. Realizing that he may actually escape from Hell, he is overcome by joy and laughs giddily. His elation is short-lived, however, as he realizes that others have started climbing the thread behind him, stretching down into the murky depths below. Fearing that the thread will break from the weight of the others, he shouts that the spider's thread is his and his alone. It is at this moment that the thread breaks, and he and all the other sinners are cast back down into the Pool of Blood.

Shakyamuni witnesses this, knowing all, but still with a slightly sad air. In the end, Kandata condemned himself by being concerned only with his own salvation and not that of others. But Paradise continues on as it has, and it is nearly noontime there. Thus the Buddha continues his meanderings.

Acte I

The play starts off with Lucinde who is inexplicably depressed. Desperate to cheer her up, Sganarelle offers her whatever she wishes. When she declares that she wants to be married he becomes angry, refuses to grant her desire, and storms off. Later on in a monologue, Sganarelle admits that his reason for refusing Lucinde's request is because he cannot stand the thought of her with another man, a man who would also inherit Sganarelle's fortune. Lisette and Lucinde decide that they will play a trick on Sganarelle to show him the errors of his ways. At the end of the first scene, we have Lucinde pretending to be ill, forcing Sganarelle to call for doctors.

Acte II

The doctors have all arrived and they talk about their daily travels. Lisette enters and argues with Tomès about a former patient of his who is now dead. Instead of talking about what is wrong with Lucinde, the doctors talk about current events and argue whose mule is faster. Here the audience sees that they care more for following procedure than actually saving a life. As the doctors get around to the diagnosis, Tomès and Des Fonanadrès disagree on the cure for Lucinde. The former advocates a blood letting, whereas the latter is preaching the use of an emetic. As the two storm away, Bahys and Macroton inform Sganarelle that despite their "best" efforts his daughter will still die. They console him with the knowledge that his daughter would have died following the rules. As an act of desperation, Sganarelle visits a street charlatan to purchase Orviétan, a legendary remedy that can cure any illness, but the audience never learns if he gives this to Lucinde.

Acte III

Clitandre arrives disguised as a doctor and quickly tends to Lucinde. Impressed by this young doctor, Sganarelle asks him what the mysterious illness was. Clitandre declares that it must have been a severe case of depression and only a marriage will cheer her up. Furthermore, he announces that he will trick Lucinde into believing that he and she are married in order to cheer her up. The two lovers leave to get married and Sganarelle throws a party to celebrate Lucinde's recovery. Sgaranelle signs a marriage contract which he believes is fake that gives the couple a dowry of 20,000 écus. It is here where he is informed by Lisette that the two really have been married, and that the whole thing was a trick. Sganarelle becomes angry, but is restrained by party goers as the festivities continue into the night.

On Mars, a battle wages on between the race of mice, known as the Martian Freedom Fighters, and the invading Catatonian Empire. Both sides are fighting for the rights of one important machine: the Regenerator. This machine has the ability to terraform Mars, creating a safehaven for all mice. The Catatonians wish to claim it so they can take over the planet. Freedom Fighter General Stoker is the only one who knows how to build the Regenerator. As a result, he is not present on the battlefield, but is instead on Earth looking for molecules vital to the device's construction.

The mice later mysteriously lose contact with Stoker, so another general, Carbine, sends the Biker Mice from Mars. After their arrival, they land in Chicago and meet up with Charley Davidson, who runs and owns the Last Chance Garage, which becomes the Biker Mice's base of operations. Not long afterwards do they realize the Catatonians, led by General Hairball and Cataclysm, have come to Earth in search of Stoker, so that they can ensure their claim of the Regenerator. Evil billionaire Ronaldo Rump (a parody of Donald Trump and Ricky Ricardo with an oversized butt) also seeks Stoker, since he owns a Regenerator of his own, and uses it for his evil money-making schemes, but it is running low on power.

Throughout the course of the game, the player takes on the role of either Throttle, Vinnie and Modo, and maneuvers in and out of boss battles and other such levels.

''Old Wicked Songs'' is about the relationship between a Viennese music professor in his late-50s named Professor Josef Mashkan and his newly acquired student Stephen Hoffman. Hoffman is a 25-year-old pianist who at one time was considered to be a prodigy in his field, but suffers from severe burn out and has not been performing for a year.

The play takes place in Vienna, Austria in Professor Mashkan's rehearsal studio. It begins in the spring of 1986 and continues through to summer. The national and international political background is Kurt Waldheim's election to Austrian federal president in the spring of 1986. Because of Waldheim's alleged involvement in war crimes in the Balkans during World War II his nomination was fervently opposed worldwide, e.g. by the World Jewish Congress. The protests, however, resulted in a stubborn reaction of the Austrian electorate and a clear Waldheim victory in a run-off election. During his presidency he was isolated internationally and put on the US Nazi watchlist.

Upon his arrival in Vienna, Hoffman is under the impression that he will be studying accompaniment under the instruction of Professor Schiller. However, much to his surprise, he must first study singing for three months under the tutelage of Professor Mashkan. At the very start of the play, Marans introduces Mashkan's racial slurs towards the Jewish race. It is later discovered that this is a defense mechanism used by Mashkan to cover up his dark secret.

Through his teachings, Mashkan tells Hoffman that there is both "sadness and joy" in music and that he should experience real life examples to better connect him to the message of composer Robert Schumann's song cycle ''Dichterliebe'' and the poetry of Heinrich Heine. Hoffman then tells Mashkan his plans to go to the opera to experience joy and to then visit the Dachau concentration camp for sadness.

After a series of lessons, Mashkan’s slandering of the Jewish culture begins to build a strong tension between him and Hoffman, who is Jewish. This is aggravated when Hoffman, fulfilling a promise given to his father, actually visits Dachau. After this experience, he skips Mashkan's lessons for over two weeks, wandering about in Vienna. When he returns, he tells Mashkan the whole story, including the night he spent with Sarah, a young Jew he met at the bus in Dachau. The recollection of this visit to the horrors of a concentration camp and the intense lovemaking afterwards again brings up the theme of "sadness and joy".

After an attempt at suicide, Mashkan is found lying on his couch by Hoffman. During the process of rescuing Mashkan, Hoffman notices a number tattooed on Mashkan's forearm, a clear sign that Mashkan is a Holocaust survivor.

Background

Marans incorporates the poetry of Heinrich Heine and the music of Robert Schumann into this series of events. Through the translation sessions between Mashkan and Hoffman, Marans creates a link between two generations that find they have much more in common than they think.

Marans had previously studied Schumann's ''Dichterliebe'' in Vienna in 1978. Marans said: "I went there to learn singing because I wanted to be a lyricist. As a lyricist, I wanted to know how the singer felt." Schumann's song cycle is "infused with a 'young man's anger and passion.'" Marans stated, "Since I was 21 at the time and dealing with my own 'young man's rage', that's what I responded to."

The story is a retelling of a well-known Georgian folk-tale brought into written literature by the 19th-century writer Daniel Chonkadze.

Durmishkhan is a serf freed by his master. Now, he has to buy the freedom of his lover Vardo to marry her. He leaves his land and encounters a merchant named Osman Agha who tells his story. He was born a serf named Nodar Zalikashvili. After he had lost his mother due to his master's cruelty, he killed his master, fled, and embraced Islam to avoid persecution. Durmishkhan now starts to work for Osman Agha and marries another woman, who gives birth to a boy named Zurab. Meanwhile, Vardo becomes a fortune teller. Osman Agha leaves his trade to Durmishkhan and converts to Christianity. In a dream a group of Muslims kill him for being a ''murtad''.

Zurab grows up and starts to work with his father. Durmishkhan, having converted to Islam, has become a stranger to his land and people. Georgia comes under the threat of Muslim invaders and the king gives orders to bolster all fortresses in the country. However, Suram Fortress continues to crumble. Durmishkhan returns to Muslim territory. King's men come to Vardo the fortune teller to have her solve the mystery of Suram Fortress. Vardo tells that a blue-eyed young man of the country must be bricked up alive in order for the fortress to stand. Zurab sacrifices himself to save his country and its Christian faith.

Love is a game for Ben who lies and cheats on his girlfriend Emily, with the greatest of ease. But when he meets the sexy and unpredictable Chlo, the tables are turned. Ben falls head over heels in love, and is astonished to find someone even more immoral than he is.

Tsukune Aono is an average teenager who is unable to get into any local high schools due to his poor grades. As a last-ditch effort to secure his education, his parents enroll him in a private school called Yokai Academy, which he discovers is a boarding school for monsters. The school teaches monsters how to coexist with humans, including disguising them as them, but any real humans found on campus are to be killed. Although he fears for his life, Tsukune befriends a beautiful vampire girl named Moka Akashiya, who enjoys his company and especially the taste of his blood. During a fight with a school bully, Tsukune accidentally removes the rosario around Moka's neck and discovers that she transforms into a powerful vampire with a completely different personality.

Because of Moka, Tsukune decides to stay at Yokai. He befriends formerly antagonistic students, including succubus Kurumu Kurono and child prodigy witch Yukari Sendo. They join the school's Newspaper Club and wind up fighting a variety of students and teachers, who use their monstrous powers to bully or to control one or more of the members for their own selfish or destructive ends. On a club trip to the human world, they meet a witch, Ruby Tojo, who defends a field of sunflowers from being torn down by developers. They meet Mizore Shirayuki, a snow fairy student who becomes Tsukune's "stalker". A group of "Monstrels" harass the club. Ruby, having recovered from injuries, joins the school's staff as the Headmaster's assistant. An evil group called the Anti-Schoolers threaten to break down the barrier between the human and monster worlds. When Tsukune's cousin manages to sneak onto the school grounds, the club has a hard time keeping the monster school a secret. When the school is temporarily closed because of damage, Tsukune returns home to the human world only to have Moka, Kurumu, Yukari, and Mizore follow him and hide in his room.

In ''Rosario+Vampire: Season II'', Moka's younger half-sister Koko Shuzen enrolls. She, Ruby, and Mizore join the Newspaper Club. On an excursion to Mizore's homeland, they learn of a dangerous organization called Fairy Tale, which seeks to destroy the human world. The Newspaper Club visits the human world where they meet San Otonashi, a former club member, and run into trouble with adversaries from Fairy Tale's 7th Branch office. Chinese transfer student Fangfang Huang tries to recruit Tsukune to join his mafia family. When Moka spends a school day as her inner personality, she is unable to return to the seal, so the Newspaper Club heads to China to get her Rosario fixed.

In Hong Kong, Tsukune and the gang learn the truth about Moka's identity: she was infused with First Ancestor blood by her mother Akasha Bloodriver, who sacrificed herself to protect them from Alucard, the original First Ancestor vampire. Moka's eldest half-sister Aqua infiltrates the Huang manor and captures Moka to bring to Fairy Tale, which suspects that Moka is the key to reviving Alucard. While his friends train their powers, Tsukune has his body altered by Tohofuhai to handle the upcoming challenges.

Tsukune and the gang infiltrate the Hanging Garden: a sky fortress that serves as Fairy Tale's headquarters. They face opposition from their leader and matriarch of the Shuzen family Gyokuro Shuzen, who sends the leaders of the Fairy Tale Branches after them for a series of fights. The group eventually reaches Moka, but must face her half-sisters Aqua and Kalua. Gyokuro snatches Moka's rosario in order to control Alucard. A character called the Masked King reveals himself to be a clone of Alucard's original vampire form. He reveals that he has manipulated both Fairy Tale and its opposition to determine whether the rosario could control him, and then merges with his monster self, who goes on a rampage in Tokyo.

Moka is mortally wounded, but Tsukune revives her by removing all his holy locks and transforming himself into a First Ancestor vampire. They beat down Alucard, but he revives and reveals that he has hatched eggs in Japan's major cities. Tsukune's friends and allies, along with the two other Dark Lords, band together to fight Alucard and his clones. Tsukune puts Moka's rosario on Alucard, which awakens Akasha inside his monster body. Akasha tells Alucard to give up the fight, and they cast a self-disintegration spell. Now that the existence of monsters is known in the human world, coexistence is now even harder to achieve; however, Tsukune is confident that he and his friends can do it.

Set in the eponymous botanic garden in London on a hot July day, the narrative gives brief glimpses of four groups of people as they pass by a flowerbed. The story begins with a description of the oval-shaped flower-bed. Woolf mixes the colours of the petals of the flowers, floating to the ground, with the seemingly random movements of the visitors, which she likens to the apparently irregular movements of butterflies.

The first group to pass by are a married couple, and the man, called Simon, recalls his visit fifteen years earlier when he begged a girl called Lily to marry him, but was rejected. Again Woolf centres the apparent randomness of the decision on the flitting of a dragonfly, which if it stops would indicate that Lily would say 'yes', but instead it kept whirling around and around in the air.

The woman who became Simon's wife, Eleanor, has a different memory of the gardens, a much earlier one, when she and other little girls sat near the lake with their easels, painting pictures of the water lilies. She had never seen red water lilies before. Someone kissed her on the back of the neck, the experience of which has remained with her ever since: the "mother of all kisses".

The couple with their children move out of vision and the narrative now focuses on a snail in the flowerbed. It appears to have a definite goal, and the narrator describes the vista before it and the journey it has to tackle. The focus pulls back again.

Two men stand at the flowerbed, a younger man called William and an older, somewhat unsteady man who is unnamed. The older man talks about heaven and makes oblique references to the war. He then appears to mistake a woman for someone in his thoughts, and prepares to run off to her, but is apprehended by William who distracts the older man by pointing out a flower. The old man leans in close to the flower as if he is listening to a voice inside it. The older man talks on, William's stoical patience grows deeper.

Next to approach are two elderly women the narrator describes as being lower middle class. They are fascinated by the old man's actions, but they cannot determine if he has mental health problems or is simply eccentric. The narrator recounts apparently isolated words and phrases: "he says, she says, I says", "Sugar, flour, kippers, greens". The stouter of the two women becomes detached from the conversation, and drowsily stares at the flowerbed. Finally, she suggests that they should find a seat and have their tea.

The narrative returns to the snail, still trying to reach its goal. After making a decision on its progress, it moves off as a young couple approaches the flowerbed. The young man remarks that on Friday admission to the gardens is sixpence, to which she asks if it is not worth sixpence. He asks what "it" means. She replies "anything." As they stand at the end of the flowerbed, they both press the young woman's parasol into the soil. His hand rests on top of hers. This action expresses their feelings for each other, as do their insignificant words. The narrator states that these are words with "short wings for their heavy body of meaning." Their feelings are evident to the two of them as well as others. The young man speaks to the young woman, Trissie, telling her they should have their tea now. She asks where they have tea in the garden. As she looks over a long grass path, she quickly forgets about the tea and wants to explore the gardens.

One couple after another moves through the gardens with the same aimlessness. Woolf's narrative now dissolves the snatches of conversation into flashes of colour, shape and movement, wordless voices of contentment, passion, and desire. Children's voices echo freshness and surprise. Finally the focus pulls out beyond the gardens, contrasting the murmur of the city with the voices and colour of the gardens.

Seventeen-year-old Pierre has recently left a Catholic boarding school to live with his wealthy parents at their villa on the island of Gran Canaria. Pierre's father dies, leaving his mother Hélène to care for him. While in a restaurant, his mother reveals to him that she had been unfaithful to her husband many times with his knowledge and feels no shame about it. She then insists that her son accept her promiscuous ways. Soon after this, Pierre finds a closet full of his father's pornography. His reaction is to furiously masturbate and then to urinate on the magazine pages.

Hélène encourages her uninhibited sex partner Réa to have sex with Pierre. She does so in public at Gran Canaria's Yumbo Centrum, a popular shopping and nightlife complex. Hélène looks on longingly as the partially clothed couple copulates with passersby raising no objections.

Afterwards, Hélène includes her son in an orgy with her friends, including Hansi. After the orgy, Hélène decides that she must leave her son to travel. While saying goodbye to Pierre, she implies that something taboo has happened between them and that she must leave to prevent it from happening again.

Upon Hélène's departure, Hansi enters Pierre's life as a friend. She admits befriending Pierre at Hélène's encouragement but denies receiving a fee from her. Their friendship blossoms into a tender romance and they both fall in love. During their relationship, Hansi reveals that she has participated in sado-masochistic sex many times as a dominatrix with her friend Loulou as the willing masochist. She adds Hélène arranged these encounters as sexual exhibitions for tourists.

Hélène returns home with Réa. Upon arriving, she finds her son and Hansi socializing at a bar near the villa. Hélène and Pierre greet each other and chat while gazing into each other's eyes, with Hansi looking on jealously. Hélène invites her son to sleep with her. He agrees.

Hélène and Pierre enter the house's wine cellar. Hélène asks her son to cut her abdomen with a razor while he masturbates and as he climaxes she slits her own throat. Paramedics take away her body. Pierre says good-bye to his mother before the cremation. He enters the room where she lies in state and masturbates exclaiming that he does not want to die as she is carried out.

In the style of Goofy's "Everyman" cartoons of the 1950s, this short follows Goofy as he buys and then sets up his home cinema system to watch football.

There is a world where shinobi (ninja and kunoichi) are recognized. The story centers around Kaede, who enters Princess Yuri School（姫百合学園 Hime Yuri Gakuen）and offers assistance to three girls for one year, who happen to be guardians. The top graduate is given a special privilege to become a freelance Shinobi. After entering, Kaede strives to serve a favorite person for one year.

Bruno, a composer, is hired to do the soundtrack for an upcoming horror film, and to help him concentrate, he moves into a rented villa for a few weeks. Several of the tenants and neighbors are murdered by a razor-wielding slasher, and there is a weird next-door neighbor who is a key suspect.

Lou Marazano was once a feared hit man, but his reputation has dimmed significantly twenty years after his retirement. Unable to help his daughter financially after her ex-husband fails to pay child support, he asks the current local mob boss, Lorenzo Galante, for work. Though reluctant to give him the job, Galante sends him to kill several witnesses who will testify against D'Agostino, the previous mob boss. After Marazano sends flowers to the widow of one of the men he kills, Ralph Maloney , a veteran cop, reopens a case that involved a string of murders from the early 1990s. Though discouraged from investigating, Maloney and his partner, Elliot Walsh stake out the second target. Picked up at the scene of the crime, Marazano does not talk, and the police are forced to set him free when his girlfriend and her neighbors provide an alibi.

Worried that Marazano may talk in order to avoid jail time, Galante orders him killed. Marazano stays a step ahead of his former friends, and he is able to kill the crew sent to assassinate him. Knowing that he must also kill Galante, Marazano heads to Galante's bar, where Galante threatens Marazano's family. Unmoved by the threats, Marazano kills Galante and offers his gold watch to an elderly man. When the elderly man is taken in by the police as a potential witness, they spot the distinctive watch and realize that they have enough evidence to arrest Marazano. Meanwhile, Marazano collects the money from his job and receives his final target: the police captain. Meanwhile, Walsh takes over the investigation once Maloney became frustrated with the department's red tape.

When their captain says that he has important information to share, Walsh and Maloney, who has returned to active duty despite his cynicism, meet him in private at a parking lot. Unknown to the others, Marazano tails the cops. Revealing that he is corrupt, the captain shoots both his subordinates. Before the captain can finish off either man, Marazano kills him. As Marazano turns to leave, Maloney And Walsh attempt to stop him. In the ensuing gunfight, Maloney accidentally kills Walsh. Enraged, he chases after Marazano, whom he blames for Walsh’s death. When Maloney confronts him, Marazano kills him. At his daughter's house, Marazano gives her all the money and urges her to leave the city, which he also plans to do.

As described in a film magazine, Ol' Santa Fe (Carey) drops off a fast freight train passing through town. He saves an urchin that had been assisting a beggar with a bear from a severe beating and adopts him as his "Pard" (Eason). Securing a job as a porter at the bank Caliente Trust Company, Santa Fe learns that bank president Rufus B. Coulter (Hale) is in league with a bad gang entrenched in the foothills, who have given Sheriff Mart Fraser (Nichols) much trouble. Coulter receives word through the K.C. Kid (Cooper) that a bank examiner is coming to Caliente, so he sends bank employee Dick Farwell (Harron) on a false errand to cover his tracks. Santa Fe goes out to rescue Dick, who has been captured by the outlaws, and runs into the sheriff lost in a sandstorm. Santa Fe proceeds to the rendezvous of the crooks, frees Dick, and returns for help. With the assistance of some U.S. troops he captures the outlaws, exposes Coulter, and then exposes his identity as The Fox, a special agent of the U.S. government sent out to round up the lawless gang. He also wins the love of the sheriff's daughter Annette (Clarke).

Dean Murdock, the owner of the Starlite Theater chain, purchases an abandoned theater that was once the site of a horrific massacre perpetrated by the disgruntled owner on the theater's closing night. He notifies his employees of the chain's acquisition of the property, and promotes several to renovate and subsequently operate the theater. To motivate his employees, he offers a $1,000 bonus that will go to one of them after a test run, much to the chagrin of his incredulous assistant, Miss Blackwell.

Two cheerleader friends of Jennifer, one of the theater's employees, arrive at the abandoned theater to meet her. They find the theater empty, and both are stabbed to death by an unknown man in a tuxedo. During a screening at the main theater, Selena, a disgruntled concession stand employee left out of Murdock's promotion, causes a scene, and is escorted out by Miss Blackwell.

Meanwhile, Jennifer, Adrian, and Malcolm arrive at the abandoned theater property and begin cleaning. The three find some old reels of film upstairs, decide to project them. On the reels, they see a filmed stage play, during which the audience flees in terror as the auditorium fills with smoke. The projector catches fire midway through. Jennifer flees, and witnesses a smiling elderly man in a tuxedo who attempts to choke her before disappearing. Jennifer is so frightened by the incident that she refuses to return until the opening night.

Selena and Darcy request to be transferred to the theater, which Murdock agrees to. Adrian, while at the theater alone, witnesses a typewriter begin typing by itself; the message reads: "Don't be hasty. This theater could be yours." Meanwhile, Lisa and Dee-Dee, two other Spotlite employees dropping off the contents of Jennifer's old locker, are attacked in the auditorium and stabbed to death.

The next day, while Jennifer, Adrian, and Malcolm are in the office, Darcy becomes locked inside the auditorium and is attacked and dragged underneath the stage. The others hear her screams, but upon entering the theater, there is no sight of her. On the theater's opening night, the three await Murdock's arrival, but he is nowhere to be seen. Selena arrives panicked, looking for Darcy, but Adrian sequesters her in a locked room to avoid a scene in front of a local news outfit doing a story on the theater's reopening.

In the projection room, Adrian is attacked by the killer, but fights him off. Malcolm is subsequently electrocuted on the projector, and Adrian is decapitated by a falling window. Locked in the upstairs room, Selena calls Miss Blackwell from a telephone. During the conversation, an invisible force bursts into the room. On the other end, Miss Blackwell hears Selena's screams before the phone receiver inexplicably crumbles in her hands. Jennifer, who had been waiting outside, enters the theater, and finds herself alone in the auditorium, confronted by the killer he is the original theater owner who perpetrated the massacre years prior, and he envisions Jennifer as his former lover, an usherette from decades ago. He embraces Jennifer, but she stabs him to death. Jennifer phones police from a pay phone outside. Back at the other theater, Murdock belatedly returns from a trip, and Miss Blackwell quits her job.

The movie is about two sisters growing up in Philadelphia in the 1870s. They both fall for a Frenchman who has to prepare the pavilion for the Centennial Exposition.

Linden Avery is determined to save her adopted son, Jeremiah, from the hands of the Despiser. However, before she even begins her search, it appears that Jeremiah and Thomas Covenant have ridden into Revelstone, despite the voice of Thomas Covenant previously telling Linden to "find me". The behaviour and demeanour of her two loved ones arouse suspicion and doubt in Linden.

The Masters (''Haruchai'') act as hosts whilst the group are in Revelstone. Linden seeks to wash away some of the effects of her adventures and Kevin's Dirt by bathing in Glimmermere, the Earthpower-rich lake above Revelstone. It is there that the ever-conflicted Esmer informs her that she must be the "first to drink of the Earthblood".

Linden returns to Revelstone and accomplishes her immediate goal of cutting off the Demondim's access to a fragment of the Illearth Stone, but shortly afterward she is transported thousands of years into the Land's past by the forms of Thomas Covenant and Jeremiah. Covenant reveals to Linden that he and Jeremiah plan to drink the Earthblood in an attempt to thwart the dire plans of both Lord Foul and Kastenessen, the renegade ''Elohim''. However the trio soon encounter the mysterious and knowledgeable Theomach, a puissant figure who is one of a learned race known as the Insequent. Linden is informed that she must be careful not to upset the Law of Time whilst journeying through this age.

Linden and her companions encounter the Land's ancient hero, Berek Heartthew, the Lord-Fatherer, and his sorely depleted army. The Theomach guides Linden through this meeting, mindful that their presence in this time could have a profound effect on the Law of Time. It is during this meeting that the Theomach reveals the Seven Words of Power to Berek. The Insequent explains Linden's odd appearance and presence by dubbing her the first of the "Unfettered Ones", thus keeping the Law of Time intact. Berek senses her white gold ring, which turns out to be the Land's first encounter with the powerful alloy.

Linden, Covenant and Jeremiah depart Berek's camp, leaving the Theomach behind to fulfill his chosen role as Berek's guide.

Whilst Covenant and Jeremiah attempt to teleport the trio to Melenkurion Skyweir, the source of the Earthblood, Linden is separated from them, and finds herself lost amongst the ancient forest of Garroting Deep. Here she encounters an ancient race, the Viles.

She knows from her time in the Land that the Viles will be corrupted by Lord Foul's Ravers in the centuries to come; eventually they will spawn the Demondim, who in turn will spawn the ur‑viles and Waynhim. During this encounter Linden risks the Law of Time by attempting to dissuade the Viles from their path of self-loathing, informing the Viles of the Raver's part in their corruption. However, in the midst of her revelation, Covenant and Jeremiah contrive to instigate a confrontation between the Viles and Garroting Deep's Forestal, Caerroil Wildwood. During the ensuing battle, Linden is reunited with her two companions, who hasten her towards Melenkurion Skyweir.

The trio enter the caverns of Melenkurion Skyweir. Linden's doubts and misgivings concerning her companions continue to grow, and as the three approach the Earthblood, Linden resolves to partake of the powerful, wish-granting substance before Covenant or Jeremiah.

Once she has drunk of the Earthblood, Linden commands that the truth be shown concerning her companions. Instantly their true forms are revealed: Thomas Covenant's son Roger Covenant has been wearing the guise of his father, whilst Jeremiah is shown to be under the malign influence of a ''croyel'', a parasitic being that feeds upon and takes over the mind of its host. A raging battle takes place in the caverns of Melenkurion Skyweir, during which the ancient mountain is torn asunder. Roger Covenant and the ''croyel''-driven Jeremiah eventually escape, leaving Linden in a state of despair. Half-catatonic, she eventually once again finds herself amongst the trees of Garroting Deep. Here Linden finds the Mahdoubt, another of the Insequent who had previously befriended her in Revelstone during her "proper" time. The Mahdoubt acts as Linden's liaison during a meeting with Caerroil Wildwood, at which point the Forestal bestows Linden with runes for her Staff of Law. After the gift of the runes is given, the Mahdoubt's ability to time-travel allows Linden to return to her proper time, where she is reunited with her friends.

When Linden recovers from her ordeal, her friends tell her that they have communicated with the voice of Thomas Covenant via Anele. They also tell her of a mysterious man who has rid Revelstone of the hoarding Demondim. Linden confronts the man, who turns out to be the Harrow, another of the Insequent. He attempts to wrest Linden's white gold ring and the Staff of Law from her, but the Mahdoubt intervenes and forces the Harrow's forbearance, at the cost of her sanity.

Linden eventually resolves to seek out Loric's ''krill'', a powerful tool which will allow her to channel the power of her white gold ring and the Staff of Law.

Accompanied by her friends and the Humbled (three self-maimed ''Haruchai''), Linden leads a quest to Andelain, the last known resting place of the ''krill''. However the company is besieged when an army of Cavewights and ''kresh'', led by Roger Covenant, attacks them along their way. Esmer materialises, as does the Harrow. The ur-viles which had served Linden during her search for the Staff of Law also join the fray. A mighty battle ensues, during which Linden summons the Sandgorgon Nom for aid. An army of Sandgorgons appears and enters the melee, turning the tide of battle in favour of Linden's company; Roger Covenant retreats, and the Harrow and Esmer vanish. The Sandgorgons, communicating telepathically with Stave of the ''Haruchai'', inform Linden that they consider their service to her to be over and they will no longer obey her summons.

Linden and the company continue to the relatively new forest of Salva Gildenbourne, a wild, jungle-like expanse which surrounds Andelain. Here they first encounter one of the fiery serpent-like ''skurj''; the company struggle to fight it, and Linden finds she is unable to channel sufficient power from her Staff of Law as a consequence of Kevin's Dirt. At the same time Linden is attacked by a crazed Giant. The Giant is quickly subdued by a group of female Giant-warriors, who agree to join Linden's company on their journey to Andelain. Their leader explains to Linden that the actions of the crazed Giant, Longwrath (who is the grandson of Linden's old friend the First of the Search), have been the focus of her group's activities; they have pledged to discover the focus of Longwrath's madness, which seems to be Linden herself.

With Longwrath imprisoned by his fellow Giants, the company encounters Esmer, who warns them that Kastenessen, his grandfather, has sent a pack of ''skurj'' to thwart Linden's attempt to recover the ''krill''. Making a desperate stand on the outskirts of Andelain, the company manages to hold off the ''skurj'' long enough to enter Andelain, where their attackers seem to be unable to follow.

As Linden and her companions enter Andelain, the Wraiths guide her to the ''krill'''s resting place. Linden is besought by both the Harrow and Infelice of the ''Elohim'' to turn aside both from her desire for the powerful blade, and her hidden intentions. The Harrow tells Linden that he knows where Lord Foul is keeping Jeremiah, and that he will trade the knowledge for the white gold ring and the Staff of Law.

But Linden will not be turned aside and, as she approaches the ''krill'', her Dead appear to her: Sunder, Hollian, Honninscrave, Cail, the Old Lords - but not Thomas Covenant himself. Yet the Dead refuse to give her counsel. Reaching the apex of her hidden intention, Linden summons the breakers of the Laws of Life and Death: Elena and Caer-Caveral. Through their presence the spirit of Thomas Covenant is invoked. Yet he too refuses to give her counsel; he cannot.

The Humbled attempt to intervene too, but Linden's friends win her freedom to choose by thwarting the Humbled's attempts. Finally Linden grasps the ''krill'', and is exalted by a transcendent surge of power: she is now able to wield both wild magic and Earthpower combined, too much power for any one being without the ''krill'''s facility to channel such forces.

With her newly acquired power, Linden enacts her secret desire and hidden intention; she resurrects Thomas Covenant, the only person she feels can help her in her quest to find Jeremiah and defeat the Despiser. But Thomas Covenant appears distraught at her actions: "Oh Linden, what have you done?". Infelice replies that with her use of extreme power, Linden Avery has roused the Worm of the World's End, endangering the Arch of Time itself and all life in the Land.

Henri Rainier is a senior manager at the Miremant bank. He makes loans to an adventurous client, the Chevalier d'Aven, knowing that he has the backing of his superiors. However, the relationship proves financially disastrous, and the bank is faced with having to cover up its massive deficit.

The bank's directors want to disassociate themselves from the scandal and, as Rainier's client is now accused of fraud, they hold him responsible and fire him on the spot. However, Rainier refuses to take it lying down, knowing that the bank's directors approved every loan. His wife Cécile and the union representative Arlette suggest he sue his former employers. Determined not to be the scapegoat, and anxious to avoid possible criminal charges, Rainier sets out to prove the bank's responsibility for this and other shady transactions.

But a senior bank manager who has been sacked is, he finds, unemployable. And even though he breaks into the bank's archives to find incriminating evidence, nobody believes a disgruntled ex-employee. The Chevalier d'Aven gets five years in prison and the bank is exonerated in the eyes of the world, having been the innocent victim of a cunning crook and an incompetent manager. Since everybody agrees that Rainier could conduct a perfect business lunch, he ends up training young hopefuls in this subtle art.

• Plot – events that make up a story, particularly: as they relate to one another in a pattern or in a sequence; as they relate to each other through cause and effect; how the reader views the story; or simply by coincidence. ** Subplot – secondary strand of the plot that is a supporting side story for any story or the main plot. Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or in thematic significance. Subplots often involve supporting characters, those besides the protagonist or antagonist. ** Story arc – extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and films with each episode following a narrative arc. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. ** Narrative structure – structural framework that underlies the order and manner in which a narrative is presented to a reader, listener, or viewer. The narrative text structures are the plot and the setting. ** Monomyth – the hero's journey; it is the common template of a broad category of tales that involve a hero going on an adventure, and in a decisive crisis wins a victory, and then comes home changed or transformed.

Carlos (Alberto Closas) has to work to feed his wife (Amparo Soler Leal), his 15 children and the ''grandpa'' (José Isbert). The children dream off having a television. The summer holidays is another trouble for the big family.

Divided into five parts, the play details the relationship between Eugene, a very fair-skinned black man, and Alma, a large dark-skinned woman. Their story begins in their youth on the islands off the coast of South Carolina. During their youth, mainly covered in first part, Eugene and Alma deal with different vantages on the issues of race and class. In spite of this they become fast friends. During the second part, as they progress through adolescence and through their respective tragedies, Alma and Eugene's friendship crosses over into a more intimate relationship. The third part has a literal rift between the pair when, after graduation, Alma decides to go to school in New York and Eugene is left behind. Part four leads into the consummation of their sexual relationship when Eugene visits Alma in New York City six months later. The final scene has Eugene and Alma planning to marry. The death of his grandfather, also very fair, propels the story to its climax. Eugene inherits everything from his fair grandfather, which upsets his darker-skinned father. Eugene and his father fight, and Eugene finally kills his father landing himself in jail. Alma is left pregnant, and aborts the baby by pushing furniture at the play's close.

''Note:The play requires only two actors. All other characters are portrayed by them. They switch between several characters many times in virtually every scene.''

After picking up her two young children from school, Grace Lawson looks through a newly developed set of photographs. She finds an odd one in the pack: a mysterious picture from perhaps twenty years ago, showing four strangers she can't identify. But there is one face she recognizes—that of her husband, from before she knew him. When her husband sees the photo that night, he leaves their home and drives off without explanation. She doesn't know where he's going, why he's leaving, or whether or not he's ever coming back. Nor does she realize how dangerous the search for him will be. There are others interested in both her husband's past and that photo, including Eric Wu, a fierce, silent killer who will not be stopped from finding his quarry, no matter who or what stands in his way. Her world turned upside down, filled with doubts about her herself and marriage, Grace must confront the dark corners of her own tragic past as she struggles to learn the truth, find her husband, and save her family.

The novel begins in a small town describing the life of Charlie Benjamin. Charlie has a rare ability to portal monsters from another dimension known as the Nether during his nightmares. His parents are both overprotective and do not want their son bullied because of his early academic history of portaling through creatures during naptime. Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin decide to home school their only son and as a result, Charlie becomes an outcast with no friends in his neighborhood. He continues to unknowingly bring Nethercreatures into his room when he has a nightmare. One night, Charlie brings a Silvertongue into his room. Charlie wakes up before the Silvertoungue kills him, and sees a team of three people, Rex, Tabitha, and Pinch attempting to bring the creature back to where it belongs. After the fight, Charlie's parents meet the team. Pinch explains that Charlie has the Gift, which allows him to open portals into the Nether and bring creatures across them. Charlie's gift is too strong, which can become dangerous. Pinch suggests that Charlie follow them to the Nightmare Division, who will decide what should be done with such a dangerous boy. Charlie's mother reluctantly allows him to go.

At the Nightmare Division, the Director instructs Charlie to open a portal. Charlie proceeds to accidentally open a portal to the Named, which are huge powerful beasts. Chaos ensues, and Barakkas, one of the four named creatures of the nether, reaches out his hand and attempts to enter. Charlie quickly closes the portal, which cuts Barakkas's arm off, including his bracer. After a debate about Reducing (a process that removes IQ points in order to lower gifted peoples power) Charlie, the Headmaster brings him to the Nightmare Academy.

There, Charlie meets two classmates, Theodore and Violet. The school trains two different groups, the Banishers and the Nethermancers. Banishers, like Rex, fight and hold off Nethercreatures whereas Nethermancers, like Tabitha, open portals to send them back. Students who lose their Gift are trained as Facilitators, who provide help to the other two. After meeting the Trout of Truth (a creature that determines whether you are a Banisher or a Nethermancer), Charlie finds out that he is a Double Threat, a combination of both a Banisher and Nethermancer.

Charlie is then taken by the Headmaster to Charlie's old house. Verminion, another of the Named who was portalled to Earth some years ago, kidnaps his parents and tells him to exchange his parents for the bracer. Charlie, Rex, Tabitha, and the Headmaster then go to find the Hags of the Void. The Hags of the Void, in return for Rex's memories of his parents, allow Charlie to go through the Gorgon Maze to find the Shadow(a thing which helps find what you want the most). At the end of the maze, the Shadow fills Charlie, allowing him to find his parents. Charlie's shadow now points to his parents' exact location.

The group tries to find his parents, and arrives in a volcano. Verminion tricks Charlie into opening a portal, allowing Barakkas to enter. After the incident, Charlie, Violet, and Theodore steal Barakkas's bracer from the Nightmare Academy to exchange his parents. Brooke, a Facilitator, tags along, and they manage to bring themselves back to the volcano. Charlie tries to trick Barakkas and Verminion by pretending to exchange himself and the bracer for his parents. Verminion doubts Charlie, and exposes his plan. While Violet and Theodore finds his parents and tries to rescue them, Charlie causes the two Named to fight and flees with Brooke. While they are running, Brooke opens a portal, proving that she still has the Gift. The two jump through the portal back to the Academy.

Meanwhile, Barakkas has his bracer back. Both of the Named reminded each other that they both have to be alive to summon the fifth, more powerful Named with their Artifacts. The Headmaster hides Charlie's parents from the Named, and Charlie, with his two best friends, Theodore and Violet goes into the beach and reiterate how they will be together all the way.

The novel begins with Gurney, a young British officer, entering a deserted chateau as the British advance in November 1918. Inside he finds three corpses, and is astonished when he recognises one of them as a fellow officer, Gerard Bretherton, the more so since Bretherton is wearing the uniform of a German general.

The story of how Bretherton met his fate is built up over a two-year period over the rest of the narrative. The story is told from the points of view of several of Bretherton's friends and acquaintances.

Gerard Bretherton, English but brought up partly in Germany and a fluent speaker of the German language, is taken prisoner during an attack on the enemy lines, and loses his memory, taking on the identity of a German officer with whom he was acquainted before the war. Having recovered his memory, he escapes and returns to Britain, where, after telling his story, he is recruited by the security forces who persuade him to masquerade as a German officer in order to infiltrate the German armed forces and supply them with information.

While joining an escape attempt from a British P.O.W. camp (set up by the authorities) along with a German officer, Bretherton is trapped in a barrel in which he has hidden during the sea voyage across the Channel. The traumatic experience causes him to lose his memory again, and he reverts to the personality of a German. Recovering his memory on the brink of the end of the war in 1918, he returns to his own side, but heroically volunteers to re-cross the German lines in an effort to minimize the loss of life before the Armistice is officially signed. He succeeds in his task, but is himself killed before the British troops arrive on the scene.

The story opens with a scene from ''Ultimate Marvel Team-Up 3'', where Spider-Man confronts a deranged Bruce Banner, who is agitated and tells Spider-Man "it's all connected". General Ross arrives, and despite Spider-Man's attempts to defuse the situation, Banner transforms into the Hulk and escapes.

We then cut to 1942, at the Battle of the Tenaru. An American "super-soldier", who is just a normal GI with a uniform that resembles the costume of Citizen V from Earth-616, rallies his men in the face of a Japanese attack. He is then killed in combat, with his blood staining the American flag. A photograph of this image is released around the world, and President Roosevelt demands a true super-soldier from his advisors, rather than a normal man in costume.

A year later, during the invasion of Sicily, three soldiers, (American privates Fisk (the grandfather of The Kingpin) and Nicholas Fury, and Canadian soldier James Howlett), attempt to loot a house. Military police arrive and arrest all three. Fisk is grazed by a bullet, while Fury and Howlett, despite the latter's protests that he's Canadian, are shipped off to separate unknown locations.

Fury is selected to be the next test subject for Project Rebirth, as the results from blood tests most closely match that of "subject 22", the most successful of previous test subjects. He is injected with a serum that gives him super strength, which he uses to free himself and the other prisoners. This is permitted since the project scientists decide that they have all the information that they need for now. Elsewhere, Howlett awakens within the "Weapon X" complex, in a tank of liquid. He escapes the complex, but is shot as he nears freedom. Howlett's wound heals completely and he is recaptured. Dr. Cornelius, Weapon X's head scientist, explains that in attempting to create their own version of Captain America, Weapon X accidentally discovered a genome that, when genetically altered, grants the person carrying it various abilities based on their DNA. He calls these altered humans "mutants", (with Howlett as "Mutant Zero"), and states that mutants will be how humanity survives.

The story then alternates between the discovery of the artifact known as the Watcher by Captain Carol Danvers of Project Pegasus, a government warehouse for objects with mysterious origins and, usually, mass destructive capacity. and events leading to the birth of Captain America. A lame young man, Steven Rogers, is recruited by Dum Dum Dugan into the Project Rebirth Super-Soldier Program. Through many different treatments, Steven Rogers is reborn as the ultimate super-soldier and leaves his fiance Gail behind to start his life in World War II.

Later, a teenaged Erik Lehnsherr visits the Weapon X complex and sets Wolverine free, letting the captive Canadian soldier know that his name is James. When Magneto's mother, who works at the complex, tries to stop him, he murders her and proclaims that he hopes there "is a hell." Before his mother's death, she justifies her work with Weapon X by declaring that she only wanted to find a cure for Erik and the others. Even later in Erik's life, he reads a book published by Charles Xavier and is determined to meet him. Showing up in the class that Xavier teaches, they soon realize that Charles's telepathic powers do not work on Magneto. They discuss the theories involved with having "mutanity" accepted and eventually relocate to the Savage Land, where Magneto's Brotherhood is waiting to be trained by the two.

Sometime later, Nick Fury is questioned by General Ross while lying in a hospital bed after apparently being saved from an unspecified wartime threat by Wolverine. General Ross feverishly questions him about his previous involvement with the mutant known as Weapon X and the nature of Nick Fury's unique physiology. After Fury dismisses an offer to become the "new" Captain America (in replacement of the then-missing in action original), he wonders about his usefulness in other ways.

The story skips forward for a brief synopsis of Project Rebirth 2 and important characters, including Nick Fury, Dr. Franklin Storm, Bruce Banner, Dr. Hank Pym, and Dr. Richard Parker. During this time, Dr. Storm is contracted to work with the Baxter Building project as well as Project Rebirth. Their work with the facility uses a vial of Fury's blood. Fury's identity as the donor is concealed from all scientific participants, although Parker suspects the truth. When Banner seems to have had a breakthrough, he and Dr. Pym decide to try it on themselves, starting with Banner. The trial goes awry and Banner, now as the Hulk, destroys the building and severely injures Richard and Mary Parker. The sight of the infant Peter Parker in his mother's arms shocks Banner back to himself and he is quickly subdued by Fury. Taking the infant in to his arms, he whispers that it is good that Peter is young, because he won't remember a thing.

Later, Fury infiltrates the Weapon X project, and, after the shock of the environment sinks in, Fury realizes that nobody should ever know of human involvement in the mutant gene. He kills all of the scientists and their experimental subjects. The only mutant to survive is T'Challa, whom Fury feels a connection with due to their tragic pasts.

Charles Xavier is next seen being speared in the back as an act of retaliation by Magneto, who claims Charles tried to attack him in his own mind. Magneto speaks of the mutant race's fate to ascend like gods over ''homo sapiens'' and his belief that God willed this to be.

In the present day, the Watchers speak through Sue Storm and foretell certain doom that awaits before picking a herald. While the Fantastic Four wonder who this could be, Rick Jones is found by his family glowing in the backyard.

While on a routine F-16C fighter aircraft patrol in United States airspace west of Alaska, Doug Masters and his wingman test the g-forces of their fighters but stray into Soviet airspace. One of the Soviet aircraft has Doug on missile-lock, shooting him down. Doug safely ejects but is captured by Soviet soldiers.

Several years later, Doug is still haunted by his days as a prisoner. Working as a crop duster, he is recruited by old friend, retired Gen. Charles "Chappy" Sinclair as an instructor at his flight school. Chappy's school has teenagers who fly his Harvard IV trainers with no regard for safety. These teenagers in trouble with the law were taken in as a means of rehabilitating them.

During an exhibition the young misfits face off against teens from the Air Force. Wheeler cons a drug dealer out of $2,000 by handing him a bag of sugar disguised as cocaine. With her co-pilot Rudy Marlowe she tries to fly to Mexico. Doug pursues her and has her to land on an abandoned air force base. A platoon of armed men at the base try to kill them. Doug intervenes and tells Chappy about the incident. Chappy and Maj. Gen. Brad Kettle investigate the activity at a storage bunker revealed to be holding chemical weapons.

Doug leaves the school and Chappy is given a notice by the State Patrol that his flight program is terminated immediately with his students sent back to juvenile hall. Wheeler steals a trainer, creating a diversion allowing students to hijack a bus and head back to the school. Chappy organizes the students to infiltrate the airbase and acquire enough resources to stop the convoy carrying the chemical weapons. Upon entering the airbase, Kitty Shaw and Chappy discover Operation Pandora was to use chemical weapons on hostile countries, like Cuba. They print out the data before leaving the premises and handing it to Kettle. Meanwhile, Dana Osborne and Rudy attempt to stop the convoy, but are shot down. As they attempt to escape on foot, Rudy is shot by Major Pierce, but Doug, Chappy and his team accompany Kettle to Craig Air Force Base, only to realize that Kettle is the ring-leader who captures the team.

After Kettle leaves the chamber, Kitty hacks the computer setting off fire extinguishers, giving Chappy's team time to escape. A stray shot from one of the soldiers ruptures the canister, contaminating the chamber and killing Dr. Francis Gully and everyone inside. As Kitty and Peter sneak into the cargo plane carrying the chemical weapon, Chappy sends a radio message, warning everyone of a hostile aircraft heading to Cuba. Kettle orders his fighter squadron to shoot down the trainer aircraft. The squadron of two fighters attacks the trainers, only to be confronted by Doug, who has commandeered a fighter aircraft. Doug and the students shoot down the attackers.

The students approach the cargo plane and attack it. Inside, Peter Kane opens the cargo door, causing the soldiers aboard to fall out. Kitty assumes the controls. Peter then jettisons all of the canisters into the ocean. Seeing his mission as a failure, Kettle prepares to kill Chappy when Doug suddenly attacks the airbase, giving Chappy time to escape. As police arrive at the scene, Kettle enters the contaminated chamber - his fate unknown.

Days later, Wheeler tells Doug she is heading to Mexico for a new start, but he convinces her to stay. The Iron Eagle Flight School then prepares for a new batch of students fresh out of juvenile hall.

Twenty years prior to the story's beginning, an asteroid headed for Earth destroys Pluto. Due to Pluto's destruction, the asteroid, which is dubbed ''Thanatos'', becomes temporarily stagnant in Pluto's orbit. Now, in order to avoid Earth's impending destruction, the International Solarsystem Development Agency (ISDA) works on the "D-Project", and secretly creates weapons called "Dragons" after finding a dragon egg under the ocean. However, they soon find out that the asteroid is not their only threat, as powerful, destructive dragons from Thanatos appear on Earth.

After witnessing what looks like a murder by a strange creature, Jin Kamishina, a lonely 18-year-old boy who lost his family in a shuttle accident two years ago, gets involved with the ISDA and their efforts to battle the dragons from Thanatos. Helping him is Toa, a mysterious girl who saves him from falling to his death after the creature attacks him. As they delve deeper into the mysteries of the dragons, they encounter new friends and enemies, and also develop a closer relationship.

The novel has a thin plot: two sisters, dressed as men and taking men's names, Steve and Blue, decide to work as agricultural labourers in Gippsland, the place their mother has told them about throughout their childhood and with which they feel they have a "spiritual link". The book chronicles their life and work over a few seasons, and particularly describes "the multitude of eccentrics".McLeod (1999) p. 168

The book is divided into four parts:Maxwell *Part One: "For the best! For the best!" Steve and Blue leave home in Dandenong and travel to Gippsland, near Bairnsdale, where they work as apple-pickers. Steve meets and falls in love with Kelly. They then go to Rutherglen to look for work pruning vines but aren't successful due to their gender, and return home to Dandenong. This title of this section, Maxwell suggests, "reflects the general mood and optimism of the first section".

*Part Two: "The Glitter of Celtic Bronze against the Sea" Steve and Blue return to Gippsland where they work, mostly, as pea-pickers. Kelly had not responded to Steve's letters, and in this part she falls in love with Macca. Maxwell writes that the title of this section "is from Steve's idealisation of Macca, her lifelong love, whom she sees sometimes as Charon, the mythical Greek boatman on whom the goddess Venus bestowed youth and beauty. The Celtic bronze of his reddish hair is set against the colour of the sea".

*Part Three: "No Moon Yet" Steve and Blue travel to the Ovens Valley in Northeastern Victoria and obtain work harvesting hops and maize. They spend some of this time out of work, and struggle to feed themselves. They thieve food to survive, most often from the Italian itinerant workers living near them. Steve pines for her love, Macca. The title, Maxwell writes, "expresses Steve's growing impatience and despair as she waits for sings of affection from Macca, her one true love, who has gone up-country".

*Part Four: "Ah, Primavera" Steve and Blue return to Gippsland for another season of pea-picking. Macca is not there, and Steve learns that he has gone droving and has another "girl". At the end of picking, Blue returns home to marry, at Steve's encouragement, and Steve remains alone in Gippsland.

After winning a top motorbike in a race, biker Dan (Jeremy Slate) has it stolen by Tony (Michael Walker), a jealous competitor. Dan sets off to retrieve it and finds the bike is now in the hands of a motorcycle gang, led by Tampa (Adam Roarke), who has stolen it after beating up Tony. After failing to steal his bike back and receiving a beating himself from Tampa, Dan heads off in pursuit of the gang and his bike, this time reluctantly accompanied by leather miniskirted biker girl Cathy (Jocelyn Lane) who has been 'gifted' to Dan by Tampa in exchange for the bike.

When gunshots are heard next door, the three children of widowed mystery novelist Marian Carstairs try to help the police help their mother solve the case or solve it themselves.

Polly Walker, an actress, runs from the neighbors' house, telling police lieutenant Bill Smith that she had gone there to see Flora Sanford and found her dead. Flora was an agent who represented Polly as well as Marian, whose books feature a detective character with the same name as Bill's.

Various suspects are considered, including other neighbors and Flora's hiding husband, who had fallen in love with Polly and wanted a divorce. The children begin sending anonymous letters, believing they are helping the investigation, until Bill finally persuades them to let him handle the case. He solves it, then expresses a romantic interest in Marian, pleasing the kids.

A video message recorded by Bradford for Alexis and Daniel specifying who will run Meade Publications causes conflict between the siblings after a technical error prevents them from finding out who, so they decide to settle it out in a paintball war. ''Slater'' is having trouble getting off the ground due to lack of financial support and Wilhelmina's insistence on looking younger. Hilda sets up her own beauty salon with help from Gio and Henry, but after Betty hears Gio's romantic approach to how he would spend his last days with someone, she begins to think she and Henry are not doing enough with their time left together.

The show begins in 1935 with the story of José Olaya (Ernesto Alterio), a 19-year-old anarchist from Asturias who works with his father and brother, Andrés, in a coal mine. One day, a gas leak occurs and Andrés asks the foreman to let the workers and children out. The foreman ignores his request. Andrés disobeys the order to return to work and instead helps evacuate the miners. While doing so he is severely wounded in a landslide. José and his father manage to take a dying Andrés back to his house, where he dies surrounded by his family. That same night, José decides to dynamite the mine in revenge and after doing so, he is followed by the Civil Guard. His mother asks him to go into exile in Argentina with the money saved by Andrés and to use his identity. José must keep his brother’s death a secret and will pretend to be Andrés for the rest of his life.

Concurrently, in 2001, the youngest son of an aging José (Héctor Alterio), Ernesto Olaya (Eduardo Blanco), is an unemployed architect in Buenos Aires who is suffering from the precursor to the economic crisis of that year. He decides to emigrate to Spain with his wife and children, but the Corralito, a bank restriction imposed by the government, blocked his bank deposits, preventing him from buying four plane tickets. However, his father offers him enough money to travel alone. Ernesto moves to Madrid, where he meets Ana (Marta Etura), a twenty-something year old waitress who helps him settle into a shared apartment with Mara (Angie Cepeda), a young illegal immigrant from Colombia. Ernesto watches how his plans of progress crumble in the midst of a slow Spanish bureaucracy. His progress is also deterred by the restrictions and xenophobia suffered by immigrants. Despite this, he lies to his family about his true situation, making them believe that he lives alone and with good job expectations.

Returning to the past, José embarks on his journey to Argentina, meeting Julius Lazlo (Pablo Rago), a young Hungarian Jew and Gemma (Francesca Trentacarlini/Giulia Michelini), a nine-year-old Italian girl who lost her family. Together they are placed in a tenement in the La Boca neighborhood. The plot continues during the 1940s and 1950s, showcasing José dealing with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the love story between Julius and Gemma, and the political landscape of Argentina during Peronism. In addition, it shows José’s relationship with the different women in his life, like his first wife Sophie (Caterina Murino) and his second wife, Lucía (Valeria Bertuccelli), who ends up being Ernesto's mother.

For his part, Ernesto temporarily gets an illegal job in an architects' studio. Due to his lack of sincerity and the long separation from his family, irritations begin to emerge between Ernesto and his wife Cecilia (Claudia Fontán), who begins an extramarital relationship with a colleague at work. At the end of the series, Cecilia and Ernesto divorce. Ernesto then begins to have feelings for his roommate Mara, and they end up getting married and having a child together.

Finally, in 2005, Ernesto — who already enjoys dual nationality and stable work as an architect — and his father visit Asturias. While there, José meets the ghosts of his past. He considers killing the foreman who sent his brother to the mine 70 years ago but has a change of heart. He begins taking actions to commit suicide to be with the friends that he lost. However, he reconsiders and realizes that he still has a life in the present. The series ends with Ernesto and his father sitting in front of Andrés’s grave, where José finally reveals his big secret to him.

The protagonist is Maya Andreyeva, a "camera" for a major news network in a 24th-century after the fall of a US world empire, where every nation is a third-rate power except hypertechnological Africa, which requires a blood test of aspiring immigrants.

As a "camera", Maya is heavily wired with sensory and telecommunications gear so that she can broadcast her perceptions, combining the functions of an on-location reporter and her camera crew, presenting both audiovisual data and its interpretation. (Related concepts include simstim in William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy, or the "gargoyles" of Neal Stephenson's ''Snow Crash''.)

Carter uses the protagonist's occupation as a focal point for analyzing the role of the media in packaging, selling, and, thus shaping history and historical truth. The reader is taken through not only the familiar slanted research and writing of a piece, but also the careful cooking of raw sense data for broadcast by a screener, the one person who experiences the camera's full sense experience, precisely so that others do not. The screeners experience high turnover because of their unfortunate tendency to identify too closely, and fall in love, with the cameras who cannot share their unidirectional intimacy. The novel begins with Maya finding herself saddled with a new and problematic screener - one who appears to her only through the net, never in person, and who is a woman, contrary to all custom in her heterocentric dystopia.

In the virtual company of this mysterious woman, Maya grapples with conspiracy, totalitarianism, mind control, race, sexuality, as well as the nature of the mind and free will.

A serial killer has murdered twelve bakers. While on a delivery for their bakery business, Wallace and Gromit save Piella Bakewell, a former pin-up girl for the Bake-O-Lite bread company, and her nervous poodle Fluffles when the brakes on her bicycle fail. Gromit finds there is no problem with the brakes, but Wallace is smitten. He and Piella begin a whirlwind romance, and Gromit is angered when she redecorates their house. Fluffles and Gromit share a sensitive moment when she returns Gromit's possessions, discarded by Piella.

Wallace sends Gromit to return Piella's forgotten purse. At Piella's mansion, Gromit discovers numbered mannequins representing each of the murdered bakers, and a book of photos; Wallace is her planned thirteenth victim, completing a baker's dozen. When he shows Wallace the evidence, Wallace is too distracted with his engagement to Piella to listen.

Gromit installs security measures in their home, including a metal-detecting security screener. After Piella tricks Wallace into thinking that Gromit bit her '''('''''she bit her own arm''''')''', Wallace muzzles Gromit and chains him up. Gromit watches helplessly as Piella prepares to push Wallace to his death, but he is saved when Piella is struck by a bag of flour. After an angry outburst about bakers, she leaves but drops by the next day to apologize with a cake. Gromit, suspicious, follows her home, where Piella throws him into a storeroom with Fluffles.

Escaping in Piella's old Bake-O-Lite hot air balloon, Gromit and Fluffles arrive at Wallace's house as he lights the candle. After a struggle, the cake falls, revealing to be a bomb. Wallace and Gromit are attacked by Piella, who reveals she detests bakers after her weight gain ended her career as the Bake-O-Lite girl. She is about to kill Wallace, but is attacked by Fluffles in a forklift. In the chaos, the bomb ends up in Wallace's trousers; Gromit and Fluffles neutralize the explosion by filling the trousers with dough while Piella leaps onto her balloon and escapes. However, her weight drags the balloon into the zoo and right to a crocodile enclosure where she fatally devoured.

Dejected, Wallace and Gromit decide to take their mind off their great adventure, especially the battle they had with Piella, with a delivery. Outside, they find Fluffles and she joins them.

The story begins during a boxing match of Esperanza Muñoz nicknamed "Monita" who has sustained a hand injury. Her manager, Enrique "Quique" Ferreti, is pressuring her to continue fighting, despite her pain. This injury complicates her economic situation, as her boxing provides the only income for her adoptive family, namely Quique and his mother, Maria de las Nieves. Nieves loves Esperanza like her own daughter, and pressures her to marry Quique. Her neighbor Kimberly suggests that Esperanza apply for a job in the Quesada Group, where she works as a janitress. The secretary Mercedes rejects Esperanza due to her violent manners and her dressing style. Martín Quesada, the president of the company, sees Esperanza crying in the street and hires her as his personal assistant.

Martín also meets three orphan siblings, José, Laura, and Coqui, who resisted being adopted by different families. He takes them to his home, and starts the legal proceedings to adopt them. Martín begins to like Esperanza, but his girlfriend Constanza, a cold, manipulative, and malicious woman, is wary of her. Esperanza does not tell Martín about her relations with Quique, instead pretending to be his sister. She also does not tell Martín that she is a boxer. Quique and Constanza begin their own relationship, unknown by most other characters. Martín breaks off his relationship with Esperanza when he sees her goodbye kiss with Quique, as he realizes that she was lying to him.

After the breakup with Esperanza, Martín resumes his romance with Constanza and eventually proposes marriage to her, in order to improve his chances of winning custody of the three siblings. The judge, who thought that Esperanza was a bad influence on the children, gives the adoption to Constanza instead of Martín, forcing him to marry her. Their marriage proves difficult; Constanza is demanding and possessive, and despises the adopted siblings, who hate her as well. Martín finally breaks with Constanza when she pretends to be blind to keep him with her. The children's custody battle delays the divorce, as Martín wants to keep them.

Due to the efforts of Martín's cousin Miguel, the unscrupulous lawyer "Falucho", and Constanza, Martin gradually loses his fortune, his business, and his house. He moves to the Conventillo and works as a taxi driver. Eventually, he recovers everything. A new character, Bárbara, temporarily joins the love triangle of Martín, Esperanza, and Constanza. Constanza gets pregnant by Quique and tries to pass off her son as Martín's, but fails. Martín finally marries Esperanza and has a family with her and the adopted children. Constanza moves in with Quique.

The film opens with Gerry and the Pacemakers stepping off a plane after returning from a trip to America ("It's Gonna Be Alright"). They are greeted by screaming young fans who chase them down the street as they drive off. Once they are far enough from the crowd, the setting shifts to a scene of the group in the studio recording the song "It's Gonna Be Alright".

The movie then goes back in time to before the band made it big. Gerry gives a monologue about living in Liverpool and meeting the band members overlaid on top of shots of children playing and mingling in the street. The band is shown playing "Why Oh Why?" at the Cavern Club to a screaming audience. The next day, Aunt Lil (Mona Washbourne) tries to wake Gerry up from bed with a cowbell. To her surprise, he is already awake and listening to the radio. After checking the time, Gerry rushes out of bed and gets dressed in a fast-motion sequence before meeting his family for breakfast. After eating, he scooters off to catch the ferry ("All Quiet on the Mersey Front") where the rest of the band is waiting for him. They sing "Ferry Cross the Mersey" to the surrounding passengers. When the boat docks, they all scooter off to the art school. Before the art instructor enters the room and tells everyone to get to work, Dodie (Julie Samuel) reminds Gerry to come up with a good song to play at the beat competition. When the instructor leaves, the Pacemakers sing "Fall in Love". Once class ends, Dodie goes her separate ways as the group goes for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. As they wait for their food, they perform "This Thing Called Love".

In the meantime, Dodie meets with Jack Hanson (T.P. McKenna) and convinces him to consider managing the Pacemakers. He is invited to visit the band rehearsing "Think About Love" in a warehouse. After seeing the group along with an enthusiastic crowd that has arrived to watch as well, he offers to manage them. Gerry arrives home to join an orchestral rehearsal with Aunt Lil and company before retiring to his room to play "She's the Only Girl for Me". He later receives a letter saying Dodie had been involved in a car pile-up; the four men travel to her mansion to check up on her.

Dodie is in good health but tells the group that they've got stiff competition. They play "I'll Wait for You" in her music room. On Saturday, the Pacemakers–donning their new outfits–meet Hanson at a music store to try out new instruments ("Baby You're So Good to Me").

On the day of the competition, they rent a car from a funeral home to carry their gear and travel off to the Locarno ballroom. Jimmy Savile is the MC and opens the show with the Fourmost playing "I Love You Too"–they receive moderately high applause on the "Audiometer" which uses audience applause to measure who will win. The band is told to get ready after the number, but they discover the instruments they've dropped off have been accidentally taken to the airport. As other bands take the stage, they try to out-run the police while making sure to get their gear back in time. Back at the ballroom, the Black Knights among others take the stage. Hanson becomes increasingly anxious and asks Cilla Black to perform early ("Is it Love?").

Gerry and the Pacemakers find the group that had taken their gear and arrive back to the ballroom just as Black's performance ends. They take the stage just in time to play "It's Gonna Be Alright" to the exuberant crowd. The Audiometer puts them over the top and they win. The movie ends with the main characters on the ferry celebrating.

Medicine

House's team gets a patient (Frank Whaley) with breathing problems with no apparent cause. He was just robbed and does not have I.D. on him, and they do not have his past medical records. Foreman suggests it might be a result of a vocal cord spasm, and they give him methacholine which would worsen it and thus provide a diagnosis. The patient complains of additional symptoms, and Foreman determines that he is faking them. His alleged symptoms are the same as those of other patients, and the name he gave them was the same as the paramedic. Foreman thinks he might have Munchausens, but House thinks it might be a rare form of anterograde amnesia known as Giovannini mirror syndrome (Named After Giovannina Conchiglia) that causes a patient to mimic those around him. House suggests that they try to convince the patient that he is a doctor, since a mirror syndrome patient would be convinced, but a Munchausens patient would not. They go to one of Wilson's surgeries, and the patient acts like a doctor. Specifically, he acts like Wilson. Wilson later notes that mirror patients always mirror the most dominant person in the room, which means that Wilson was more dominant than House. House explains that as a consequence of the fact that Wilson was in charge of the surgery.

House notices that the patient's blood thickens dangerously when his body temperature drops (cold agglutinin disease), something that cannot be faked. They look for an infection that could have caused it. The patient has his car keys on him, so House sends Cole to look for the patient's car, and Thirteen volunteers to go along. Brennan suggests that the patient might have a fungus, but the cure does not work. They put the patient in a hot tub to keep him warm. House suggests they get a medical history by checking his blood for antibodies. The test reveals that he has had histoplasmosis, a disease common in Ohio, but also coccidioidomycosis, residing in southwestern US, and Chagas disease, pointing to Central America. The patient has heart problems, so Foreman suggests they biopsy the heart. Brennan says that will kill him since the patient just had a heart attack. Foreman then makes a House-like statement, sarcastically saying "We biopsy his toe instead". House tells everyone to biopsy the patient's heart, which reveals nothing.

Cole and Thirteen find the patient's car, which allows them to determine his name, his hometown, and that he carries vaporub. The patient earlier said he liked hot tubs in the presence of Kutner, who later states he hates hot tubs. This evidence shows the patient was capable of thinking for himself, so House pretends to be the patient, so that when the patient mirrored him, he would say more about himself. The patient says he was on the road a lot, and he used the vaporub to block out the smell of dung. House infers that the patient sells farm equipment, and is around pigs a lot, and correctly diagnoses him with eperythrozoon, an infection that occurs in pigs.

Chase takes bets on who will be fired at the end of the case. House does not fire any of the candidates, so Chase wins all the bets. House confirms Foreman's suspicion that he was in the gambling with Chase on the bets and received 50% of the money. As they walk away, We're Going to Be Friends by The White Stripes plays, suggesting House and Foreman might begin to get along better, perhaps because they are so similar.

Foreman, Cuddy, and House

House didn't want Cuddy to rehire Foreman, and they get into a power struggle. To waste Cuddy's time, House tells the people in the cafeteria that the food was spoiled, and they should all go to the clinic. Then he orders unnecessary, expensive tests for the uninsured clinic patients. In retaliation, Cuddy replaces House's Vicodin with laxatives. House responds, "I know when my Vicodin isn't Vicodin. Do you know when your birth control pills aren't birth control pills?"

House realizes that no one is going to back down. (His exact quotation is "No one's going to be happy here... and Cuddy's going to end up pregnant.") So House tells Foreman he got him a job somewhere else. At first, Foreman claimed that he was miserable working with House again. But when the patient was mirroring Foreman, he said that he liked being there. Foreman realized he did like being back, and he says he doesn't want House to get him a job somewhere else.

Foreman suggests that House and Cuddy both talk to the patient at once, to see which one the patient would mirror (the patient mirrors the person he thinks is in charge). Foreman says that if the patient thinks House is dominant over Cuddy, he'll take that other job, until Wilson suggests that House was lying when he said he got Foreman another job. In the patient's room, with everyone watching outside through the glass, the patient tells them both to shut up and says that Cuddy has "great yabbos" (breasts). House takes this as confirmation that the patient is mirroring him, but Cuddy claims that's something she might have said as she has always considered her breasts to be one of her best features. The scene cuts to Foreman and Wilson, where Foreman simply says, "Damn" and we see House dancing in celebration and mimicking shooting Foreman with his cane as an imaginary machine gun.

Mirroring

The patient's mirroring gave several people insights about themselves. When he was mirroring Amber, he said that she had to be right since no one likes her and she 'had to be right, otherwise she wasn't worth anything'. When he was mirroring Taub, he said that he was attracted to Amber's dominant and aggressive personality. When he was mirroring Brennan, he said that he didn't like being in this hospital. In response to that, Brennan told House that he was going to quit and go back to his old job when the patient was cured, although he didn't end up quitting. When the patient was mirroring Kutner, he said that he was obsessed with new things and that he likes pain. When House brings the patient into an OR where Wilson is performing surgery, House and Wilson bicker for a minute until the patient begins mirroring Wilson. As Wilson points out later, this suggests that Wilson is the dominant one in House and Wilson's relationship.

House suggests that Thirteen went to find the patient's car, because she didn't want to see what the patient would say if he mirrored her. House wanted to find out what he'd say, so House and Thirteen went to see the patient together, but the patient commented emphatically on how attractive Thirteen was. House, believing the patient to be mirroring him, leaves the room. The patient, alone with Thirteen, said he was scared and it wasn't going to be alright.

At the end of the episode, after House has made the diagnosis, Foreman suggests a playful experiment, and they put the treatment on hold and get Cuddy. Since the patient had been mirroring whoever was the "alpha" in the room, House and Cuddy stand in front of him trying to argue over which of them is the "alpha". After momentary confusion, the patient eventually tells Cuddy, "you have ''great'' yabbos", mimicking House's thoughts.

The 'real' Giovannini mirror syndrome

Giovannini's Mirror Syndrome is a highly fictionalized version of a condition treated by Giovannina Conchiglia in Italy in 2007.Brain damage turns man into human chameleon https://digest.bps.org.uk/2007/03/20/brain-damage-turns-man-into-human-chameleon/ The real-life patient suffered frontal temporal brain damage and took cues based on his environment to develop his character. His role remained the same until the situation changed. The role switching was in addition to anterograde amnesia and anosognosia. The researchers stated that the patient "seems to have lost the capacity to keep his own identity constant, as he adapts himself excessively to variations in the social contexts, violating his own identity connotations in order to favour a role which the environment proposes".

In the first few episodes, Franz Meersdonk (Manfred Krug) is a trucker working for the Munich-based company, "Mittermann Haulage", driving mostly the Germany-Iran route. The company is run by Sylvia Mittermann (Monica Bleibtreu), who is friendly with Franz. One day, she lands a big delivery to Tehran, but Franz is the only driver she has left. Franz gets to know a washed up racing driver, Günther Willers (Rüdiger Kirschstein) and talks him into teaming up for the new assignment. All does not go smoothly, however. First, Franz's lorry is inadvertently switched for a stolen one, then a hitchhiker causes problems. Shortly before arriving, Günter's cab bursts into flames. But at long last, the goods are delivered successfully (although this is not depicted).

Back in Munich, the company has gone bankrupt, and the pair have to scramble to find new jobs. Just before Meersdonk is forced to sell his lorry, they connive to land another delivery run. Once an insurance fraud is cleared up in a later episode, they finally get the money together to form their own company: International Transport in Munich.

Season 5 takes place entirely in Turkey. Willers quits (for good this time after Willers had departed the series once before for 16 episodes). Meersdonk establishes a branch of the company in Turkey.

Most of the episodes involve auto theft, cargo scams, dubious acquaintances, or smuggling. Meersdonk and Willers get themselves into jams and get themselves back out. Trying to make successful deals, the good natured heroes are regularly taken advantage of or they get roughed up. So they remain what they are—truckers, even if they are their own bosses.

One year after the events of Infinite Crisis, Princess Diana of Themyscira had dropped out of sight. Since then, the mantle of Wonder Woman had been passed to Donna Troy. Three villains: Giganta, Dr. Psycho, and Cheetah hold one of Diana's friends hostage at a museum on Themysciran history: Steve Trevor. The villains demand for the real Wonder Woman the civilian of earth original character (T N T) to appear, but Donna goes in and frees Steve, which leads to a fight between her, Giganta and Cheetah in their new forms which leads outside. With the help of Dr. Psycho, Donna is kidnapped. Sarge Steel, head of the Department of Metahuman Affairs, talks to Steve Trevor, who is revealed to be Agent Nemesis. There, he meets his new partner: Agent Diana Prince (Diana in her new secret identity). God of earth and existence. Inspired by the first and last end and beginning civilian Made to watch Tammy N Tyler. Hint Bundy

The next morning, Diana Prince goes to the museum for any clues. There, she meets Robin (Tim Drake) and her protégé Cassie Sandsmark of the Teen Titans. Cassie is angry at Diana for leaving her, even after she was in depression after Conner Kent's death. Having no answer as to why she had left her, Cassie takes off to fight the villains who have appeared again. With her friends and the Department in need of help, Diana goes into an alley and decides to become Wonder Woman for the first time in a year. But she is stopped by Hercules.

Hercules takes care of the villains and questions Diana on her new Diana Prince identity. He points out that she stands for truth, as she states is all heart knows . yet she had decided to live a lie, and in sin she further questioning her mission for peace on Man's World. He departs, leaving Diana more confused on what she is doing. Nemesis questions Hercules' sudden appearance and goes with Diana Prince to sneak around his location. They are attacked by him, to which it's revealed that he is under the control of Circe. Commenting on Diana's decision on pretending to be human, she casts a spell on her, removing her powers so that she is human. Now, Circe is Wonder Woman.

News breaks out on the new Circe/Wonder Woman committing her own brand of justice by freeing women from forced labor and killing the men who has forced them. Hercules, sadden by the fact that he had attacked Diana despite it not being by his own actions, goes with her to Circe's island, Aeaea. Once they land, Circe attacks them. Subduing her, and grabbing her lasso of truth, she and Hercules go to her castle. Once there, Circe attacks again and Hercules stops her, but then he attacks Diana. It is revealed that Hercules and Circe were plotting against Diana and planning on ruling the world as their ultimate Gods, but Circe double crossed him. Stopping him from killing Circe, Diana uses the lasso to force Circe to reverse the spell she had cast on her. She does, and Diana is now Wonder Woman once again. But then, her entire rogues gallery appears...

Attacked by all of her rogues, Diana manages to fight back until she is almost finished when Donna (in her old Wonder Girl outfit), Cassie, Nemesis, and members from the Teen Titans, the Justice Society, and the Justice League appear to help her. As they fight her rogues, Diana leaves to confront Hercules and Circe, who are fighting each other. Diana fights with Hercules, and since he is an evil God, she is prepared to kill him. But she is stopped by Circe, who subdues and binds Hercules in chains. Circe is living her punishment, as she lives forever and has lost what made her want to stay alive. Diana had accepted that she can't be human, and feels alone because she doesn't quite belong anywhere as she mentions she was made from clay. Circe tells her that she is never alone, and secretly casts a spell on her as she leaves.

Diana Prince reports to Sarge and Nemesis on what happened to both Circe and Hercules, even though Nemesis mentions that he didn't see her when he arrived. Nemesis then shows her the things collected from Aeaea and she accidentally slits her hand on a sword and bleeds, which makes Diana confused. When meeting with Donna, she reveals that Circe made sure that she is human as Diana Prince and immortal as Wonder Woman, and thinks of it as some sort of gift. Now that she can be with humans instead of standing outside of them, Cassie and Donna go with her to the press conference to announce her return, with the rest of the superhero community with her and happy to have her back. Diana is happy, as she now knows "who is Wonder Woman".

Set against the backdrop of the Second World War, ''The Years Between'' unfolds in the library/living room of an English country house. The man of the house, Colonel Michael Wentworth, MP, is presumed dead after his plane crashed into the sea on a flight to Europe in 1942.

His wife Diana is persuaded to take over the Colonel's parliamentary seat, and she is supported in her endeavours by her neighbour Richard Llewellyn, a sympathetic farmer with whom she strikes up a romantic relationship. Llewellyn teaches the Wentworths' young son Robin how to fish, thus becoming his great friend.

Three years later, as the war is about to come to an end, the Colonel returns. He has been playing a key role in organising the resistance movement in Occupied Europe, and his disappearance and death were staged by the authorities to provide convincing cover for his activities. The remainder of the play deals with the fallout of Michael's return on the various protagonists.

Set in pre-1997, before the return of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China, the film opens with brothers Archer, Tony and Tiger discussing a drug deal with Sam, a rival gang leader. Ma Jun, a serious criminal investigations detective (who has been reprimanded for frequently inflicting injury on suspects), along with his team, raids the nightclub for investigation, and winds up fighting against his partner, Wilson, who has been planted as a mole.

The three brothers are later confronted by Sam and his gang, who are impatient over receiving the drugs from the brothers' native Vietnam, but they are kept at bay with violence and intimidation. The brothers later threaten the elder leaders of their gang, when they attempt to intervene. Tiger is later assigned to kill Sam in his car, but the plan fails when Wilson intervenes. While in hospital, Sam agrees to testify in court against the three brothers. On the night of their mother's birthday, the brothers plan to recover their drug money, but as they are doing so, Archer is arrested by Hong Kong police, while Tony and Tiger discover that Wilson is a mole and attempt to get rid of him. While in court, Archer is forced to turn in all of his travel documents, which will prevent him from fleeing Hong Kong before his hearing.

Three months later, Tiger and Tony brutally murder Sam along with several other witnesses and crime figures crucial to the police investigation. They attempt again to kill Wilson, delivering a bomb which kills inspector Wong and injures Wilson's pregnant girlfriend, Judy, but fails to harm Wilson. Tony and Tiger then disguise themselves as janitors to sneak into the hospital where he is being protected by the police. Ma and Tiger both end up in the same elevator and Tiger attempts to kill Wilson with a silenced pistol once he appears, but Ma is aware of him and at the last moment engages him in a fierce struggle. After being disarmed, Tiger attempts to escape, but Ma gives chase until he corners him at an outdoor restaurant. Tiger uses a little girl as a hostage and then severely injures her by throwing her through the air onto the concrete. Ma furiously engages him in combat and beats him to death in front of the crowd. Tony, having kidnapped Judy from the hospital, threatens to kill her if Wilson, now a sole witness, testifies in court. During the court hearing, Wilson refuses to testify, and the case is dismissed for lack of evidence. Wilson later attempts to rescue Judy, but is captured by Tony and his gang.

Once Archer walks free, Ma captures him and calls Tony for an exchange of hostages, leading to a confrontation in an abandoned village. Ma rescues Wilson and Judy, then single-handedly takes on the remaining gangsters, killing most of them with his revolver and a commandeered sniper rifle. Wilson returns to assist him and helps to subdue Archer. Ma corners Tony and, having exhausted his ammunition, engages him in a grueling hand-to-hand fight, eventually strangling him to unconsciousness in order to finally arrest him.

Following the events of the first game, the kingdom of Zephyrus (labelled as Zebulos in the international manuals) comes under attack from the Gedol Empire, led by King Gedol. Seeking to control the kingdom, Gedol dispatches Sparkster's arch-rival, Axel Gear to kidnap Princess Cherry, the cousin of Princess Sherry, as a way to lure Sparkster to his doom.

During a search for one of the Keys to the Seal, Sparkster encounters Axel and his robo mech, prompting the two to fight. Sparkster emerges victorious at the end, retrieving the key. Later on, during a reunion with Princesses Sherry and Cherry, Axel Gear appears and kidnaps Cherry. Sparkster sets off to rescue Cherry by travelling to the Kingdom of Gedol, defeating many troops and winning occasional encounters with Axel. Eventually making it to Gedol's Castle, Sparkster confronts and defeats Axel Gear for the final time, with Axel leaving the last "Key to the Seal" behind. If all Keys have been collected, Sparkster transforms into Gold Sparkster and sets off to confront Gedol. If not, Sparkster sets off normally. Sparkster eventually confronts King Gedol and defeats him. If played on the Normal difficulty or harder, Gedol transforms into a giant, using his eyes as lasers. Sparkster eventually defeats him and slices him in half. Sparkster rescues Cherry and escapes the exploding castle.

If the game is finished on the Hard mode, Sparkster returns to the kingdom of Zephyrus, reuniting Cherry with the King and Sherry. With his job done, Sparkster flies elsewhere. If the player has achieved Gold Sparkster status, Sparkster returns to the location where he found the first Key to the Seal and returns it back into its place, reverting to his normal state in the process.

As described in a film magazine, ex-jailbird and derelict Steve Packard (Carey) is in the South Seas when he receives word of the death of his father and instruction to return and assume charge of the ranch left to him. On his arrival he learns that his grandfather has designs on the ranch. In his scheme to obtain it, the grandfather is abetted by Joe Blenham (Le Moyne), the foreman on Steve's ranch. Steve discovers Joe is double-crossing him when the latter attempts to rob Steve of some money. After a realistic Western rough and tumble fight, Steve leaves the ranch to return to the elder Packard. In his courtship of Terry Temple (Rich), who lives on a neighboring ranch, Steve is handicapped by his reputation from his past. She asks him to allow her to graze her cattle on some extra land he has obtained belonging to the elder Packard, in a transaction Steve believes to be perfectly legitimate. When the elder Packard learns of the grazing, he plans to stampede the cattle over a precipice. Steve and Terry go to a perilous position in front of the herd in an attempt to head them off. Steve proves he is a real man by saving Terry and her cattle. When the elder Packard learns that Steve really believed the land was his, the scheming of Joe comes to light. In a fist fight at the edge of a cliff, Steve throws Joe over the precipice. Steve and his grandfather are reconciled, and the courtship with Terry is now smooth sailing.

Aaron (Walthall) wishes to make Harry's land and girl his own. To do this, he sends Harry to Mexico with false papers for some horses. Harry gets arrested in Mexico, but soon escapes and returns home, where he is also arrested. Before he can be lynched, a Mexican girl brings the Texas Rangers to rescue him.

The film is about a Jewish man named Marty Shalom Weinstein (Fiore) who falls in love with a wrestling princess Sandy and it's a "no holds barred" quest for her love, the Jewish man finds he has to fight for his love as Sandy's dad is also a wrestler who only wants his daughter to marry a famous wrestler, and not a Jewish man with little money and no muscles. Robert also has to deal with Roxanne (Laurer) and Jennie (Marshall) along with others out to get him.

The novel primarily explores the consequences of Captain Jean-Luc Picard's possession of—and near-possession by—a legendary object of power.

Bob, a married person with two sons, has to come out to her family as a transgender woman.

A teenage girl who was molested by her father calls David Kelley, a radio psychologist working for KDRX, and shoots herself on the air. Later, a real estate broker shows off a house to prospective buyers, and discovers the decomposing remains of another realtor in the washroom, the fourth victim of a psychopath dubbed the "Open House Killer". Outside Grant Real Estate, which David's girlfriend Lisa runs, someone digs through the trash, and takes discarded Seller Listings. The vagabond goes to one of the listed houses, and murders the realtor and buyer inside with a plunger that has had razor blades attached to it. The Open House Killer (who gives his name as "Harry") then calls David at KDRX, and opines that his victims deserved their fates.

After an open house, Harry breaks into the property, and electrocutes the realtor with frayed wires. As Harry continues to make rambling calls to KDRX, a detective named Arnold Shapiro is assigned to work with the station to try and track Harry down. In an attempt to protect their employees, the real estate agencies institute new safety precautions, though these do little to deter Harry, who murders another agent by hanging her.

Barney Resnick, Lisa's unscrupulous business rival, visits a prospective client, a dominatrix who agrees to sell her home through his agency if he has kinky sex with her. Harry follows Resnick, decapitates him with an axe, and snaps the neck of the home owner. The next day, Harry abducts Lisa, who gives cryptic hints about her whereabouts when Harry calls KDRX to taunt David. David tracks Lisa and Harry to an empty house, and as the authorities swarm the building, Harry expresses disappointment over the media not being present, and rants about how corporations and the real estate industry drove him to kill, as they made it so he could never have a place he could call his own

Just as Harry is about to slit Lisa's throat, he is shot and knocked through a glass door by Detective Shapiro. Despite the severity of his injuries, Harry still tries attacking, and is finally killed when Shapiro knocks him off a balcony.

Elmer receives a large package, accompanied by a letter from his Uncle Judd. In the letter, Elmer is asked to take care of the enclosed rare Slobbovian rabbit (named Millicent) until he arrives, and is promised $500 for his efforts. When he opens the box he discovers that Millicent is a huge, unattractive, female rabbit with an Eastern European/Slavic accent. When Elmer shows Millicent her room, she trashes the room and cries uncontrollably on a couch.

Elmer calls a doctor who says that Slobovian rabbits get lonely and need another rabbit to talk to. He goes out to lure a rabbit with a carrot, and catches Bugs.

When Elmer introduces Bugs to Millicent, her demeanor quickly switches from melancholic to amorous; she asks for a "laaarge keess." Most of the rest of the plot deals with Bugs' humorous attempts to evade Millicent's romantic advances; Bugs is often thwarted by a gun-wielding Elmer. After Millicent insists that she and Bugs get married, Bugs declares that they should elope. Bugs takes a rolled up sheet and holds it out the window for Milly to slide down, but lets go of the sheet as she is doing so ("Butterfingers!").

As Millicent pounds on the door, Bugs tells Elmer that Uncle Judd is at the door. Bugs offers a "bathrobe" for Elmer to slip into; as he steps into the hall, the "bathrobe" is revealed to be a bunny costume. When Elmer opens the door, Millicent becomes enchanted by Elmer (thinking he's a rabbit), and chases after him off into the countryside. The cartoon concludes with Bugs at the door, (in a cupid costume) saying: "Eh, ain't I the little matchmaker though?"

Headstrong and resourceful, Shin Na-ra once dreamed of becoming a career woman, but she spent the best years of her life supporting Kang Seung-woo, her boyfriend of seven years. Now he is a successful accountant and she is unemployed and rapidly approaching thirty. Na-ra hopes to marry Seung-woo, but after he returns from a business trip, he unexpectedly breaks up with her on their anniversary, telling her that not only did he have an affair, but he fell in love with the other woman, a cosmetics manager named Cha Mi-rae.

To drown her sorrows, Na-ra drinks a large amount of alcohol and unknowingly drops the ring Seung-woo once gave her into a shot glass of soju. A stranger, Na In-jae, drinks the shot without seeing the ring and both of them end up in the hospital.

Later, Na-ra decides to confront the woman who stole her boyfriend, but while at Mi-rae's cosmetics company, a job ad catches her eye. With nothing to lose, Na-ra fakes being her 20-year-old sister Na-kyung, a high school graduate, and starts working as a sales clerk at the company. Just her luck, Na-ra's co-worker is In-jae, who turns out to also be in love with Mi-rae. The two constantly clash at work, with Na-ra finding In-jae immature and spoiled. But what she doesn't know is that In-jae is actually the son of the company's vice president who was forced by his mother to learn the ropes by starting from the bottom.

Gilbert Selwyn's mother has remarried once more—this time to a successful but aging Hollywood producer. Gilbert, ever the schemer, lifted a few plot points from ''Casablanca'' (i.e., plagiarized the entire film and put a new title on it) and convinced his new stepfather to promote the script to actor Stephen Donato's producer. Gilbert convinces his friends, Philip Cavanaugh and Claire Simmons, to move to Hollywood to help him rewrite the script. They quickly uncover his deception. But since Gilbert told the studio executives that the script was mostly Philip and Claire's, they must help rewrite the screenplay or else find any chance of a career ruined.

Claire refuses to go along with the stunt, but Gilbert offers her the chance of a lifetime: Gilbert's agent, having heard of their success selling a screenplay, has offered the trio a chance to write actress Diana Malenfant's new film. The movie will be the first time Diana and her son, Stephen Donato, have acted together on screen since Stephen was 10, and it may prove the jump-start to Diana's career which she's been searching for.

Gilbert is able to wrangle an appointment with Diana Malenfant, who is not particularly interested. But Lily, her drunken and estranged sister, is writing a tell-all book. Philip convinces Diana and Stephen that he has a job assisting Lily with her memoirs, and that he could find out what Lily intends to say in her book. Shrewdly, Diana agrees to hire Gilbert, Philip and Claire to write her new film while Philip spies on Lily.

Stephen, who is gay, soon makes a secret rendezvous with Philip. He's worried that Aunt Lily might attempt to out him in her book. Stephen convinces Philip that he should not only spy on Lily but actually sabotage the book. Philip agrees. Lily's older brother, former child actor Monty Malenfant (and an openly gay man), is suspicious of Philip but goes along to keep Lily happy.

As if events were not complicated enough, Moira Finch suddenly shows up at Gilbert, Philip and Claire's home. She has heard about their deal with Diana Malenfant, and threatens to expose them as frauds. But Moira offers the three a deal: Moira has recently opened a ritzy Hollywood spa, but is lacking clients and cachet. Get Stephen Donato to show up for a free weekend at her spa, and Moira will forget all about how "Casablanca" happened to be sold (again) to one of Hollywood's biggest producers.

Philip soon finds that Monty is on to him. Monty confirms that Stephen is indeed a homosexual, which thrills Philip and leads to numerous fantasies. But Monty also threatens to expose Philip to Diana. Monty offers him a deal: Philip helps Lily turn her book into a best-seller, and nothing will be said to Diana.

Now Claire, Philip and Gilbert are caught in a bind. How do they help Lily while also ruining any chance her book might have? And what of Moira? Claire begins to suspect that her spa isn't quite what it seems, for Moira has far too much money and too many friends. The trio quickly get caught in a downward spiral of sex, closeted movie stars, hustlers, blackmail, secret videotape, a homophobic district attorney, a cute bartender, false fire alarms, car theft, impersonating a police officer, a sleazy public-access television host and a "night with Oscar" that has nothing to do with the Academy Awards.

On a stormy night, Sonic and Tails set out in Tails' biplane, the Tornado, after it detects a powerful energy signal. During their flight, the Tornado is struck by lightning and gets sucked into a tornado, knocking Sonic and Tails out. They awaken on a remote island and meet the energetic raccoon Marine, who longs to be a sailor. Sonic sets off to explore the island for shipbuilding materials, as Tails starts to work on Marine's ship. Sonic returns and discovers the smaller, faster waterbike that Tails and Marine have made. While exploring the surrounding islands to test the waterbike, they soon encounter a band of pirates led by the robotic Captain Whisker, who are after an ancient artifact known as the Jeweled Scepter. As Sonic attempts to stop Whisker from retrieving the Scepter, Blaze suddenly appears; she reveals to them that they have accidentally traveled to her dimension during the storm, and that she has been attempting to stop the pirates for some time. Whisker manages to escape with the Scepter, so Blaze and Sonic agree to work together and retrieve it.

After searching, the group locates the pirates' hidden fortress and confront Captain Whisker and his first mate, Johnny. As the two are defeated, they attempt to escape to return the scepter to Doctor Eggman (their true leader), while Marine goes after them on her own. However, the pirates overpower her and take her hostage on their ship. Giving chase, Sonic and Blaze attack and defeat Whisker's strongest robot, the Ghost Titan, causing an explosion that sinks the ship. In the aftermath, Marine reveals she took back the Jeweled Scepter in the confusion, and Blaze returns the relic to its proper resting place. A furious Eggman takes matters into his own hands and steals the scepter. Upon discovering him, Eggman and his alternate-dimensional counterpart Eggman Nega, piloting a giant robot, begin their plot to turn Blaze's world into Eggmanland.

Using the Chaos and Sol Emeralds, Sonic and Blaze transform into Super Sonic and Burning Blaze respectively, and battle the doctors. Over the protests of Eggman, Eggman Nega tries to destroy Blaze's planet as a last resort, but he is distracted by Marine, giving Sonic and Blaze an opening to defeat them, destroying the mech. Tails builds a craft that uses the power of both sets of Emeralds, as Sonic and Blaze promise to one day meet again. As Sonic and Tails set sail, Marine appears on her new boat, thanking Sonic and Tails and promising she will study to become a captain. The three say their final goodbyes as Sonic and Tails fly off for home.

The novel is framed as the reminiscence of a female character (identified as Harriet Winslow through its course) "now she sits alone and remembers".

An embittered American writer and former journalist, not named until the final chapter as Ambrose Bierce, decides to leave his old life behind and seek death in the midst of the Mexican Revolution. A widower whose two sons are dead and whose daughter refuses to speak to him, he seeks out part of the Army of the North under Pancho Villa. The particular group he encounters in Chihuahua, led by 'General' Tomás Arroyo, has just liberated the massive hacienda of the Miranda family. Arroyo is mestizo, the product of the rape of his mother by his Miranda father, and is persuaded by the old gringo to let him join the revolutionary force.

At that same hacienda, the old man meets Harriet Winslow, a 31-year-old woman from Washington D.C., hired as a blind to tutor the Miranda children, while the family has fled the country. Harriet, however, refuses to leave the hacienda, insisting that she has been paid and will wait for the family's return. At first, she will not call Arroyo "General" (insisting that he has merely given himself the title), and has a patronizing view of the revolutionary army and the Mexican people. Her own father had disappeared during the earlier American invasion of Cuba and the Winslow family has been living off his army pension. Only Harriet knew that he had really stayed behind to live with a mulatto woman.

Harriet is committed into the care of the old gringo, who subsequently falls in love with her. The gringo displays considerable courage under fire, risking what seems like obvious death, and gains a reputation for valor. However, his refusal to obey Arroyo's order to shoot a captured Federal officer means that the 'General' could have him executed. Instead Arroyo shoots the officer himself, then parlays Harriet into a sexual relationship in return for sparing the gringo. Although Harriet appreciates their encounter, she cannot forgive his sexual arrogance. Arroyo's partner, a woman referred to as "La Luna", whom the Revolution has liberated from an abusive landowning husband, accepts his infidelity as necessary. But the gringo finds Harriet's sacrifice ironic, forcing him to reveal to her his real purpose in coming to Mexico. Instead, he now treats Harriet as a daughter in place of his estranged child, while she takes the old gringo in place of the father who has abandoned his family.

While Arroyo was away fighting in the mountains, Harriet had been attempting to rebuild and restore the hacienda and teach the women and children there. He, however, wishes to destroy his place of birth, remembering his humiliation there as the unrecognized son of the owner, and wins over the local peasants by posing as a true son of the people and using the name of his mother (Arroyo) rather than Miranda, to which he has a right. That right he believes contained in a document which he keeps close to him (though he cannot read it), until the gringo sets it on fire in revenge for his treatment of Harriet. Arroyo then responds by fatally shooting him in the back.

Later, Harriet presses for the return of the gringo's body, claiming him as her father, so that he may be buried in the grave reserved for the vanished Winslow at Arlington National Cemetery. Pancho Villa now faces criticism for an alleged cold-blooded murder of an American by troops under his overall command. Villa has the American's body exhumed and 'executed' by firing squad (passing it off as the work of the Federales). When Arroyo approaches to give the dead body the coup de grâce, Villa orders the firing squad to shoot Arroyo as a means of preventing any further American response.

After Harriet crosses the border back to the US, she refuses to testify in front of Congress as part of a journalistic campaign to encourage the U.S. to 'civilize' Mexico, and decides that instead of attempting to change Mexico, as she had wanted to earlier, the better approach, as she now tells the waiting journalists, is "to learn to live with Mexico".

A rich young widowed Gina Lollobrigida as Anna, leaves New York and searches for a husband in the village in Italy she was born in.

The story shows the lives of various people from different parts of society who, on one particular day, stroll through the park.

Servants and soldiers

First morning. A group of Venetian waitresses meets in Piazza di Siena, where they take the children of the families they work for to play. One of them, Lidia, reunites with the group after a while, and she explains that she attempted suicide due to a love disappointment suffered by a soldier; another, Marietta, claims that she would be very ready to kill herself if a man made fun of her. She too is dating a Neapolitan soldier, who takes her aside and invites her to a night meeting in the park. After disdainfully refusing, and seeing the soldier engaged in courting a Swedish nanny, the girl disappears. Her friends look for her frantically, thinking that she may have thrown herself off the cliff of the Muro Torto; her fears vanish when she finds her again as she quietly watches a puppet show.

Greek

Late morning. Some classical high school students have come up with a trick to avoid an almost certain failure. One of them, Anna Maria, made an appointment with the Greek teacher at the Sea Horse Fountain; she the girl has to pretend that she is in love with him and kiss him suddenly, so that the other classmates can secretly photograph the kiss and then use the photo to blackmail the teacher and get the promotion. The teacher introduces himself, and tells Anna Maria her sad story about her: after the end of the school year she will have to leave teaching because she is losing her sight. The student, moved, hugs him, but at the same time tries to cover his face so that the blackmail photo fails.

The film centres on two young soldiers in World War I who are about to go into battle. Both have comforting reminders of home. One of the men is an infantryman who clutches a photograph of his lover. The other a pilot who carefully tucks a teddy bear into a safe place in the cockpit of his biplane.

The pilot takes off, headed for the airspace above the trenches where the other soldier waits for the whistle signalling an attack. The whistle sounds and the soldier tucks his photograph into his pocket and charges forward across the battlefield and dives into a foxhole. When he gets there he is horrified to discover he has dropped his photograph. He spots it lying on the battlefield nearby and begins crawling over to retrieve it. However every time he gets close the wind blows it further away.

Meanwhile, above him, the pilot is now involved in a dogfight with a German triplane while simultaneously struggling to keep control of his bear which keeps coming loose from its safe place in his cockpit. Eventually the bear falls out of his cockpit and becomes caught on the tail section of his plane.

Below on the ground, the infantryman has caught up with his photograph, but he doesn't realise he has wandered into the sights of a German sniper. Just as the sniper is about to fire, the view through his rifle scope is blocked by an object. It is the pilot's bear, which has fallen from the plane. In the time it takes the sniper to knock the bear away, the infantryman has disappeared. In his sights, in the place where the infantryman formerly stood, there is now a tank whose gun is aimed directly at him. The tank fires and the sniper is killed.

In fictional Clear River, Nebraska in 1946, 10-year-old Addie Mills is a lonely child who wears large horn-rimmed glasses, living in a plain, ordinary house with her widowed father James and her loving paternal grandmother.

Addie's mother died from pneumonia a few months after she was born, and her embittered father wonders why his beloved wife had to die rather than their sickly baby. Her first name is taken from her father's middle name, but his only interaction with Addie seems to be in frequent corrections of her. There has never been a Christmas tree in the Mills home since his wife's death, although Addie constantly challenges this omission.

Addie finally wins her class Christmas tree in a supervised contest between Gloria Cott and herself...via a guessing technique learned from her father. When she brings the prize home, both she and her grandmother are delighted at the prospect of their first Christmas with a tree. James angrily orders the tree removed; he even accuses Addie of cheating Gloria to win it. His mother speaks up, reminding him that the house belongs to her; he responds by threatening to take Addie and move out, leaving her alone in the house. Late that night, Addie sneaks the tree out of the house and surreptitiously donates it to Gloria--the only other student in her class who also goes treeless at Christmas, since the Cotts are too poor to afford one.

The next morning, James delivers some cookies (baked by his mother) to the Cott residence. Seeing their new tree, he recognizes it as the same one his daughter had brought home...and which he had demanded she get rid of. James, realizing just how selfish and unkind he has been towards his daughter, rethinks his position. That afternoon, James comes home with a tree and several boxes of ornaments, except a star. James goes up to the attic and brings down just such a star as he had not brought home, much more magnificently-made than the one Addie had created for her prize tree. As Addie admires the star, her father reveals that her mother had crafted it especially for her much-longed-for baby's first Christmas. Then he lifts Addie up, allowing her to place her star on the tree.

An adult Addie narrates over the final scene; over the ensuing years, her grandmother dies, and Addie moves away to a big city, but returns to Clear River each year to spend Christmas with her father, who always has a Christmas tree waiting, upon which to place the beloved star.

Ingolf Vogeler, a mercenary from the Republic of Richland arrives in Mackenzie lands in the Willamette River region of Oregon. He is being stalked by soldiers from the Church Universal and Triumphant (known as Cutters), which is located in Paradise Valley, Montana, and controls parts of Montana and Wyoming. Ingolf arrives in a tavern run by Tom Brannigan, and during the night, is attacked by these soldiers. As he is attacked, Rudi Mackenzie, Mathilda Arminger, Odard Liu, and the twins Ritva and Mary Havel join the fray. Odard and Rudi kill several assassins until Rudi shouts to take one alive. The assassins realize they can't escape and commit suicide before the party can react. Odard and Rudi break the door that Ingolf is hidden behind, and take him to a hospital. Ingolf is saved, and he relates his tale to the Mackenzies.

It turns out that he had traveled to Nantucket with his mercenary company during an expedition to collect pre-Change relics. Along with two mercenary scouts (Kaur and Singh) and Kuttner, a guard of the bossman of Iowa travelling with the company, Ingolf saw a vision that told him to: ''Travel from sunrise to the sunset, and seek the Son of the Bear Who Rules. The Sword of the Lady waits for him.''

The party traveled back to the mainland to hook up with the remainder of the mercenaries, but they were all found dead somewhere in Illinois. Ingolf led the party west, but they are stopped by Cutter forces. The party is then betrayed by the guard, Kuttner, who turns out to be a Cutter officer. While fleeing, Kaur is wounded, and she and her brother dismount and turn to hold off the Cutters while Ingolf flees. Kaur and Singh make Ingolf swear to avenge them. Ingolf is able to escape the Cutter forces due to the sacrifice of the scouts, however he is later captured and taken to the C.U.T capitol, but manages to escape later on.

Ingolf then arrived at Mackenzie territory and tells Juniper and Rudi Mackenzie his story. Both interpret the vision to mean that Rudi, who was prophesied to be the Sword of the Lady, has to go east to Nantucket. After a brief debate, Rudi, Ingolf, Mary, Ritva, and Edain Aylward, set off for Nantucket. As they travel, they split up, and meet back up at the house of John Brown, an important member of the Central Oregon Ranchers Association and ally of the Mackenzies. In the meantime Mathilda, Odard, as well as Odard's servant Alex, and the monk Father Ignatius, have joined the party, fleeing Protectorate territory and avoiding being brought back by Regent Arminger's men-at-arms.

The party travels further east saving a group of Mormons from Rovers, nomadic brigands of southeastern Oregon. They learn that the Church Universal and Triumphant are at war with the Mormon state of New Deseret and are on the verge of defeating them. Later the party runs into a Cutter army in southern Idaho. They warn President Thurston, leader of the United States of "Boise", who defeats the force with his personal soldiers while Rudi and Edain save him from an assassination attempt by his own guards.

The party travels to Boise to figure out why the Church wants Thurston dead, while Boise prepares for war against the Church. Taking the army of Boise south, Thurston meets with a demoralized Deseret army and agree to fight together against Cutter forces besieging the Deseret city of Twin Falls. During the combat, President Thurston is assassinated by his son, Martin Thurston, who is allied with the Cutters in an effort to make himself the dictator of Boise. Rudi and Thurston's younger son witness this and flee, warning the rest of the party. The party splits up to avoid being captured by the Cutters, traveling east and planning to meet up at a rally point. Mathilda, Odard, and Alex are cornered in a rocky ravine when Odard's horse is killed and Odard becomes injured. He and Mathilda turn to make a last stand, but Alex, under orders from Odard's mother to protect him at all costs, betrays them to the Cutters, and the trio are captured. Edain, Father Ignatius, Thurston's youngest son, Mary, and Ritva arrive at the rendezvous point but flee because of advancing Cutters. They encounter Boise forces and are taken in a pedal-powered airship to save Rudi from pursuing Cutter forces. In the meantime, Ingolf is captured by the Cutters, who are led by Kuttner, who mysteriously forces Ingolf to drop his machete and takes him prisoner.

Meanwhile, the forces of the C.U.T. succeed in breaching the walls of Twin Falls, capturing the city and on the orders of their leader the Prophet Sethaz, massacres the entire population.

Tōru and Noburo are brothers of the Takagami family who have just returned to their late mother's hometown of Mitsukawa. Toru has Yin in his blood and is constantly targeted by the ''yōkai'' and other creatures lurking in Japan. When Tōru is targeted by one, his brother Noburo releases the fox deity Kūgen Tenko who protects Tōru from the monster. Kūgen now acts as the protector of Tōru and Noburo to keep them safe from any threats while simultaneously trying to adapt to the modern world.

''Trot'' tells the story of Lorois, a knight at the court of King Arthur. He lives in the castle of Morois, which can be identified with Moray in Scotland. One day, he leaves the castle to go deep into the forest, where he hopes to hear the song of the nightingale. There, he sees eighty beautiful young women and their lovers, elegantly dressed and riding leisurely through the forest. They are soon followed by another eighty women, their lovers, and their horses, talking and laughing. The third group of women, however, numbers one hundred. These women are alone, haggard, shabbily dressed, and "trotting" through the forest, sitting on saddles of straw. Lorois cannot be silent any more and must know the meaning of this procession. He talks to one of the unfortunate women who explains that the one hundred and sixty happy maidens were true in love and are being rewarded for "obeying love's commands." The one hundred miserable maidens never knew love and are now being punished. She tells Lorois to return to his castle and tell all the young women of their plight so that more do not make the same mistake.

Part 1

Battling the Dominators, Superman spots Chris Kent, who should be in school. Chris tells him of his troubles in school, and Superman takes Chris to the Batcave to meet Batman and Robin. Upon learning that red sun radiation shuts off his powers, Superman asks Batman to make a projector small enough to be put in a watch for Chris.

Chris is excited to see Robin, an ordinary human being, performing stunts. Receiving news of a bridge collapse, Batman mobilizes Superman and Chris, who save the people and repair the bridge. Batman alerts Superman to a group of rampaging kids with superhuman strength. Superman and Batman discover that the kids had inhaled some kind of alien compound through smoking, thinking they might lead him to the third Kryptonian. Meanwhile, an alien race, led by the mysterious Amalak, watches Superman, and learns of the Kryptonians living on Earth. Amalak also learns of the existence of Kandor.

Superman goes to the place that supposedly produced the compound, discovering that it is house whose only inhabitant is a woman called Kristin Wells.

Part 2

Superman comes upon Kristin Wells, noting her exotic garden. He starts to politely introduce himself, and she punches him to Tokyo. Superman returns to find Wells armed with a gun, threatening him. He says he's there to talk, and she stands down.

She says that her real name is Karsta Wor-Ul and that she was a soldier under Admiral Dru-Zod until, generations ago, the Kryptonian government decided to shut down the Kryptonian Empire. Refusing to yield, she and others fled.

They were pursued by Almerac agents and the group split and fractured, some returning to Krypton, others going rogue. She eventually met Ro-Kul, fell in love, and perpetrated acts of piracy and events that included her killing other beings to survive.

She recalls that in sojourn with Ro, she had dreams of Kandor, a proposed lunar colony. Later, on another planet, they are attacked by Amalak, a mysterious being that swore vengeance on all Kryptonians. Amalak killed Ro, and Karsta fled to Earth to use Superman as an early warning system, should Amalak return.

After finishing her story, Karsta prepares to leave, but Superman tries to talk her out of it. However, Amalak discovers their location and attacks them.

Part 3

Superman fights Amalak, while Power Girl, Supergirl and Krypto fight Amalak's minions across the world. While Superman fights Amalak, Karsta decides to escape. Batman hears everything through audio gear and decides to help. Superman meanwhile ricochets a beam of heat vision off a satellite to signal Lois to hide out somewhere with Chris before Amalak is able to track them too. Chris asks if he can remove his watch and join in the action but his foster mother reminds him not to disobey Superman. Karsta, meanwhile, retrieves an escape craft from the ocean and flies off the planet. Karsta then finds an abandoned Kryptonian space cruiser.

Amalak attacks Superman with red-solar explosives and Kryptonite flechettes. Superman goes to the Fortress to protect Kandor. Superman reaches the Fortress in the Amazon Jungle, but he is ambushed by Amalak's forces. Amalak activates the Brain Ripper, a device capable of ripping memories from one brain to implant them into another. Amalak plans to use the Brain Ripper to obtain Kandor's location from Superman's mind, but Superman manages to resist the process and use the Brain Ripper to read Amalak's mind instead. Seeing Amalak's memories, Superman discovers that Amalak's planet was conquered by Admiral Zod in the name of the Kryptonian Empire. When Amalak returned home, the souls of the dead told him who was responsible. Enraged, Amalak swore vengeance on all Kryptonians.

After the link between Superman and Amalak is severed, Power Girl, Supergirl and Krypto rescue Superman. While Superman and his allies fight Amalak's forces, Amalak goes to the Arctic Fortress. There, Amalak fights Batman, who is using a powered suit of armor, but Amalak easily defeats him. Superman and his allies arrive to the Fortress after defeating Amalak's allies, and realize that Amalak has found Kandor. Amalak then realizes that the Kandor he found is not the Kandor he remembers. Superman and his friends try to reason with Amalak, but Amalak furiously shatters the city. The Kryptonians fight Amalak, while Batman remotely deactivates Chris's red-sun watch, granting him access to his powers. Chris dutifully goes to help his father.

Amalak defeats Supergirl and Power Girl, and attacks Superman, reminding him that he is powered by the dead souls of Rinoti. Chris appears and defends his father. Amalak senses that Chris is a descendant of Admiral Zod and tries to kill him. Superman uses the last of his strength to throw Amalak to the edge of the Atomic Cauldron, power source of the Fortress. While Superman and Amalak teeter on the edge, Power Girl and Supergirl try to activate a Phantom Zone projector.

Suddenly, Karsta appears and activates yellow sun grenades that restore the Kryptonians's powers. Together, the Kryptonians defeat Amalak and trap him in steel.

Karsta chooses to deliver Amalak and his henchmen to the space authorities, and also turn herself in for her own crimes. Superman bids her farewell and hopes they might meet again now that she is reformed. He is also happy he has been able to see Krypton from another perspective and wonders if he'll ever be able to save Tolos' now lost city of Kandor.

He also wonders, if Amalak is right about the existence of a real Kryptonian city full of other survivors, and whether a new generation of Kryptonians might be out there.

Talia al Ghul and her son Damian Wayne discover that Ra's al Ghul has returned from the dead and is searching for Damian. Ra's hopes to use Damian's life force to keep himself stable. Damian runs to the Batcave to seek help from the Bat family as the League of Assassins closes in on his whereabouts. Batman, who has been in Asia, returns home to help. Despite their best efforts, the Bat family cannot stop the League's ninjas from kidnapping both Robin and Damian and taking them to Ra's in Tibet.

Damian leaves Robin alone with Ra's Al Ghul, who offers him a chance to bring his parents back to life. Meanwhile, outside Lhasa, Batman and Talia are getting closer to Ra's only to run into more of his henchmen. Batman, Talia, and I-Ching find a secret entrance to Ra's's headquarters. On meeting, Ra's and Batman begin to fight, but since Ra's body is already dead, nothing hurts him. He then brings out Robin and Damian, offering Batman a choice on which one's body he should take. Batman offers his own body, but Ra's refuses, craving a younger one.

Batman takes Ra's to Nanda Parbat wherein lies the Fountain of Essence. The temple of the Fountain is under attack by the Sensei, who is revealed as Ra's al Ghul's father, and more fighting ensues. Batman knocks Sensei into the Fountain of Essence, which kills him for not being a pure soul. The monks of Nanda Parbat check Ra's Al Ghul's body, but the spirit of Ra's possesses one monk's body and walks away.

Robin, still haunted by Ra's offer to restore his loved ones to life, seeks out The White Ghost, who tells Robin that he can restore them, but only if Tim swears his undying loyalty to Ra's Al Ghul and forsakes Batman. Robin agrees, and is sent to a chamber with a Lazarus Pit to be "reborn". There he is confronted by Nightwing, who swears to stop him. Between attacks, Robin debates with his adopted brother. I-Ching mediates to stop the fight.

The three find Talia and fly to Nanda Parbat, where Ra's is about to claim Damian's body as his vessel at last. Batman intervenes to defend his son and the two begin to defend themselves when their reinforcements arrive. Damian chooses to assist Batman over escaping with Talia. The monks seal themselves off totally from outsiders. Ra's life is finally preserved by White Ghost, actually his disowned son Dusan. Aboard the jet with Dick, Tim and Alfred, Bruce ruminates on the value of family.

In an epilogue, Ra's moves his base of operations to Gotham City. Batman infiltrates Ra's' new headquarters and easily defeats his horde of ninjas and Ra's himself. Batman takes an unconscious Ra's directly to Arkham.

As described in a film magazine, Robert McCarthy (Carey) beats his way on a passenger train to a mining camp located near an unexplored waste called the Canyon of the Fools. En route he discovers that his former sweetheart May (Clayton) is on the train, having promised to marry Jim Harper (Stanton) whom she is to meet at the camp. Bob is seen by Sheriff Maricopia Jim (Curtis) as he arrives at the camp. The Sheriff hires him as deputy on his promise to help run down the head of an outlaw gang that is operating in the canyon. Bob's one desire is to revenge himself on a man named Torrance who double-crossed him and had him unjustly convicted of a crime. Bob makes his presence known to May, who still loves him even though engaged to Jim. Together they go into the canyon. Bob discovers a secret mine being operated by a mysterious person named Polhill. The outlaws and their leader have long been seeking Polhill's treasure. It turns out Jim Harper is the leader of the bandits. He follows Bob into the mine entrance and stuns him with a blow from behind. Jim captures May and makes her a prisoner of Polhill's room above the mine, and then the gang seizes the gold. After several adventures Bob rescues May and is rewarded with her love and Polhill's gold.

Montez is the ruler of the tropical Temple Island. Thomas Gomez plays the villain, who schemes to marry her and get hold of the gold bars lining the submerged floor of the island's temple (about which the innocent islanders remain blissfully unconcerned). Jon Hall plays a heroic shark hunter who wins the day and the heart of the princess.

''Nabaret'' tells the story of a knight named Nabaret who has an exceedingly beautiful and vain wife. His wife loves to dress in fine clothes and takes great care in her appearance. While Nabaret appreciates his wife's beauty, he mistrusts her because of her vanity; and he accuses her of making herself beautiful for another man.

Nabaret talks to the woman's relatives and asks them to speak with her about her behavior. When they do, the woman simply retorts that her husband should "let his beard grow long / and have his whiskers braided" (vv. 38-39). The family members laugh at her answer and share it with others, from which the lai is composed.

"The Octopus," a masked crime lord, is bent on crippling America with a wave of terror. He demands tribute from railroad magnates and other captains of industry. Richard Wentworth (Warren Hull), an amateur criminologist who is friendly with the police and is secretly "The Spider," a masked vigilante, is equally determined to destroy the Octopus and his gang. Pleasant and smiling in civilian life, Wentworth is frequently ruthless as The Spider, using his two .45 semi-automatic pistols against any public enemies who attack him. The Spider uses a knotted rope to swing about similar to Marvel Comics' Spider-Man will years later.

Wentworth also masquerades as affable underworld lowlife Blinky McQuade. Disguised as McQuade, Wentworth can infiltrate gangland as a hired gun or getaway-car driver and keep current on the mob's illegal activities.

The only people who know Wentworth's various identities are his assistants Jackson (Richard Fiske) and Ram Singh (Kenne Duncan), his butler Jenkins (Don Douglas), and his fiancée Nita (Iris Meredith).

The Octopus was a pulp villain written by Norvell Page, who also wrote most of ''The Spider'' pulp novels. He is garbed completely in white and is only ever seen by his henchmen while sitting in his throne-like chair. Unlike the pulps, where The Spider is dressed in an all black cape, mask, suit, and wide-brimmed fedora, in the serial he is garbed in a black suit and fedora, but with white web-like markings on his lightweight cape and full face mask. The serial follows the standard formula of fights, shoot-outs, Wentworth's friends being kidnapped at various times and needing to be rescued. Each chapter ends with The Spider or his friends in deep trouble, often about to be killed, but the effect is spoiled by a trailer for the next episode which follows, showing them rescued and continuing to fight the villains. The secret headquarters of The Octopus is found by The Spider in the final chapter; he has unwittingly given himself away to Wentworth and realizing this, Wentworth must now die; but as The Spider, Wentworth is triumphant in the end, unmasking The Octopus and ending his national reign of terror.

During the serial The Spider (like Marvel Comics much later Spider-Man) uses his web line a number of times to get out of trouble. Commissioner Kirk (changed from Kirkpatrick in the pulps) suspects that Wentworth is The Spider during one chapter. The Octopus' gang, like their boss, wear robes when they gather together in his presence. The Octopus ruthlessly executes all who failed him; in case of trouble, The Octopus always uses a false arm and hand, which allowed him to conceal a pistol in his real hand hidden beneath his robes.

Amateur criminologist Richard Wentworth, formerly the masked vigilante, the Spider, brings his former alter ego out of retirement for 15 action-packed chapters to help his old friend, police commissioner Kirk (Kirkpatrick in the pulp novels), battle a dangerous, power-obsessed maniac called the Gargoyle. This mysterious crime lord and his henchmen threaten the world with acts of sabotage and wholesale murder in an effort to wreck the National security of the United States.

"Doon" begins with a beautiful heiress who lives near Daneborc (modern-day Edinburgh). She is very prideful and will not take a husband. All the men in the land try to woo her, but she refuses unless her suitor can travel from Southampton to Edinburgh in the span of one day. Most men who attempt this fail at the task. If they succeed, the lady invites them into her home where she asks them to sleep in a very soft bed. There, they die of exhaustion. In this way, she avoids marriage for a long time.

One day, a noble knight named Doon from France attempts to win the hand of the lady. With his great horse Baiart, Doon makes it from Southampton to Edinburgh and is invited into the woman's castle. Rather than laying down, however, Doon stays up all night, realizing that he risks death by sleeping in the bed prepared for him. When the servants find him alive the next morning, they all rejoice; but the lady procrastinates by giving Doon a second quest. He must ride as far as a swan can fly.

Doon agrees, and after he and his horse have rested, they start out from Edinburgh behind the swan. Doon easily completes this task and marries the heiress. After only four days of marriage, however, Doon leaves his wife behind to return to France. He reveals to her that she is already pregnant and gives her a ring for her to give to the child. She later gives birth to a son.

When the son is grown, he goes to a tournament at the Mont Saint-Michel. Unknowingly, the son ends up jousting against the father, whom he defeats. At the end of the tournament, Doon goes to speak to the young man and asks to see his hands. He immediately recognizes the ring that he gave to his wife many years ago and explains who he is. Doon and his son return to Edinburgh to the lady, where they live together in happiness.

On 13 October 1939, reservists of the Finnish army are called up for active duty as the threat of Soviet invasion becomes likely. Martti and Paavo Hakala, two farmer brothers from Kauhava, Southern Ostrobothnia, join other men from the municipality in a half-platoon under the command of Second Lieutenant Jussi Kantola. After mustering at the local school, the men ride the train to Seinäjoki to join the rest of the Finnish Army's 23rd Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Matti Laurila. After weeks of practice, the regiment goes to the Karelian Isthmus, where Kantola's men help civilians evacuate their village in the potential war zone. Laurila gives a speech to the regiment before marching to the Taipale River, where Kantola's men help in building defenses in preparation for the anticipated Soviet attack.

On 6 December, the Battle of Taipale begins on Finnish Independence Day, and the Finns are shelled by Soviet artillery advancing to the frontline. The Red Army gathers outside the Finnish trenches, and the next day the Finns are strafed by the Soviet Air Force as the Red Army launches a human wave attack with T-26s, but hold them back. Paavo is wounded and sent home, where he attends the funeral of four Kauhava men killed in the attack. Paavo recovers and returns to the front, but is soon killed in a direct hit from Soviet artillery in front of Martti. Several times, the Soviets attack and enter the Finnish trenches, but the Finns manage to push them back. Kantola is ordered to retake a casemate captured by the Soviets when he left it unattended, with the Finns driving out the Soviets but suffering high casualties in the assault and destroying the casemate. On 27 December, the Soviets halt their attack on the Taipale front and Kantola's men go to Yläjärvi for rest and recuperation, and Martti manages to get home leave.

When Martti returns, the unit goes to Vuosalmi near the village of Äyräpää to prevent the Soviets from crossing the Vuoksi River. The Finns try to fend off Soviet human wave attacks but are overwhelmed and Martti is almost killed when a Soviet soldier buttstrokes him, forcing the Finns to retreat. On 5 March, Martti, Kantola and the surviving Finns cover a counterattack by the men of Nurmo, but a delay allows the Soviets to get into an advantaged position. The Finns face more human wave attacks and are overwhelmed by the mass of Soviet soldiers. On the morning of 13 March, the Finns are almost overrun when the fighting stops at eleven o’clock as the Moscow Peace Treaty takes effect.

Everyone takes advantage of Ramiro de la Mata (Fernando Soler), a funny drunkard and rich widower. His daughter Virginia (Rosario Granados), and his son Eduardo (Gustavo Rojo), as well as his lazy brother Ladislao (Andrés Soler), and his sister in law Milagros (Maruja Grifell), all do nothing while living at Ramiro's expense. Gregorio (Francisco Jambrina), his other brother tries to help him by making everyone believe that Ramiro is financially ruined, forcing the family to look for jobs of their own.

Greg "Rat" Rathbone is on an undercover mission to befriend the son of notorious activist, Kurt Lydon, and change the plan of his nuclear system. Rat is soon invited to a sleepover by Lydon's son George and after defeating a group of bullies in a fight earns further popularity from George and his overweight Chinese friend, Zhang.

Back at campus, Lauren Adams, Jake Parker and Andy Lagan are forced to do physical training on the assault course after messing around in front of a guest speaker. Although overseen by volunteers James Adams and Bruce Norris, Andy is severely injured but still takes part in the mission, posing as Rat's Scottish cousin.

At the sleepover, Rat and Andy sedate George, Zhang and Lydon's wife and begin hacking into Lydon's laptop but are interrupted by George's older sister, Sophie. She badly injures Rat by breaking a vase over his head. After a vicious struggle, the boys sedate her and finish the job.

The book ends with Lydon and several other suspects being imprisoned and a new library being opened on campus on World Book Day.

Marie Pettis has recently divorced her politician husband named Greg, who had been involved in a political scandal in New York City. To decompress, she leaves for a weekend trip in upstate New York with her new stockbroker boyfriend Robert, her sister Shirley, and their openly gay friend Nicky. They arrive to the country late in the evening, and stop in a small town. Robert, Marie, and Shirley pick up groceries at a market, where Shirley finds a sinister face mask that she decides to buy as a joke. Meanwhile, Nicky goes to the bar across the street for a drink, and is harassed by two homophobic men whom he beats up.

They arrive at the remote farmhouse Robert has recently purchased from Otis, a local man whose father has died, and whom Robert has hired to build a large schooner, a project which is being housed in a barn on the property. Jay Alsop, an engineer and friend of Robert's, arrives to oversee the boat's progress. A lumberman providing the wood for the boat, Mac Macauley, tells Marie of a local rumor involving a young woman who was assaulted by the unhinged Otis, and hints that he may have been responsible for a murder.

Jay quickly develops a sexual interest in Shirley. Meanwhile, Marie finds herself attracted to Mac. The following afternoon, Jay goes down to the barn to check on Otis's progress on the boat; there, he is strangled by a killer donning the mask Shirley bought the day before, his body hung from the rafters so as to appear as a suicide. That night, the rest of the group dresses up for a formal dinner at the house. After dinner, Marie and Robert go for a walk on the property, and discover Jay's body hanging in the barn. Horrified, they rush back to the house.

Meanwhile, an inebriated Shirley puts on a tango record and performs a striptease for Nicky. The two dance together on the house's second floor, and jokingly apply makeup to each other's faces. The killer attacks Nicky upstairs, stabbing him through the head with a large sewing needle. Shirley is chased into the basement, where the killer ties her to a table saw and attempts to kill her with it, but cannot get power to the tool. Robert and Marie reach the house, and are confronted by the killer. Robert discovers Nicky's body upstairs, and is thrown to his death out of the second story window. The killer then returns to the ground floor, where he reveals himself to be Greg. He tells Marie that he plans on taking her out into the lake and committing a murder-suicide.

The next morning, Mac arrives at the house, and finds it empty. As he goes to investigate the basement, he turns on a light switch which activates the table saw, inadvertently killing Shirley, who has been tied to the table all night. Mac flees the house, where he encounters Greg attempting to bring Marie to the lake to kill her. Greg and Mac begin fighting and tackle one another to the ground. Otis arrives upon the scene, and kills Greg with a chainsaw.

The novel tells the story of the local Catholic Priest (Don Manuel) in fictional Valverde de Lucerna, Spain as told through the eyes of Angela, one of the townspeople. Throughout the course of the story Manuel is adored by the people of the town. He is constantly in the service of the townspeople. He refrains from condemning anyone and goes out of his way to help those whom the people have marginalized. Instead of refusing to allow the holy burial of someone who committed suicide, Don Manuel explains that he is sure that in the last moment, the person would have repented for their sin. Also, instead of excommunicating a woman who had an illegitimate child, as the Catholic Church would have done, Don Manuel arranges a marriage between the woman and her ex-boyfriend, so that order will return to the town, and the child will have a father figure. The people of the town consider him their "Saint" because of all of the good deeds he does.

Angela, after a brief stint away for education, returns to the town to live with her mother where she continues to be amazed at Manuel's devotion.

Lazarus, Angela's brother, later returns from the New World, disgusted with the mental and physical poverty he finds in the town. He too is amazed at Manuel's devotion but believes that "He is too intelligent to believe everything he teaches." It is clear that Lazarus does not have a sense of faith. Angela's and Lazarus's mother passes away. On her death bed she makes Lazarus promise to pray for her—he swears he will. Her dying wish is that Manuel can convert him. Lazarus begins following Don Manuel "to the lake" where Manuel is known to walk and think. Time passes and Lazarus takes Communion—to the townspeople, he appears to be converted. In reality, Lazarus is only praying for his mother's sake because it was her wish, not because he has faith.

Immediately following the Communion, Lazarus sits down with Angela and tells her that he has something he must tell her: both Manuel and Lazarus have no faith in God, specifically no belief in an afterlife. Angela is upset and incredulous but confronts Manuel about what Lazarus has said. In their conversation it becomes obvious that what Lazarus has said is accurate. Manuel believes that religion and the preaching of religion is the only way for the people to live contentedly—Lazarus through their talks had come to admire Manuel's determination to do what he thought was right despite his lack of belief in the veracity of what he taught. To that end, Lazarus felt it best to continue in the same way by returning to the fold. Although Angela questions the goodness of such a deed, Lazarus insists that Don Manuel is a saint for the things he has done all his life for the town.

Manuel grows increasingly weak. He is unable to bear the weight of teaching the resurrection when he does not believe it is real. He falls further and further into a depression, which the townspeople see as a reflection of Christ in their local priest. When Manuel dies he chooses to do so in public in the center of the town, and the people see him as their "second Christ." Lazarus takes on Manuel's role until his own death. Angela moves out of town. However, she finishes her narration by positing that perhaps it was God's will all along that both Manuel and Lazarus believe themselves to be non-believers, since it helped them to do good in the world. Angela expresses the belief that right before Manuel and Lazarus died, "the blindfold might have fallen from their eyes." The final chapter explains that Manuel is being considered for beatification and that he is being held up as the ideal and exemplar priest.

The existence of Niccolò, a film director living in Rome, is empty. He has no new film to make, no woman in his life, and his only family is his sister, a gynaecologist, and her little son. He approaches one of his sister's patients, a beautiful young aristocrat called Mavi, and the two start a passionate affair.

It proves empty, since Niccolò has no interest in her family and titled friends, a feeling they reciprocate, and introduces her to no friends of his. Worse, Niccolò finds he is under surveillance and is even explicitly warned off Mavi. Who these threats emerge from she does not say and he never finds out. To escape his shadowers in Rome, he takes Mavi out to an old farmhouse he has rented, but the drive there through fog is traumatic and they quarrel violently. In the morning Mavi has vanished. Searching for her back in Rome, the only friend of hers who will talk to him warns Niccolò that Mavi is bisexual and hints at a jealous past lover.

Wanting company and affection, Niccolò meets a young stage actress called Ida, slim and athletic like Mavi, a working-class girl who loves the country and is not brittle or mysterious but utterly open. While she is happy to sleep with him, she realises that he is still longing for Mavi and sets him on the trail to find her present address. Listening on the stairs, Niccolò hears Mavi tell the girl with whom she shares a flat that she must keep on hiding from him.

Accepting at last that Mavi will never come back, he takes Ida for a romantic holiday in Venice. There she gets a phone call from her doctor in Rome, who confirms that she is pregnant. Delicately, she tells Niccolò that she does love him but her loyalty must now be to the father of the baby.

Back alone in Rome, Niccolò starts musing about his next film. He imagines a spaceship built of asteroid material that could approach the sun. He recalls telling his young nephew about space travel, saying, "The day mankind understands what the sun is made of and its power, perhaps we'll understand the entire universe and the reasons behind so many things." His nephew responds, "And then?"

Philip and Claire's latest efforts at breaking onto Broadway have flopped, but their efforts have not gone unnoticed by Gilbert's employer, Tommy Parker. Tommy is a gofer for billionaire Boyd Larkin, who wants to insert a spy into the household of his arch-rival billionaire, Peter Champion. Peter's wife, Elsa, is seeking to launch a singing career and needs just the right songwriting team. Gilbert, on the other hand, is hoping that helping Parker and Larkin pull off their scheme will advance his own chances at snagging the world's wealthiest sugar daddy.

Philip and Claire are soon hired. Unfortunately, Elsa can't carry a tune and her acting abilities are nonexistent. Nonetheless, they have to make her look good: Champion could destroy their careers if they don't. But if they manage to pull it off, they'll be on the fast track to fame.

It's not long before Philip and Gilbert are caught spying, which leads them to become double-agents, double-double agents, and triple-agents. And when the man of their dreams turns out to be a homosexual, suddenly Philip and Gilbert are competing for his financial (and sexual) favors and betraying one another as well.

Category:1991 American novels Category:Novels by Joe Keenan Category:Novels with gay themes Category:Novels set in New York City Category:Novels about journalists Category:1990s LGBT novels

A lighthearted vacation in a vintage RV turns into a deadly roller-coaster ride for seven young friends in this gorefest tinged with touches of camp. A psychopath armed with night vision goggles and a machete stalks his prey, and there seems to be no escaping his brutal intentions.

Gilbert Selwyn and Moira Finch usually can't stand each other. They have only two things in common: an aversion to honest work, and wealthy stepfamilies. But they have a plan: they intend to get married. Gilbert recently went to his "fat cousin Steffy's wedding", where he realized that his normally tight-fisted stepfather's family became overwhelmingly generous for a family wedding; Moira's stepfather, the Duke of Dorsetshire, is likewise poised to shower the couple with cash, checks, and gifts worth tens of thousands of dollars. Gilbert estimates that he and Moira might clear $100,000 each by marrying, living together for a decent interval, and then divorcing.

But to make the plan work, Gilbert has to have a best man and someone who'll swear that his homosexuality was "just a phase." That someone is Philip Cavanaugh, the narrator of the story: Gilbert's best friend, former lover, and an aspiring songwriter. At first Phillip wants no part of the plan—having suffered the disastrous fallout of Gilbert's previous get-rich-quick schemes—but agrees as soon as Gilbert offers him a cut of the take, enough to afford a computer and some decent Scotch.

But there's a snag: Moira's mother, the Duchess, says on the phone that she doesn't have enough ready cash to pay for the wedding, so she asks Moira to pay for it from her trust fund. Only, Moira has already induced her banker, Winslow, to embezzle the funds, and blown her inheritance on several zany investment schemes. She quickly comes up with a new plan: convince Gilbert's stepfather, Tony Cellini, to pay for the wedding, with the "promise" that the Duchess will reimburse Moira for what "she" has spent from her trust fund—in effect, doubling the couple's take from the wedding.

Over lunch with Gilbert's perky but extremely naive mother, Maddie, Phillip becomes nervous at hearing about Tony's mysterious comings-and-goings and the surprisingly high number of "accidental" deaths in his family. Phillip suspects that Gilbert and Moira's future in-laws (and victims) are mafiosi. Both Gilbert and Moira find the notion preposterous, but Phillip cracks and confides all to his songwriting partner, the brainy Claire Simmons.

At the Cellini family's Christmas party, Claire needs only one quick look to confirm that Gilbert's in-laws are mafiosos, the patriarch of the clan being infamous gangster Freddy "the Pooch" Bombelli. She and Phillip pull Gilbert into a bathroom and acquaint him with two hard facts: One, attempting to swindle the Mafia is stupid; and Two, attempting to do so partnered with Moira is suicidal, for she has already ingratiated herself with Gilbert's family far more successfully than he, and would throw him and Phillip to the wolves in a heartbeat if anything went wrong. Watching Moira schmoozing with the clan, it is also horrifyingly obvious that Moira knows full well they are mafiosi, yet intends to swindle them anyway.

Claire reasons that the best way for Phillip and Gilbert to extricate themselves is to tip off the Duchess to Moira's trust fund swindle. Unfortunately, both their anonymous letter and phone call to the Duchess are intercepted by Moira's accomplice, the Duchess's butler, and Moira misidentifies Gilbert's old nemesis, Gunther Von Steigel, and Moira's friend Vulpina, as the blackmailers. Phillip and Gilbert are helpless to stop Moira as she engineers a campaign of terror and revenge against Gunther and Vulpina, which increases Gunther's suspicions of Gilbert and the wedding.

Claire, sensing something wrong, does further research, and gathers Phillip, Gilbert, and Moira together to reveal the truth: the "Duchess" doesn't exist. Moira made up her mother's status years ago, as an amusing lie to tell her friends, which suddenly became necessary to maintain when Gilbert wanted to partner with Moira to bilk his wealthy family (Moira's real mother, Claire gleefully confides, is currently serving a prison term in California, "learning respect for other people's property"). Likewise, Moira has never had a trust fund; that was just a ruse to explain away her mother's inability to pay for the wedding. Winslow is a chemist, rather than a banker, who impersonated the Duchess on the telephone for Phillip and Gilbert's benefit.

Moira admits the truth, but refuses to abandon the wedding. Claire concedes that she can't expose Moira without exposing Phillip and Gilbert, so she can only offer her reluctant assistance in pulling off the swindle—something that she now believes is possible, as long as they can convincingly stage the Duchess' "tragic" death before the wedding.

Everything seems to be going smoothly, until Freddy Bombelli tells Moira that he plans to visit her mother in England while he is there for a business trip. Moira panics and says he can't, because her mother will be in New York in a week. They now have to convince the extremely anxious Winslow to pose as a woman, since his extremely distinctive vocal impression of the Duchess cannot be imitated. To their surprise, Winslow turns out to be an entirely convincing Duchess, and Freddy is captivated.

Tomoe Gozen, a warrior of incredible skill, is the vassal of warlord Shojiro Shigeno. In the process of defeating Shigeno's enemy, the Chinese monk Huan, Tomoe is nearly killed. Huan resurrects her on the condition that she turn against her former master, and after committing a series of evil deeds under Huan's power, Tomoe manages to free herself and becomes ronin, or masterless samurai. The story mostly traces Tomoe's attempts to regain her honour, leading her into conflict with enemies, friends and the samurai culture that created her.

After the death of her close childhood friend, 17-year-old Sarah Landon (Rissa Walters) goes to visit her friend's grandmother, Thelma Shaw (Jane Harris), in the small town of Pine Valley, California. Upon arriving in Pine Valley, Sarah's car starts making strange noises, and she stops at the repair shop. While there, she talks with the owner and learns of a story involving a local family, and asks Mrs. Shaw to get the full story. As the story goes, a young man named David Baker (Brian Comrie), who lives in Pine Valley, will be killed by his deceased uncle on his 21st birthday, which is that coming Monday.

David's uncle, Ben Woods (Rusty Hanes), was angry with his sister because of her involvement in the car crash that killed his own son, Johnny, on his 21st birthday. After receiving the threat as a child and learning of his uncle's death, David became obsessed with the paranormal, trying to find out how Ben would kill him. He became a recluse, moving to a loft above the family's barn. Sarah and Matt (Dan Comrie), David's brother, try to help him before his birthday arrives, though initially Matt doesn't believe that his brother will really die. At first, David believes Ben was reincarnated, and that a boy who moved next door to the Bakers, Justin Van Kamp (Kendell Linley), will murder him.

After encountering Ben's spirit in the man's former home, he realizes Ben is still a spirit and will instead possess someone else to kill him. As it grows closer to midnight (the paranormal hour) on David's 21st birthday, Sarah, Matt, and David, with the help of a local psychic's niece named Yolanda Lopez (Sylvia Enrique), uncover a ritual that may save David's life. At midnight, they begin the ritual, and when Matt and Sarah return to Mrs. Shaw's house, they find out that Mrs. Shaw is the person who was possessed by the spirit of Ben Woods. The two teens race back to the Bakers' home, with Mrs. Shaw/Ben in close pursuit.

Just as the possessed woman is about to kill David, Justin van Kamp appears, and it is revealed that he is actually the reincarnation of Ben's son, Johnny. Johnny convinces his father not to kill David, and Ben's spirit moves on. Later that day, Sarah returns home to San Diego, saying that this adventure was only the beginning of strange occurrences in Pine Valley, hinting at a possible sequel.

In the 24th century mankind has formed itself into the Federation of Earth, and has colonized several other planets. However, around 2350 a mysterious virus ravages the colony planet of Velia, targeting only the females within the population. They are transformed into brutal killing-machines, while the males are enslaved for use as sustenance or as subjects for genetic experiments. Having now evolved into an aggressive hive mind, the Velians turn on the Federation, instigating a brutal war. The game begins seven years into the conflict, when the player character, Senior Sergeant Paul Armstrong of the Federation, finds himself forced to take on the Velians when they attack his ship.

Jack realizes that his boss Don Geiss (Rip Torn) is hinting that he will retire and believes that he, Jack, is a definite candidate to take over Don's job, as the CEO of General Electric. Jack's only other opposition is Devon, who has returned from the west coast, only now with a fiancée who happens to be Kathy Geiss (Marceline Hugot), Don's daughter. Upon returning, Devon, who is secretly gay, finds out from Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) about Jack's secret heart attack. At a gathering at Don's house, the pair face off against one another during a game of football.

Tracy is still struggling with his marriage to Angie, who had thrown him out of their family home. Later in this episode, the pair reconcile, but only if Tracy allows for Angie to follow him to make sure that he isn't having an affair.

Jenna becomes attached to her newly gained fat when a mishap during a sketch, on ''TGS with Tracy Jordan'', brings her large amounts of attention from the public. Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) is still re-adjusting to life outside of a relationship.

Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak) returns to the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of Dunder Mifflin for the first time since his promotion to the corporate headquarters. Although he sports a much more urbane look and attitude, he garners little respect from his former peers. Ryan introduces "Dunder Mifflin Infinity," his initiative to revitalize the company with new technology. Michael Scott (Steve Carell) is initially excited about the prospect of getting a BlackBerry, but is warned by Creed Bratton (Creed Bratton) that the program is a ploy to get rid of older workers. Creed dyes his hair black with printer ink in an attempt to convince everyone that he is much younger. Michael holds a conference room meeting on the subject of ageism. To show that personal interaction is more effective than new technology, Michael and Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) decide to go out and win back the clients they lost in the past year with gift baskets. Each manager they encounter refuses to consider returning to Dunder Mifflin unless the company improves its technology, such as Dunder Mifflin's website. While driving back to the office, Michael pretends to misinterpret his rental car's GPS directions and intentionally drives into Lake Scranton. He uses this as further proof that new technology is useless because it tried to kill him. After the lake incident, he and Dwight walk back to one of the former clients to awkwardly get back their gift basket, causing a scene.

Meanwhile, Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) and Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) are exposed as a couple when Toby Flenderson (Paul Lieberstein) circulates a memo about public displays of affection. Jim secretly informs Pam that Dwight and Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey) are dating, only to discover that she already knew. Meanwhile, Dwight attempts to make amends for the death of Angela's cat Sprinkles by giving her a stray cat he found in his barn, named Garbage. Angela rejects the gift. Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling) tries to restart her relationship with Ryan, an effort he ignores until she tells him she is pregnant. After going out to dinner, Ryan learns that Kelly's pregnancy claim was a lie that Kelly used in attempt to get them back together. Back at the office, Ryan asks Pam to create a logo for Dunder Mifflin Infinity. Pam is excited about the opportunity to use her art background, but Ryan uses the logo as an excuse to ask her out, which he does in front of Jim. Pam responds that she is dating Jim, which leaves the new boss thoroughly embarrassed.

The show is set in a dark, six-floor gothic fairy tale tower which, from the opening titles, is situated on a small island in the middle of the sea. Every episode is introduced by "The Caretaker" (Simon Greenall), a former world traveller who, according to the story, only came there for one good night's sleep but was imprisoned there by "The Voice" (performed by Eve Karpf and Faith Brown). To earn his freedom, the Caretaker must trap as many children (referred to in the show as "Unfortunates") as the Voice deems worthy.

Six children compete on each episode and are brought to the tower by another captive, "Wiley Sneak" (voiced vocally by Olly Pike). The children begin at the top of the tower and must journey to the bottom; one child is eliminated or "trapped" on each floor, and the last one remaining receives the "Key of Freedom" and escapes. Sequestered in the attic, the Caretaker offers narration and instructions while viewing the events through the "Watch Tank," a large globe mounted within a frame that gives a 360° overhead view of the relevant portion of the tower.

''Trapped!'' (2007–2009)

Each contestant is given an earpiece receiver, or "Whisper Clip," that they must wear during the competition. Each floor of the tower poses a different challenge to the team, demonstrated by Wiley while the Caretaker provides instructions through both live commentary and pre-recorded voiceover. Before each challenge begins, one contestant is informed via their Whisper Clip that they have been chosen to act as a "Saboteur," and must try to make the team fail without being detected by the others.

If the team passes the challenge, the Saboteur becomes trapped on that floor and the others move down through the tower. If the team fails, each contestant casts one vote as to the Saboteur's identity; the one who receives the most votes becomes trapped, whether or not they were the Saboteur. A "draw straws" box is used in the event of a tie, and the one who draws the shortest straw is trapped.

The last two contestants compete in "The Fight for Freedom," a timed quiz consisting of alternating questions that tests their recall of the events of the episode. When time runs out, the high scorer wins the game and uses the Key of Freedom to leave the tower.

''Trapped!: Ever After'' (2010)

For 2010, changes were made to the format of the programme, particularly in areas of themes, the games and interaction with the Unfortunates. As well as introducing a brand new attic for the Caretaker, recaps were made of previously trapped unfortunates on higher floors of the tower and the appearance of the Voice was revised. The final round was revised to put both contestants on a four-step path toward the Key of Freedom; a correct answer allowed a contestant to advance one step, while a miss allowed the opponent to do so. The first one to reach the Key became the winner. In the cases of both contestants being one step away, one of them must answer their question correctly and the other must answer it incorrectly. If both are wrong or both are correct, it keeps on going until someone gets it wrong whilst the other gets it right.

Ned is a young man with a special gift—he can bring a dead person back to life with a touch. But there's a catch—if the person stays alive for more than one minute, then someone else nearby will die. Also, a second touch will bring back death, forever.

Ned discovers his gift as a child when he brings his dog, Digby, back to life after he is hit by a truck. When Ned touches Digby, he springs back to life. What Ned learns later is that the revival comes with a price—if the deceased is kept alive for longer than a minute, something of "equal life value" must replace it. This special touch also has another rule. If Ned gives one more touch, the revived will die again for good. Ned's mother drops dead of an aneurysm while baking and he brings her back to life—but this kills the father of his childhood sweetheart, Charlotte Charles, whom he likes to call "Chuck". Another touch kills Ned's mother when she kisses him goodnight. Ned's father leaves him soon after, and Ned is sent to boarding school. Chuck is sent to live with her aunts, the reclusive Lily and Vivian Charles. As their parents' funerals are held at the same time, Ned and Chuck share a first kiss, and are then parted it seems for good.

Nineteen years, thirty-four weeks, one day and fifty-nine minutes later (according to the narrator), Ned owns a bakery, the Pie Hole. The narrator often refers to Ned as "the piemaker". He apparently has inherited his mother's baking talents. He also ingeniously puts his own skill to good use. To save money, he purchases old, wilting fruit and brings it back to life, as ripe and juicy as the day it was first picked. This makes his pies and confections extremely tasty. His childhood dog, Digby is still alive, since Ned has never touched him again, except with items such as a gloved hand attached to a stick used to pet him safely. Ned also moonlights as the partner of Emerson Cod, a private investigator who discovers Ned's secret gift by accident. Emerson realizes that they can turn a profit solving murders by reviving the murder victim and asking who killed them. Meanwhile, Ned's employee and neighbor, Olive Snook, has a crush on the pie maker—but due to his childhood, Ned has learned not to get attached to anybody, and he wards off Olive's advances.

Everything changes when Ned learns that Chuck has been murdered on a cruise ship. He and Emerson travel to Ned's hometown, Coeur d'Coeurs, to solve the case. Ned revives Chuck, and she's thrilled to be reunited with her old friend. She doesn't know who killed her, and Ned only has a minute to return her to the grave. But he can't bear to lose her again, and keeps her alive, killing the crooked funeral director, Lawrence Schatz, instead. Ned hides Chuck in the coffin, and secretly arranges to rescue her after the funeral. Chuck stays in Ned's apartment—but despite the romantic feelings that they share, they can't ever touch again. This prompts Ned to use different types of items to allow for them to touch "by proxy", such as kissing though plastic wrap, installing a plexiglass partition in Ned's car, and holding hands via gloved hands.

Chuck is happy to make a fresh start on her life, and she approaches Ned and Emerson with a plan to solve her own murder and collect the reward. They go to Boutique Travel Travel Boutique, where manager Deedee Duffield offered Chuck a free cruise in exchange for transporting a pair of plaster monkeys. When they arrive, Deedee has been killed as well. Ned brings Deedee back to life, but she dies again before telling them who killed her. Ned, Emerson and Chuck realize that if the plaster monkeys were in Chuck's possession on the cruise ship, then they would have been sent to her next of kin—Aunt Vivian and Aunt Lily.

They go to Vivian and Lily's house, to find the monkeys before the killer does. Ned and Emerson talk to Chuck's aunts, ex-synchronized swimmers with matching social phobias. Chuck has to stay out of sight—but she's determined to help, and she climbs up the back wall to her bedroom. Lily goes upstairs to collect the monkeys for Ned, and is attacked by the killer. Ned is also attacked, and Chuck rescues him. Lily survives her attack, and shoots the killer dead.

Ned and Chuck discover that the plaster monkeys were actually made of gold. Lily and Vivian collect the reward for catching Chuck's killer, and decide to leave the house for the first time in years. Ned, Chuck and Emerson agree to work together—but despite their yearnings, Ned and Chuck can never touch again.

Frank and Joe Hardy are on a stakeout in Okefenokee Swamp with their father Fenton, using their van of computer and surveillance equipment. Fenton is chasing industrial saboteurs who nearly kill him and Chet Morton. The head of security at Kennedy Space Center, Harry Stone, is baffled by a series of accidents involving the Space Shuttle ''Skyfire''. Frank, Joe, Chet, Stone and his daughter Suzanne head to Cape Canaveral, where they meet Nat Cramer from Starglass Corporation and his security man, Pete McConnel. Starglass developed the ''Longeye'' radio telescope, which is to be placed in orbit by ''Skyfire''. Maxwell Grant, deputy director of operations, offers the young people the chance to fly on ''Skyfire.''

Frank, Joe and Chet train for the shuttle mission and help Stone and his aide, Lew Gorman, investigate the accidents. Occurrences indicate that someone wants the Hardys off the case: Fenton is attacked by gunmen; a masked man makes a centrifuge run wild with Joe; a caller summons the young people to a trap meeting; and hallucinogenic crystals are placed in Chet's air hose during neutral buoyancy training, causing him to attack Frank. McConnel is apparently shot by terrorist Franz Schacht, who is linked by a fingerprint.

The day before the shuttle launch, the Hardys' van is shot at by a man whom Fenton recognizes as Stone. Evidence found in Stone's house seems to prove that he and Gorman are foreign agents; they are arrested, and Suzanne is removed from the shuttle crew. During the shuttle mission, Frank links the Spacelab computer with the computer in the Hardys' van and discovers that the body profile of one of the criminals from the beach matches that of a man present during the Okefenokee attack, linking the two cases. The Hardys deduce that Cramer and McConnel are involved with the industrial espionage ring. Frank discovers McConnel never visited an emergency room after being shot. The Hardys and Chet convince the shuttle commander to fake a power failure that would strand them in orbit, tricking Cramer into making a spacewalk to send ''Longeye'', which is set to explode, into space. Frank follows Cramer outside and frightens him into a confession. The ''Longeye'' on the shuttle is a mockup; Cramer and McConnel planned to sell the real ''Longeye'' to the spy ring. McConnel and Cramer faked Schacht's involvement, McConnel's shooting and Stone's guilt using masks of Schacht and Stone and a planted fingerprint.

The locales are in and around Bayport, New York and New York City. Frank and Joe are called upon to assist the Bayport Players in a production revival of a famous play, Homecoming Nightmare. The lead actress is Frank's girlfriend Callie Shaw. But the production is seriously threatened when someone in the cast decides they want Callie's part; and will do anything to get it.

A tiara that Callie purchases for the play is missing. She has received threats and pleads with Frank and Joe to stop the culprit before opening night. The Boys take on the case unaware that the troublemaker is amongst them.

Category:The Hardy Boys books Category:1989 American novels Category:1989 children's books Category:Novels set in New York (state) Category:Islip (town), New York

The bandit Ramon Gonzales, operating as "the Black Mask," begins terrorizing the town of Caliboro, California, near the Mexico–United States border. After the local parish priest entrusts Sheriff Alvarez with church money, the Black Mask steals it, kills Alvarez, and frames Deputy Sherrif Philip Morgan. Morgan tries to catch the real villain with a plan that involves disguising himself as the Black Mask, but he is discovered and nearly lynched. Morgan is saved when Gonzalez's girlfriend Claire Grayson betrays him, and once freed Morgan successfully proposes to Alvarez's daughter Patricia.

Bailey, the head of an Atlanta household, prepares to take his family on a vacation to Florida. His mother (known only as "The Grandmother" throughout the story) warns Bailey that a convict called The Misfit has escaped from prison and is heading towards Florida. She suggests a trip to East Tennessee instead but Bailey declines. Her grandson John Wesley comments that his grandmother could stay in Atlanta, her granddaughter June Star rudely says “she wouldn't stay at home to be queen for a day,” and her infant grandchild is tended to by her daughter-in-law. When they leave the next morning, The Grandmother occupies the backseat of the family's car, dressed finely so that if she is killed in an accident, she can be recognized as a Southern lady. She hides the family's cat, Pitty Sing, in a basket between her legs, not wanting to leave it home alone.

While traveling, The Grandmother points out scenery in Georgia. Her grandchildren respond by berating both Georgia and Tennessee, and The Grandmother reminds them that in her day, “children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else." She delights in seeing a naked black child waving from a shack, finding the image quaint. The Grandmother later sees a graveyard which was once part of a plantation that she jokingly says has "Gone with the Wind". She tells her grandchildren that when she was a "maiden lady" she had been courted by a man who, as an early owner of Coca Cola stock, died wealthy.

The family stops for barbeque at The Tower Restaurant after passing a series of billboards proclaiming the restaurant and food as "famous" and the proprietor, Red Sammy Butts, as "the fat boy with the happy laugh." On arrival, the family finds that the place is somewhat rundown. Red Sammy charms The Grandmother but is rather scornful of his own wife, a mistrustful waitress who worries about being robbed by The Misfit. The Grandmother promptly declares Red Sammy "a good man," and the two reminisce about better times while lamenting the decay of values.

Later that afternoon, the family continues their trip before The Grandmother falsely remembers a plantation being in the area, only realizing her mistake after convincing Bailey turn down a rocky dirt road surrounded by wilderness. The pang of this error causes her to disturb the cat, who leaps onto Bailey, who loses control of the car, and the automobile flips into a ditch. No one is seriously hurt but the accident is witnessed by a party of three strange men, one of whom The Grandmother recognizes as The Misfit. She announces this and The Misfit has his men lead Bailey, the children's mother, and the children off into the woods where they are shot and killed. The Grandmother confusedly pleads for her life, beseeching The Misfit to find solace by praying but The Misfit blames Jesus Christ for his troubles and the dismal state of the world.

Finally upon seeing The Misfit's despair, The Grandmother reaches out, takes him by the shoulder, and gently tells him that he is "one of her babies." At that moment The Misfit shoots her to death. When his companions return, The Misfit says that The Grandmother "would've been a good woman if it were someone there to shoot her every minute of her life," and seems to conclude that violence affords "no real pleasure in life."

The background story is told by a 64-page novella with 19 chapters written by Rupert Goodwins.

Steve is in love with his attractive coworker Emily. Unbeknownst to Steve, Emily is possessed by a daemon named Zelloripus who was banished to Earth, stripped of most of her powers, and trapped into a human female due to unspecified crimes done to other daemons. Emily sees a chance to let someone else suffer and stifle her boredom. She tricks Steve to take three pills she has mixed to "cure his flu". While the pills do cure him, they also grant Zelloripus access to his body and mind. His dreams become both more lucid and strange, each one getting more intense and painful. Steve's psychiatrist does not understand what causes the dreams, and neither does Steve. He refers him to a neurosurgeon. After his health dramatically declines, Steve undertakes brain surgery in an attempt to stop the dreams. Under an anaesthetic, he slips into one more dream, possibly his last.

Mr. Rabbey, the host of a children's television show, is every boys' and girls' favorite. But unknown to everyone, when he hears stories from the kids who watch his show about the abuse they suffer at the hands of their parents, he starts visiting the parents and murdering them. Eventually, the police begin to suspect him of the murders.

After receiving a new phone number, Henry Pierce, the head of a nanotechnology firm Amedeo Technologies, begins to receive mysterious calls from men looking for a woman named Lilly. Pierce's company is working to create a molecular computer the size of a dime. Multiple other companies are involved in a race to this achievement. Pierce and his partner Charlie Condon have been preparing a presentation of their invention for a potential major investor. At the same time, Pierce has recently been dumped by his girlfriend due to distance caused by his work. After receiving numerous more calls for Lilly, rather than pursuing a new phone number, Pierce decides to look into the origins of these calls.

After getting the name of a website from one of the callers, Pierce discovers that Lilly is an escort available to purchase on a website named L.A. Darlings, where visitors of the website have the ability to contact her with her number, now assigned to Pierce. When his attempts to contact Lilly are futile, he calls another escort who often partners with her, Robin. She tells him that she has not heard from her in a long time, but hangs up on Pierce after seeing him as suspicious. Learning that the website is run by a company named Entrepreneurial Concepts Unlimited, Pierce visits its office in the morning. Explaining the false number situation to a secretary, he receives the supposed address of Lilly Quinlan, which he finds to be a rented post office box. He enlists his personal assistant to call the post office and imitate Lilly for the true address. Pierce travels to the address, a bungalow in the suburbs. He enters through an unlocked door and finds rotting food and stacking mail, some coming from her mother. Pierce asks his friend from college Cody Zeller, a white hat hacker, to find what he can on Wentz.

Pierce then sets an appointment to meet with Robin, who he bribes for any information she can give on Lilly. She gives him the names Billy Wentz and Grady, the men running the websites, and claims they are dangerous. She leads Pierce to Lilly's apartment. Inside, he finds a blood soaked mattress and immediately calls the police. Police Detective Renner questions Pierce on what occurred, though it slowly becomes apparent that he sees him as a suspect. After several hours of holding he lets Pierce go, though when he returns to his car across town he suspects that it has been searched by the police. Pierce meets with a P.I. that investigated Lilly's disappearance, who warns Pierce to stay away from the situation.

When he returns to his apartment complex, Pierce encounters two men who attack him and force him into his apartment. They check his phone messages and then proceed to smash his face with the phone. The larger man, Six-Eight, then holds him by his ankles over his balcony twelve stories up. The smaller man, who Pierce deduces to be Billy Wentz, demands that he stays out of their operations. Pierce is hospitalized and is forced to undergo plastic surgery. Detective Renner visits him in the hospital and questions him, but becomes a threat to Pierce's innocence when he records a potentially incriminating statement out of context. To try and avoid going to court and ruining his company's trust from investors, Pierce seeks help from a lawyer. On the day of the presentation, Pierce and his coworkers are successful in winning over their ideal investor Maurice Goddard, though the stress of the ongoing investigation piles on Pierce. Thinking back on any events that could incriminate him, Pierce recalls when he car was searched and considers the culprit not being Renner. He discovers an unfamiliar keycard in his backpack that accesses a storage unit, as well as a key to a padlock on his keyring. He visits the unit purchased under his name and discovered the frozen corpse of Lilly. Realizing that he was nearly framed for her murder but not believing Wentz was responsible, he sets out to find this bigger enemy.

Believing that everything had been an intricate conspiracy by his competitors to incriminate him and get him out of the race, Pierce drives to his ex Nicole's house and accuses her of having leaked vital information. She denies it before kicking him out. Reflecting on his accusations, Pierce visits Lucy (Robin) to make amends after she was punished by Wentz. Lucy explains that the last time she saw Lilly, there was an unfamiliar car parked in her driveway, and that she believed Wentz's boss Grady was there. Recognizing the car to be that of his friend Cody Zeller, Pierce sets out to confront him. He calls him into his laboratory. Locking both Cody and himself inside, he pushes him toward a confession that is captured by an audio recording. Cody admits that he chose to use Lilly as bait for Pierce, knowing that he would feel a need to find her to make up for the death of his sister, a prostitute who was murdered years ago. Pierce had blamed himself for her death ever since as he was unable to convince her to come home. Cody also describes his employers to be in the pharmaceutical industry, and that they did not want Amedeo's recipe to be released. Detective Renner arrives, revealed to have set Pierce up with a wire to get a full confession from Zeller. Before he can arrest him, Wentz and Six-Eight suddenly appear with a security guard as a hostage and a gunfight ensues. Six-Eight and Zeller are killed instantly while Renner is injured. Pierce shuts off the lights with a voice activated system and grabs Zeller's hidden gun. When Wentz finds him in the dark, Pierce activates the lights again and kills him with the gun. In the aftermath, while the investigation in the lab goes underway, Pierce discusses with Charlie what the company's next steps should be now that their invention has been officially given the go-ahead.

Recognizing his reluctance to trust some of those closest to him, Pierce reaches out to reconcile with Nicole.

Category:2002 American novels Category:Novels by Michael Connelly

''Marriage Royale'''s story revolves around the male protagonist, a high school student named Tsukasa Hinomoto, who is told one day by his parents that he was adopted. Furthermore, they tell him that his real father is a manager of a large company, meaning he is very rich and holds a lot of power. Tsukasa's real father wants his son to marry a good woman, so he sets up an event known as ''Marriage Royale'' where beautiful girls from all over Japan will come together at a school built especially for the event and vie to become Tsukasa's fiancée. The school is located on an isolated island near Japan, and Tsukasa himself is taken there to live in a mansion in the care of two twin maids: Miku, the elder sister, and Miu, the younger sister.

The evil Krakken has appeared and causes a rampage at the local "hoverdek" park, where "dekkers" Xako, Mia, and their friends practice their skillz. Using his powers, Krakken kidnaps the "dek kids" and magically transforms them into his minions all to make the place his new home. Now it is up to Xako and Mia to save their friends and stop Krakken's evil, sending him back to where he came from.

Anthropologist Nora Kelly finds a letter that was written sixteen years ago, but mysteriously sent to her only recently. The letter is written by her father, long believed dead. The letter states that he had found the lost city of gold, Quivira. Kelly organizes an expedition into a harsh, remote corner of Utah's canyon country. A portion of the team learns that the city of Quivira held not gold, but micaceous, golden colored pottery, and that it also was a center for an Aztec death cult, which had enslaved the native Anasazi people. The Aztec rulers used black magic, aided by a powder of the fungus ''Coccidioides immitis'' which could kill by causing coccidioidomycosis. Kelly's teammate, Sloane, attempts to kill Kelly to be the sole person who can claim the find, not suspecting what Kelly has learned about the fungal infection, and neither parties realizing until very late that they are being tracked by contemporary practitioners of the cult, who have enhanced their ability to stalk and fight with traditional hallucinogens such as psilocybin, mescaline, and datura.

Japan, February 1996. Three years after graduating from high school and moving to Tokyo to get a job, Kaiji Itō fails to find steady employment due to the country being mired in its first recession since World War II. Depressed, he festers in his apartment, biding his time with cheap pranks, gambling, liquor and cigarettes. Kaiji is always thinking about money and his perpetual poverty frequently brings him to tears. Kaiji's unrelenting misery continues until he is paid an unexpected visit from a loan shark named Yūji Endō, who wants to collect an outstanding debt that Kaiji has carelessly co-signed for his former co-worker. Endō gives Kaiji two options – either spend ten years repaying this outstanding debt, or board the gambling ship Espoir ("hope" in French) for one night to clear the debt. Using a con, Endō pressures Kaiji into accepting the deal, believing he will never come back from the voyage.

However, Kaiji survives the gamble and is invited to another gambling night, this time at Starside Hotel. Although initially wary about the offer, he is spurred by his acquaintance Sahara to go. After being the only survivor of the Human Derby, Kaiji decides to avenge his friends by competing in another gambling match the financing corporation known as Teiai Group has prepared: E-Card. Kaiji, despite losing an ear, defeats his opponent Yukio Tonegawa, the second highest ranking executive at Teiai. He goes all-in once again in a new game with Kazutaka Hyōdō, the president of Teiai, but this time loses both the money he had won in E-Card and four of his fingers.

Though Kaiji survives the events at Starside Hotel he now has a debt of over 9.5 million yen. He contacts Endō in hopes of being able to take part in another high-stakes gamble, though Endō betrays him and sends him to Teiai's underground labor camp where he will have to work off his debt for 15 years. In the labor camp Kaiji is paid 91,000 perica (equal to 9100 yen) per month to dig an underground kingdom. This is reduced to 45,000 perica after Kaiji loses to Ōtsuki in Underground Cee-lo. However, Kaiji allies himself with other Forty-fivers (those earning 45,000 perica per month) to defeat Ōtsuki and win enough money for a one-day outside pass.

Although Kaiji manages to get out of the labor camp with 800,000 yen on hand using multiple one-day outside passes, he only has 20 days to earn the 60 million yen he needs to buy his freedom and release the other Forty-fivers. Fortunately, Kaiji comes across Kōtarō Sakazaki, a man who tells him of a pachinko game known as the Bog in a high-stakes casino where Kaiji can win over 500 million yen. Kaiji agrees to help him beat the Bog. However, the casino is owned by Teiai, and the Bog has been rigged in several ways by the manager of the casino, Seiya Ichijō, and his men to ensure that it will not pay out. Kaiji succeeds at beating the Bog after a long battle and Ichijō is sent to the underground labor camp working for 1050 years to pay back the 700 million yen from the Bog that Kaiji won. However, Endō drugs Kaiji and takes away the majority of his winnings as debt payment for the amount he loaned Kaiji to win the Bog.

Months after the events and finally having cleared his debt, Kaiji has been living with Sakazaki and his family until he kicks Kaiji out with 3 million yen in cash. Kaiji then agrees to help the former Forty-fivers Miyoshi and Maeda beat Takashi Muraoka, the president of a casino at his Minefield Mahjong game and potentially win over 100 million yen. After losing sums of money during the game, Kaiji realizes that the game was rigged from the start in Muraoka's favor, with Maeda looking at Kaiji's tiles and giving information to Muraoka and Miyoshi sending false signals to Kaiji. Kazuya Hyōdō, the son of Kazutaka Hyōdō, who was in the same room with Kaiji and the rest, loans him money to continue gambling, and after several matches, Kaiji is finally able to defeat Muraoka and wins 480 million yen through a pure stroke of luck.

Kazuya offers Kaiji an opportunity to gamble with him, to which Kaiji accepts and follows him. Kazuya reveals to Kaiji his twisted and bloodthirsty personality and how despicable he thinks human beings are. He decides to test his view on human nature with a life-or-death game called Salvation Game, with three friends indebted to him, Mario, Chang and Mitsuyama, and see if their friendship is a true bond. Kaiji is an observer to this game and cheers on the three men to challenge Kazuya's corrupted views. However, after several rounds, Mitsuyama ends up failing to put his trust into his friends and betrays them, taking all the money of the game and leaving them behind to die. Kaiji instinctively saves Mario and Chang from death, and before going with Kazuya to a warehouse and do their gamble, Kaiji asks them to join and support him to defeat Kazuya.

Kaiji and Kazuya play a game called One Poker, and after several matches with Kaiji close to death, he finally overthrows Kazuya. Nevertheless, Kaiji, in an act of mercy, saves Kazuya from dying with the help of Mario and Chang. While Kazuya lies unconscious, they escape with 2.4 billion yen. Enraged after he found out what happened, Hyōdō commands the blacksuits and Endō to chase after them and get the money back. Kaiji, Chang and Mario, on the run from Teiai and after many trails and evasions from them, realize that they have an army of debtors who relentlessly look for everywhere Kaiji, Chang and Mario go. Consequently, Kaiji is planning to leave Japan for good after Chang and Mario go back to their countries.

Gjorg Berisha, a 26-year-old Albanian man living on the country's high plateau, is forced to commit a murder under the laws of the Kanun to avenge his brother. As a result of this killing, his own death is sealed; he is to be killed by a member of the opposing family.

The novel concerns about the centuries-old tradition of hospitality, blood feuds, and revenge killing in the highlands of north Albania in the 1930s.

Reading "Broken April" it is easy to understand why and with what strength Ismail Kadare is passionate about tragedy and its two most prominent representatives, Shakespeare and Aeschylus. "Friendship, loyalty, and feud are the wheels of the mechanism of ancient tragedy, and to enter into their mechanism is to see the possibility of tragedy."

With a fanbase that rivaled ''Star Trek'' s, ''The Junior Defenders'' was one of the top TV hits of the late '70s. 25 years following the show's sudden cancellation, a crazed fan named Norman is still obsessed with the show. In his mania, Norman treks across the country in a stolen Winnebago, kidnapping the four washed-up former child stars, Jill, Mitch, Jimmy, and Tommy, from his beloved childhood program. The kidnappings spark a national media frenzy. Once in Hollywood, Norman takes over a soundstage and forces the cast at gunpoint to act in his brand-new episode of ''The Junior Defenders''.

While Blake Morrison, his mother, and younger sister Gillian tend to his father, Arthur, on his deathbed in his Yorkshire home, Blake has a series of flashbacks of moments he shared with his father. Despite Blake's success as a writer, poet, and critic, his father – a rural general practitioner – never accepted his decision to pursue a literary career or acknowledged his achievements.

Bullying, blustery, and boorish, Arthur blunders his way through fatherhood, regularly calling his son a fathead and intruding into the boy's private moments with a sense of entitlement. He has a penchant for exaggeration when he is not telling outright lies, and publicly humiliates his long-suffering wife Kim with his shameless flirting with various women and an affair with Beaty, a friend of the family.

At other times, he seems genuinely interested in bonding with his son, taking him camping so they can test supposedly waterproof sleeping bags he has made or allowing him to practise driving in the family's Alvis convertible on a wide expanse of deserted beach with reckless abandon. As a result, Blake is left with mixed feelings for his father, ranging from deeply rooted anger to compassionate acceptance. Only after Arthur's death is he able to set aside his resentment and recognise him as someone whose flaws ultimately helped mould his son into the better man he is.

As described in a film magazine review, Pat Halahan, Sheriff of Boulder, goes to San Francisco to see the sights. He meets Faith O’Day, in league with a gang of crooks. Faith decides to go straight, and Pat with the aid of the police rounds up the gang in a last desperate encounter.

Amid escalating conflict between Earth and mysterious alien Outsiders, massive armadas from both sides are set to meet in what looks to be an evenly matched battle. Bob Carson, the pilot of a small one-man scout ship, blacks out while engaging with an Outsider counterpart. When he awakens, he finds himself naked in a small enclosed, circular area about across. In the distance is an Outsider, which Carson labels a "Roller" because its form is that of a red sphere about in diameter with about a dozen thin, retractable tentacles.

Carson hears a voice in his mind that identifies itself as an ancient intelligence, the fusion of an entire race, which has intervened because the war would utterly destroy one side and hurt the other so badly that it would not be able to possibly one day evolve into an intelligence like itself. The Entity therefore chose one individual from each species to fight in single combat. The loser will doom its fleet to instant destruction.

Carson and his opponent discover through trial and error that there is an invisible barrier between them, and that apparently only inanimate objects can cross it. Carson tries to communicate with the Roller, to see if a compromise is possible, but receives a mental message of unremitting hatred. The two begin fighting with hurled projectiles.

Carson is wounded in the leg; eventually blood poisoning sets in. He sees the Roller throw a dead lizard it had tortured through the barrier; later he discovers the lizard was only unconscious. Carson realizes that the barrier is a mental one. In desperation, he knocks himself out on a slope and rolls through to the other side. He regains consciousness and harpoons the cautiously approaching Roller, finishing it off with a knife he knapped from a flint-like rock.

Carson immediately finds himself back in his scout ship. He receives a jubilant message from his commander informing him that Earth's first salvo somehow caused the entire enemy fleet to disintegrate, even ships that were out of range. When Carson sees several newly healed scars where he had been wounded, he knows he did not imagine the fight, but wisely decides to keep his experience to himself.

As described in a film magazine review, while Sheriff Bob Smith is away from town going after the bandit Bob Moore, the villain has a new sheriff elected in his place. Captured, tried, and convicted, Moore confesses that he is also known as "Bob Smith" and that his sister, whom he has not seen in childhood, is coming to town. Moore proposes that Smith pose as him so that his long-lost sister will not know that her brother is actually an outlaw. Smith agrees, and upon meeting her falls in love with her. He rounds up the villain's gang, gets his sheriff's job back, and wins the young woman after saving her real brother.

As described in a film magazine review, Joel had loved Judith but had given her up to his brother, who asked her to marry him. The brother is found dead, slumped over a letter addressed to Judith, two days prior to their wedding day. Jim Downing, who had displayed his wealth to Judith and persuades her to marry him, had killed the brother. Joel, downhearted, goes to the Klondike to forget his trouble where he becomes known as Silent Sanderson. One year there makes him wealthy. Judith, disillusioned by her marriage to Jim, goes to the Klondike to become a dancer. Sanderson (Joel) hosts the crowd one night at the cafe because of his new claim, when Judith is attacked by a stranger. Joel protects her and takes her to his home, telling her that he will send her back South when the ice breaks. His hatred of her has remained during the time they have been apart. She tries to restore within him the love he once had for her, but fails. Wolves attack Joel and Judith saves him through dexterous use of a rifle. She nurses him through a long recovery. At the end of that time, Jim Downing wanders to Joel's house, suffering from snow blindness, searching for Judith. Not knowing the identity of his hosts, he is nursed back to health. Not revealing that he has recovered his eyesight, he suddenly attacks Joel. Judith again protects Joel. Desiring to end their struggle using their fists, Joel piles blows onto the man until he stumbles back out into the snow. There wolves set upon Jim and devour him. Joel and Judith find themselves together and are married.

Episode One

The series begins in 1996 with a married couple, Sarah (Holly Aird) and David (Adam Kotz) Hooper, going to a busy beach with their young children Alice, Jasmine (Emma Natasha Miles) and Sean (Owen Donovan) on a bank holiday. After some time three-year-old Alice is accidentally left alone and vanishes when her father goes to get ice cream and her mother fails to hear his cries to watch her and presumes she is with him. A frantic search fails to yield any results, and Alice is presumed dead by drowning and is remembered through a commemoration plaque near the beach.

The series then moves forward eleven years, with Sarah refusing to believe her daughter is dead. Whilst in a shopping centre several miles away from her home, she sees a girl (played by Jo Woodcock) who she believes is remarkably similar in appearance to Alice, and faints with shock. She later tells her husband, who maintains that Alice is dead and refuses to entertain Sarah's theories. Sarah returns to the centre, and after several hours of waiting, finds the girl again and follows her to her flat on an estate. The following day Sarah returns to the estate where she confronts the girl and her stepfather Stephen Turner (Bradley Walsh), and after a physical altercation is arrested. She receives a warning on the premise she does not approach the girl or the family again.

Sarah, however, is determined that the girl (revealed to be called Lori) is actually Alice, and the depth of her belief appeals to D.S. Sally Bridges (Poppy Miller) who takes up the case. She visits the Turners' household where she sees photos allegedly of Lori as a baby and, on the way out, meets Lori and her mother Joanne Taylor (Nicola Walker) who reveals she has finally relented and let her daughter get a tattoo on her upper right arm. Thinking this overcompensation for the "ordeal", Bridges asks Sarah if Alice had any distinguishing marks and is told she had a small birthmark on her arm, supposedly in the same place as the tattoo on Lori. With this information, Bridges returns to the Turner/Taylor home and requests a birth certificate and, after to failing to provide one, Joanne breaks down revealing she kidnapped Alice after becoming depressed having found that she was not able to have her own children.

Episode Two

A distraught Joanne is charged, however Lori/Alice chooses to return to her home with Stephen and is allowed to under the belief she is over the age of 16. Sarah counters that she is only fourteen, and Lori/Alice is taken from her devastated stepfather and placed in a foster home. Against the wishes of Sarah, who wants her daughter to move in immediately, social services want to integrate her into the new family over time, and ask Sarah to prepare a photo album to help Alice get to know her real family. In viewing the album, Alice begins to remember her former life, and after an emotional confrontation with Joanne in custody, she storms out refusing to accept her emotional apology.

As Joanne's trial approaches she requests that Sarah visits her so she can make a plea for her to protest against her going to prison. Sarah refuses and reveals to her husband that she wants the woman to feel as much pain as she went through for the last 11 years. However, the judge takes into account Joanne's depression and the loving relationship she had with Alice, and gives her a five-year suspended sentence on the provision that Joanne cuts all ties with Alice. Sarah is horrified, as she feels Joanne has gotten away with her crimes and may attempt to kidnap Alice again.

Following the trial, tensions run high in the Hooper household, with David considering an affair with his secretary, Jasmine treating Alice harshly out of jealousy as her position as the sole daughter is threatened, and Sean developing a crush on Alice. Sarah, however, tries to help Alice cope with the change, suggesting she retake her GCSE exams on account of her false age and throwing a fifteenth birthday party for her. At this, Alice's boyfriend passes her a card from Joanne which Sarah finds, compounding her fears over the contact between them. The events spiral out of control when Jasmine overdoses on drugs and is admitted to hospital. There, Alice overhears Sarah and David conversing about the problems which have emerged since she joined the family and, incorrectly believing they were blaming her, runs away. When she is discovered missing, a frantic search begins, culminating in the discovery of Joanne's body at the bottom of her block of flats and, as suspicion is cast over the events surrounding her death, Sarah, the last person thought to have seen her alive, finds herself a suspect.

Episode Three

Details emerge over Joanne's death and it is revealed she died due to a blow to the back of her neck and was thrown from the apartments posthumously. Alice (who was found at the beach where she was kidnapped), David, Sarah and Stephen are interviewed over the incident, and the police discover that Sarah lied about her whereabouts when she changes her story in custody. She is subsequently arrested and, since David has not produced a verifiable story and is still a suspect, social services decide to place their children in foster care. Faced with the situation David reveals to D.S. Bridges that he was meeting with his secretary at the time of Joanne's death, and is released and allowed to retain custody of his children.

Sarah remains at the police station, however eventually Stephen confesses the circumstances behind his wife's death. Joanne had told Stephen that she was planning on phoning Alice and telling her that they loved her but wouldn't be seeing her again until she was 16 and old enough to decide for herself whether she wanted contact. Stephen was against the idea and tried to stop her calling, but as she got up to walk into another room he accidentally pushed her into a table, killing her instantly. He reveals he stayed with her body until after dark and then pushed it from the balcony to feign the image of suicide. Sarah is released and, on the journey home, David admits he thought about an affair but maintains they were not romantically involved.

Three months later the family return to the beach where the epic began and, in a final act of forgiveness, change the name on the plaque from Alice to Joanne, recognising her as a wife and mother.

As described in a film magazine reviews, when Betty Foster comes West, she finds that real cowboys are not a match to what movies have shown her. She has seen them through rose colored glasses. When a robbery occurs, a cowboy fails to protect her. She then disguises herself in a highwayman's clothing and recovers the loot. After she is captured by the bandits, her faith in the West is restored when cowboy Pete Grainger rescues her.

As described in a film magazine reviews, Patrick Angus O’Toole reaches the fort where he has been assigned to clear up a lot of smuggling. Mary, the daughter of Colonel Owen, is wooed by Captain Blake, although she admires O’Toole. Her younger brother, Hal Owen, becomes indebted by gambling to Blake. Blake is jealous of O’Toole and therefore takes revenge on Hal by demanding payment of the debts within 24 hours. Hal attempts a stage coach robbery to get the money. O’Toole arrives in time to see the stage driver shot by a stray bullet. The money bags are later found in O’Toole’s room and he is put in prison. In an Indian attack, Hal is shot and, on his death bed, confesses to the robbery. O’Toole is cleared of the criminal charges and openly courts the young woman. Mary reciprocates his love.

Adan Ronquillo was fighting a group of thugs led by Ben Hapon and was arrested by his father. One night after setting free his father was murdered by a rogue police force led by Gardo. Hepe approaches Adan about the incident. Abad kills one of Adan's friends and leaves a message to the Hepe. Adan finds Gardo's son who was responsible for his father's death and he has been ordered by Gardo to kill him and Adan kills him. Adan finds Gardo in the warehouse and one of Gardo's police force opens fire at him. Adan kills most of Gardo's forces with a rifle with a grenade launcher. But Gardo escapes in a car with Adan chases him which they destroyed a fuel tanker as Adan shoots Gardo in the back causing him to skid his car to a stop. Adan climbs out of his damaged car as Gardo was about to fire his gun at him Adan kills him and blows his car up. Ben Hapon informs Moren of Gardo's death which enrages him.

Adan goes to his house to find her mother murdered by Ben Hapon and Karla has been captured by Moreno and he throws Ben Hapon out of the house and tells Moreno that he is coming for him. Adan goes to Moreno's Summer villa in Antipolo to rescue Karla and kills Ben Hapon. Hepe and his police forces arrive to help him and arrest Moreno's men. Moreno escapes with Karla. During the scuffle, Moreno slaps Karla causing her to fall down the hill, and badly shots her just as Adan arrives into the scene. Enraged Adan shoots Moreno with his machine gun and mourns Karla believing to have been killed by Moreno just as Hepe arrives to help him. However, Moreno is still alive and aims his machine gun at them. Adan is shot by him before he and Hepe shot Moreno to death. Karla has survived the scuffle with Moreno and was in a wheeling chair mourning Adan's death in the cemetery with Adan's friend and sister Elma. Hepe arrives and tells them that Adan survived he was only shot in the arm by Moreno before he and Hepe killed Moreno.

As a coroner and a District Attorney investigate the death of Paula Dupree, which Dr. Carl Fletcher admits that he has murdered. He expands on this death, revealing more information on the story. Through a flashback, Fletcher is at an opening night of the Whipple Circus and witnessed Cheela the Gorilla's heroic act that saved the life of Fred Mason. After her supposed demise, the doctor acquires the body of the beast. He detects a heartbeat, and revives the animal. Fascinated by the creature, he purchases the late Dr. Walters’ estate, hoping to find the records of his experiments. Cheela returns to human form. She is at first unable to speak and Fletcher diagnoses her condition as being due to shock. Upon the arrival of his daughter Joan and her fiancé Bob Whitney, the girl suddenly becomes verbal identifying herself as Paula. Enamored with Bob, Paula's jealous streak resurfaces. During a moonlight canoe ride, an unseen attacker capsizes Joan and Bob. Discussing the episode with Dr. Fletcher, they believe that one of the other patients Willie is responsible. Willie is then discovered to be missing.

Paula later meets with Bob in private, showing him bruises on her shoulder, injuries she claims were inflicted by Dr. Fletcher. Meanwhile, the caretaker for the estate has made the doctor aware of the vicious killing of his dog and a flock of chickens. Armed with the broken lock to the henhouse, Dr. Fletcher confiscates Paula's perfume bottle as well. After he returns to his study, Paula makes an attempt on his life. Just as he pushes her to the floor, Bob enters the room. Misunderstanding what he has seen, he takes Paula to another doctor for an examination. Dr. Fletcher has the lock and perfume bottle analyzed by a fingerprint expert, learning that although different in size, the prints do indeed match. He is now convinced that Paula and Cheela are one and the same.

Bob has Paula examined by Dr. Meredith (Pierre Watkin), who does detect mental instability and extreme physical strength. When told she is already under the care of a doctor, he admonishes the young man to return her at once to her attending physician. Arriving back at Crestview, Dr. Fletcher is met with the news that Willie's mangled body has been found. He confides in Joan what he knows about Paula, and expresses his concern for Bob. Paula and Bob return as well, and the latter finally tells her that he is going to marry Joan, which visibly angers her. Joan rushes to meet him as Paula disappears in the shadows. Learning the truth about the girl, he sends his fiancée to her cabin while he goes to the aid of Dr. Fletcher. After a search of Paula's room fails, Dr. Fletcher tells Bob to check the rest of the house. Brandishing a hypodermic needle filled with a sedative, the physician heads outside to continue his search. Paula pursues Joan through the woods to the cottage. Attempting to gain entrance, she hears the approaching Dr. Fletcher. She attacks him, and in the struggle, he accidentally administers a fatal overdose.

The flashbacks conclude and the D.A. expresses his disbelief. The Coroner parades the group, including the jury, to the morgue to re-examine the body of Paula Dupree. She is found to have reverted in death to the form of a half-human, half-ape monster. Dr. Fletcher is exonerated.

By the year 2117 Mega-City One's Sector 301, disparagingly nicknamed "The Pit," is the most crime-ridden and corrupt sector in the future city. Each city sector has its own sector house of street judges, and the judges in Sector 301 are the worst, as the sector has been used as a dumping ground for every inadequate judge who, but for manpower shortages, would normally have been dismissed from the force. Corruption and incompetence at 301 are rife, and when judges are suspected of complicity in the murder of Sector Chief Rohan, Judge Dredd is appointed sector chief in her place, with instructions to investigate the murder and also to whip the Pit's judges into shape.

Essentially a desk assignment, sector chief is not Dredd's chosen role, and he resents the paperwork and isolation from daily law enforcement. (It is for this reason that Dredd, in an earlier story, turned down the opportunity to become chief judge of the whole city.) However Dredd diligently sets about his task, and sets up a task force of judges outside the SJS (the Special Judicial Squad, who normally deal with internal affairs), since even the local SJS judges are not above suspicion.

Dredd supplements the task force with judges from outside The Pit, established characters Judge Giant and Judge Castillo, but their role in the story is less than that of the new characters. Dredd initially appoints Judge DeMarco to lead the task force, as she is the most capable judge in the sector. However he later has to suspend her when Castillo discovers that DeMarco is having an illicit affair with another judge, Judge Warren, in contravention of regulations. DeMarco redeems herself when she saves Castillo from a gang of thugs (even though this allowed Castillo to discover her affair with Warren), but Warren is suspended, having failed to intervene because it would have exposed them. He loses his temper and assaults Dredd, who immediately places him under arrest. Dredd appoints Judge Buell to take over command of the task force.

From the beginning of the corruption investigation, Dredd is greatly assisted by information provided by a renegade undercover judge, Judge Guthrie, who has apparently gone rogue after killing three judges and becoming a fugitive. Guthrie's evidence leads to the discovery that many of Sector 301's judges are indeed corrupt, and some are even in the pay of the "Frendz Mob," a mafia-style organised crime syndicate. Dredd and his task force eventually arrest twenty-four judges for various crimes, and two more are killed by Dredd and Guthrie while resisting arrest. A third judge is killed in action before his crimes are discovered. A further two judges – the local head and deputy head of the sector's SJS – are also killed by or on the orders of the Frendz Mob, to conceal the Mob's infiltration of the sector house.

In spite of that setback, however, Dredd's mission is otherwise a success, as the sector house has been purged of corruption. Judge Guthrie is reinstated and reassigned to uniform duties, after satisfying Dredd that he is innocent (the judges he killed having been trying to murder him at the behest of the Frendz). DeMarco is also reinstated. Buell and his partner Judge Garcia are promoted to become, respectively, the new head and deputy head of SJS at 301, after Castillo declines the promotion.

Undeterred by the lack of evidence against the Frendz Mob, Dredd initiates a massive campaign of harassment against them, raiding all of their known buildings and vigorously punishing every crime detected, however minor. Eventually this goads the local Frendz boss into a reprisal action, and he instigates a sector-wide riot, which escalates into a full-scale gang war against the judges. Reinforced by new graduates from the Academy of Law, the beleaguered judges fight back, with Dredd himself in the heart of the conflict. During the chaos, Warren escapes from custody and abducts DeMarco, who is forced to kill him in self-defence. Eventually the judges prevail and regain control of the streets. The local Frendz boss still can not be tied to the recent violence, but when over three hundred unpaid parking tickets come to light he is sentenced to thirty days per ticket: a total sentence of over twenty-five years (in much the same way that Al Capone was brought to justice for tax evasion in 1931).

Keen to return to his regular duties, Dredd resigns his commission and hands over the sector house to his successor, Judge Uris.

A girl travelling by train to meet her boyfriend meets another young man and falls in love with him.

Patrick, an American card shark and dealer of stolen artifacts, has been "comfortably numb" in Cambodia for years, when he encounters Holly, a 12-year-old Vietnamese girl, in the K11 red light village. The girl has been sold by her impoverished family and smuggled across the border to work as a prostitute.

Patrick wants to save Holly, but Marie, a social worker tells him that paying for her freedom will supply the demand of the traffickers, which will cause more children to be trafficked. The social worker also tells him that the U.S. will not let him adopt Holly. Marie also informs him of the issues of reintegrating her into society.

The book opens with a short summary of the past events of the previous book, ''The Lost Warrior''. Coming to the current time, Graystripe and his traveling companion, Millie, can see Highstones in the distance. As they are traveling through a corn field, a combine pursues them. Graystripe and Millie are separated as they flee from the monster. Graystripe manages to get to a nearby barn, and asks for help from the cats inhabiting the barn. The barn cats agree to help Graystripe find Millie. They find Millie and learn the hard corn leaves cut and damaged Millie's eyes. Graystripe and Millie are allowed to stay until she recovers. Husker, one of the barn cats explains to the two cats that they used to live in the nearby Twoleg nest (human house). Unfortunately, the Twolegs (humans) died, and a new family moved in. The new residents disliked the cats, so they were chased out. They had lived in the barn ever since and had to deal with the Twoleg's dogs.

Graystripe and Millie face the pet dogs of the family after they wander into the barn. Millie can speak dog and is able to send the dogs away. The barn cats are amazed by Millie's ability and she teaches them how to speak dog. A few days later, Millie and Graystripe see a Twoleg kit in pursuit of a frog. She approaches dangerously close to the edge of a pond, almost falling into it. Graystripe manages to catch the child's attention and lead her away. The Twoleg's parents are very grateful to the cats. Over time, the Twolegs accept the barn cats as well and even adopt them as their kittypets through a plan of Graystripe's. The two travelers continue their route towards home. However, when they arrive at the forest, they find the territory is destroyed and ThunderClan is gone.

Rikako of the twelfth grade repeated play at night with her close Miki every day. One day she meets (and becomes infatuated with) Tomoaki Fujii, who's rumoured to be the Don Juan of her school and even impregnated a girl before getting an abortion in his father's hospital. This doesn't bother Rikako one bit, as she too sleeps around. But Tomoaki, knowing Rikako's true intentions, shoves her aside. Rikako later finds out that Tomoaki is quitting school to move to Okinawa, and she finally attempts to understand him. From then on, they form a close bond.

The story tells about Ching (Gillian Chung), who was dumped by her playboy boyfriend Ken (Daniel Wu). She tracks down his new girlfriend Shirley (Tao Hong) and claims that Ken uploaded nude photos of her to a website.

Apocalypse began his attack by planting a fake Wolverine among the ranks of the X-Men. This led Xavier, who suspected the infiltration, to disband the X-Men. The X-Men parted ways, and soon after, Rogue and Shadowcat found themselves protecting Mystique from Japan's military, the Yakiba. As Rogue fought Sunfire and his men, Kitty watched over Mystique and found, unwittingly, Destiny's diary. The diary itself had a very cryptic description of a "thirteenth" and told that the Twelve would be involved in the destruction of the world.

With the death of Wolverine's imposter, the X-Men reunited at the mansion, only to discover it was not truly Wolverine who had died, but a Skrull. The infiltrator had been found. To save Polaris from abduction, Cyclops took her place using an image inducer, and the X-Men followed him to the Skrulls' lair, where they were attacked by Death, Apocalypse's most lethal and fiercest Horseman, the same person responsible for the death of the fake Wolverine. After a heavy battle, Death was unmasked by Colossus. The X-Men were surprised to see their newest enemy was in truth the real Wolverine, who had earlier volunteered for the role knowing that the other possibility (Sabretooth) would enjoy it too much whereas he himself would fight the conditioning involved. Following this revelation, Death escaped, leaving the X-Men with half-truths and enigmas that needed solving.

Soon after, Xavier revealed the "List of Twelve", written in Destiny's Diary. The Twelve were:

• Magneto
• Polaris
• Storm
• Sunfire
• Iceman
• Cyclops
• Phoenix
• Cable
• Bishop
• Mikhail Rasputin
• Professor X
• Living Monolith

The Horsemen of Apocalypse kidnapped Cable, Mikhail Rasputin, Iceman, Sunfire and the Living Monolith. The X-Men, with Magneto's help, rushed to Egypt, to Apocalypse's lair. They were soon attacked by an army of Skrulls and followers of Apocalypse. Amidst the battle, Bishop, who had been trapped in an alternate future reality, appeared out of thin air, furthering the confusion. Thanks to illusions and lies, the agents of Apocalypse were able to kidnap all remaining members of the Twelve. It is revealed the legend of the Twelve is actually the grand design of Apocalypse, who started the rumors himself long ago and their true role was then explained at last. They are in fact twelve powerful mutants that Apocalypse wants to lure together, as he needs them to ascend to godhood. Polaris and Magneto represented the opposing magnetic poles; Storm, Iceman and Sunfire represented the elements of nature; Cyclops, Jean, and Cable represented the unity of family (Father, Mother and Child), and chosen for the power of the Summers-Grey bloodline; Bishop and Mikhail represented the control over time and space; Xavier represented the power of mind and the Living Monolith represented the core. Placing the Twelve inside containment cells, part of an ages-old Celestial machine, Apocalypse would then siphon the energies of the "Eleven of Power" through the Living Monolith to start the machine, which would grant him omnipotence. However, Apocalypse knew his frail, centuries-old body would not be able to withstand such power. And that's when he revealed the thirteenth mutant, the X-Man, Nate Grey. He intended to transfer his consciousness into Nate's young body and then use the energies of the Twelve to evolve.

He began the process, but Magneto's then-recent power loss was something Apocalypse had not counted, and soon his energies were depleted, creating a break in the chain of power. Apocalypse increased the flow of energies, attempting to bypass the break, but this drove the Living Monolith insane, destroying his containment unit and starting a rampage that unwittingly released the X-Men. While half of the team battled the Monolith, the other half attempted to stop Apocalypse. Jean Grey exposed the true nature of Apocalypse, showing his rotting body inside his armor. As he tried to enter Nate Grey's body, Cyclops took his place, sacrificing himself to save Nate. Jean attempted to contact her husband's mind, but Xavier claimed there was nothing of Cyclops left inside Apocalypse.

The story carries on into the Ages of Apocalypse arc, where Apocalypse using the energies gathered from the Twelve, re-made reality twice, attempting to re-create the process once more and finish his transformation. He was unable to do so, for the X-Men fought him both times, in the past and the future. His energies spent, he and the Living Monolith escaped. The X-Men had prevented Apocalypse from becoming a god, at the seeming expense of Cyclops' life. Heartbroken over her husband's death, Jean took a leave of absence from the X-Men.

The film is set in a heroic fantasy world. The Ragnicks, a tribe of peaceful travelling entertainers, are attacked by the evil tyrant Kadar, who takes their queen Canary hostage. Canary, however, manages to hide her magic ruby, the lucky jewel of the Ragnicks which Kadar seeks to bolster his power. Two young twins from the tribe, Kutchek and Gore, bite off two of Kadar's fingers. In retaliation, Kadar has them taken prisoner as well, but agrees to spare their lives if Canary becomes his bride.

Kutchek and Gore are separated and work as slaves for several years, and grow up as amazingly strong adults. Once they have come of age, Kadar sets them up to fight each other to the death in the arena, their faces masked by metal helmets. But as they struggle, Gore knocks open Kutchek's helmet, revealing his face; after recognizing each other, and after seeing Canary as a prisoner by Kadar's side, the twins escape from Kadar's fortress. In the woods, they find their old tribemates, who have led a life of misery ever since Canary's kidnapping, and a girl named Ismena, a thief imprisoned by the Ragnicks. At first mistaken for enemies and nearly hanged, Kutchek and Gore manage to reveal their past association with the tribe.

Incensed by the cruelties Kadar has imposed upon their lives, the two brothers plan to go back and seek revenge on the tyrant. Ismena leads them to a local trading post to get them some weapons, but have to leave empty-handed when the weapons dealer challenges them to a bout of arm wrestling and proves to be a bad loser. The three of them thereupon sneak their way into the palace harem, where Kutchek and Gore find Canary imprisoned. Instead of being freed, however, Canary insists that the two brothers recover the ruby, which has been secreted in an area called the Forbidden Land, where the Ragnicks first received the ruby and which is guarded by a fearsome dragon. But their presence in the palace is eventually discovered by China, Kadar's court sorceress. Intent on seizing the ruby for herself, China tortures Canary for information and departs to the Forbidden Land, but just as she find the gem, China and her entourage are met by the dragon, who devours them.

Following Canary's advice, the twins and Ismena first travel to a secret tomb to recover several magical weapons to fight the dragon, and then proceed to the Forbidden Land. The dragon rises to kill them, but the brothers slay it and recover the ruby from its guts. They entrust the gem to Ismena to return it to the Ragnicks, while they prepare to carry the final fight to Kadar. But then Kadar, who has discovered China's treachery, arrives along with Canary, and knowing that her time is at an end, Canary calls upon the ruby's magic to make Kadar kill her and call Kutchek and Gore back to the Forbidden Land. The brothers encounter the tyrant and slay him once Kadar finds his box of tricks exhausted.

With Canary dead, the ruby turns to stone, but Ismena refuses to give up. Suddenly, the ruby is restored, a sign for the Ragnicks to choose a new queen for their tribe by inserting the ruby into the candidates' belly button, where it shall stick to mark her as their new ruler. But none of the Ragnicks' maidens appears to be suitable, whereupon the tribe chooses Ismena to try. The ruby remains in place, and Ismena finally reveals herself as Kara, Kutchek and Gore's old tribemate who had since left the Ragnicks for a life of her own. With their spirit restored, and with the brothers' return, the Ragnicks are free to resume their life of travelling and entertainment.

The story takes place in and around Paris between May 1940 and June 1941. ''Jean Casson'' is a French motion-picture producer who specializes in gangster films and who possesses no political views to speak of. When the Germans defeat and conquer his country, Casson at first tries to continue his life and career as if nothing had happened. But that proves impossible; when the Germans arrest a few of his friends and associates Casson finds himself helping others to hide or escape. He is seen talking to questionable people, and before long his line is tapped and his movements followed. Eventually Casson must choose between a life of resistance or no life at all.

Camila, the daughter of Don Justo Darién is celebrating her engagement to Santiago, the handsome blacksmith, when all of a sudden Don Jorge Mancera y Ruiz arrives. He has decided to have his “Droit du seigneur” with Camila. After Santiago is hurt, Camila agrees to go with him. Later, in Don Jorge's bedroom, the lord drinks himself into a stupor and falls asleep without having touched her. Camila manages to escape and makes her way back to the village, only to find that nobody believes that she remains a virgin.

A few days later, the village is attacked by vicious pirates. Some of the villagers are led back to the ship to be sold as slaves in the Caribbean. Among them is Camila. She had been by Santiago's side while he remained in a coma due to his injury and everyone believed that he was about to die. She had run away to escape her grief and had been knocked unconscious and taken. Among the way to the pirate's ship she is raped by the men who had taken her away. The captain of the pirate ship, known as "El Antillano", finds her attractive and in a brief moment of weakness, feels moved to protect her from her cruel fate, but that moment quickly passes. Camila is eventually sold to a bitter old man named Don Timoteo De Salamanca, whose plan is to leave his hated family in ruins by marrying his slave and naming her his sole heir. His daughter Lisabeta and sister Doña Francisca despise Camila. Lisabeta maintains a friendly relationship with her outcast cousin who was at first the fortune's heir before his father died and he was framed by a murder he did not commit. While on the run he was taken prisoner by a pirate and made to join their crew.

Not long after, Don Timoteo passes away and Camila finds herself free and in possession of a vast fortune. The hatred for Camila by Lisabeta and Doña Francisca grows since Don Timoteo had promised to leave his whole fortune to Lisabeta. Don Timoteo had also stated in his will that Camila could not give any part of her fortune away because then her freedom could be revoked and she could be made a slave again. With no other choice she plans to leave but before she does she secretly leaves a chestful of coins for Lisabeta and Francisca. She returns to her home, where she learns that everyone, including Santiago, believed her dead, and now he is married to her sister Rita. A short time later, Don Timoteo's nephew, Ricardo, turns up unexpectedly with Lisabeta and Doña Francisca so that they can argue that Camila was not Don Timoteo's legitimate wife since their marriage was never consummated and that the fortune must go back to Lisabeta. He is none other than "El Antillano". The handsome pirate once again feels the need to protect her. Camila knows that he has come to recover his family's money, yet against her better judgment, she falls in love with him, and he with her. Meanwhile, Santiago's old feelings for Camila are rekindled, and a fierce rivalry springs up between him and Ricardo.

Santiago professes his love to Camila, but her heart is torn in two as she knows she can no longer have him. Ricardo, a fugitive of the law and proud, indomitable rogue, has awakened her soul to a love that grows stronger with each passing day, and, for the first time, her body is stirred with the flames of burning passion.

Among the protagonists' family and friends are a number of supporting characters that bring more drama and love to the story. Among them is Ines, Santiago's naive little sister who submits to a night of passion with Camila's womanizing older brother Vasco and results in them being married by their families. While Ines is thrilled about having Vasco as her husband, he remains the same as he always has been and continues to chase after other women, among them is Ursula who is Don Jorge Mancera y Ruiz's only daughter. Ines, though, continues to believe that Vasco will one day love her just as much as she has loved him her whole life.

Another couple that the story focuses on is Ascanio and Manuela who, due to being in different social ranks, suffer continually because they cannot be together. Ascanio used to be a slave and was freed when Camila inherited her husband's fortune and decided to buy his freedom along with fellow slaves Jimena and Claudio. Manuela is the meek and physically abused only child of Don Alberto Lafont who constantly ridicules and beats her. Manuela falls in love with Ascanio and he with her but they are forced to meet and talk in secret since Manuela is a high born lady and her secret meetings with an ex-slave would damage her reputation and her father would most likely kill both of them.

Mario and Jimena are the two sarcastic best friends of main couple Camila and Ricardo. Mario has been by Ricardo's side as a pirate for many years and maintains a deep loyalty to him. While he is amused that Ricardo has fallen in love, he supports him however he can and strikes up a friendship with Jimena, who is Camila's best friend. Jimena has had a very difficult life prior to being sold as a slave but that has not let her bring her down. The two are often teasing their respective friends all the time but are also quick to defend them and come to their aid whenever they are needed. While their friends go through many obstacles, they are forced into the same situations time and time again until their innocent flirtations begin to form into something more.

The whole story is set in the time of pretty young ladies in full skirts and proud gentlemen with a sword within arm's reach. The characters are thrown into remarkable situations where true love and passion conquers all.

Marty Piletti is an Italian-American butcher who lives in The Bronx with his mother. Unmarried at 34, the good-natured but socially awkward Marty faces constant badgering from family and friends to settle down, as they point out that all his brothers and sisters are already married, most of them with children. Not averse to marriage but disheartened by his lack of prospects, Marty has reluctantly resigned himself to bachelorhood.

After being harassed by his mother into going to the Stardust Ballroom one Saturday night, Marty connects with Clara, a plain science teacher at Benjamin Franklin High School, who is quietly weeping on the roof after being callously abandoned at the ballroom by her blind date. They spend the evening together dancing, walking the busy streets, and talking in a diner. Marty eagerly spills out his life story and ambitions, and they encourage each other. He takes Clara to his house and they awkwardly express their mutual attraction, shortly before his mother returns. Marty takes her home by bus, promising to call her at 2:30 the next afternoon, after Mass. Overjoyed on his way back home, he punches the bus stop sign and weaves between the cars, looking for a cab instead.

Meanwhile, Marty's Aunt Catherine moves in to live with Marty and his mother. She warns his mother that Marty will soon marry and cast her aside. Fearing that Marty's romance could spell her abandonment, his mother belittles Clara. Marty's friends, with an undercurrent of envy, deride Clara for her plainness and try to convince him to forget her and to remain with them, unmarried, in their fading youth. Harangued into submission by the pull of his friends, Marty doesn't call Clara.

That night, back in the same lonely rut, Marty realizes that he is giving up a woman whom he not only likes, but who makes him happy. Over the objections of his friends, he dashes to a phone booth to call Clara, who is disconsolately watching television with her parents. When his friend asks what he's doing, Marty bursts out saying:

You don't like her, my mother don't like her, she's a dog and I'm a fat, ugly man! Well, all I know is I had a good time last night! I'm gonna have a good time tonight! If we have enough good times together, I'm gonna get down on my knees and I'm gonna ''beg'' that girl to marry me! If we make a party on New Year's, I got a date for that party. You don't like her? That's too bad!

Marty closes the phone booth's door when Clara answers the phone. In the last line of the film, he tentatively says "Hello...Hello, Clara?"

The Naked Brothers Band and another band, the L.A. Surfers compete in a “Battle of the Bands” charity event benefiting Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free instruments and lessons to kids in low-income cities.

Rosalina starts to fall for the L.A. Surfers lead singer, Bobby Love (Keli Price). Nat and Alex learned his false intentions while in the bathroom as Nat is trying to wash out the orange hair dye that he put on as part of his latte-drinking bad boy image that he attempts to pull off to impress Rosalina. Nat did this after seeing a picture of Bobby Love and worrying whether she prefers bad boys. Nat then says he will try to get along with Bobby, but as he enters Nat and Alex hide in a stall. It turns out that Bobby is just hitting on Rosalina to get to the Naked Brothers Band, and is lying about everything (his faux British accent, his actual signature (he uses a stamp), not writing his own songs, and his birth name, Robert).

Bobby even tells Matt Pinfield that Nat does not write his own songs, but he says that he did not. Nat wants Bobby to confess about his lies and he won't. At the concert for Little Kid's Rock, Nat asks Bobby to confess once again, and he does not. Instead, Bobby continues to hit on Rosalina and call Nat "Nate" which angers him, and Alex stands up to Bobby and steps on his foot, causing a huge fight. During that fight, Nat declares that the benefit concert is now a battle of the bands, and whoever loses has to give all of their profits from their next CD to the charity.

Cooper and the band apologize for their bad behavior, and Cooper apologizes on his own behalf because he had a dentist appointment to get head gear, and couldn't have stopped the fight before it started. Cooper asks the representative of Little Kids Rock, Patty Scoggins (Emily Richardson), if a “huge band in Old Europe” called “The Honey Bunnies” (who are actually Mr. Wolff and Betty), could be the opening act for the event. She says that she could see what she could do. They actually perform, and a European producer actually gets impressed by what they did.

Bobby and his band later try to come up with new songs for the concert. Since Bobby doesn't write his own songs, this is very challenging. He comes up with mediocre songs called “My Feet Are So Nice” and “I Love My Hair”. His bandmate's girlfriend, Rita, tells him how silly the songs are, and he just continues to tell her that she is not the boss of the feet or the hair song and that she is not in the band.

Later Nat fails to get Rosalina to believe the truth about Bobby, and while practicing their song for the battle, he and the band make fun of Bobby twice, and she quits, telling Nat that she "expects more from him". She tells Bobby that the band thinks that he is a liar and he does not care about the charity. Bobby tries to use words of encouragement like "Have you ever noticed that the word "lousy" is in the word "jealousy"? That's because jealousy... makes you feel lousy"; Rosalina tells him that he said that to her the day before. Rosalina asks if he was the one who told Matt Pinfield that Nat does not write his own songs. She also asked him what part of England he is from.

Bobby is stuck, because he is not from Britain. In a moment of confusion, he said “Hogwarts,” which is in Harry Potter. Bobby quickly dismisses the problem by asking Rosalina if what she is holding is the music from the Naked Brothers Band. She said that she "won't be needing it since she quit the band," and Bobby throws it away in the garbage. He then attempts to kiss Rosalina, but she refused, stating that she is "confused" and runs away. After Rosalina leaves, Bobby takes her sheet music out of the garbage and pilfers it.

At the concert, Bobby talks to Nat, saying he is sorry that Rosalina left the band but she "was a good kisser," and Nat lost control of himself and attacks Bobby. Nat is losing but fortunately, Alex scared Bobby away with a mere balloon that a little girl gave to him. She gave it to Alex after Bobby refused the gift and said "I hope your band kicks Bobby's band's butts!"

Soon after, Bobby's band plays Nat's new song, "L.A.", which he stole from Rosalina and she realizes Bobby is a liar, and runs over to the band and says that Bobby stole it from her. She then hugs Nat and apologizes while crying. Nat forgives her. There is a net of balloons above the stage, and Rosalina wishes that "all of the balloons were made of cement" and they would fall on Bobby Love's big, fat, phony head. Then, Alex reminds Nat that he is afraid of balloons.

Rosalina pulls the rope, releasing the balloons. Balloons fall all over of Bobby's band, which causes him to panic and constantly yell in fear (in a non-British accent) for his mom and jumping on his bandmate, Pork, screaming: "I'm not playing games! They're touching my face!" Bobby Love and his band are booed off of the stage and gather at the dressing room. He expresses his anger because the band will have to dedicate all of the money from the next CD to the charity. Rita says that after this performance there won't be a next CD. Bobby Love hides his face in his hands in defeat and depression.

Cooper and Patty show the Naked Brothers Band music video “L.A.” that Nat originally wrote on the screen of a projector. Seeing this, Matt Pinfield, who previously supported the L.A. Surfers, gives an explanation of what just happened: The L.A. surfers stole the song from the Naked Brothers and Bobby Love is really "balloon fearing surfer dude Robert Love from California. I repeat, Bobby Love is afraid of balloons, and is from San Diego".

Meanwhile backstage, Nat instructed Rosalina on how to play his new song, "Girl Of My Dreams". Nat and the band come out on to the stage, and tell the audience to give a round of applause for the Honey Bunnies and the LA Surfers; nobody cheers at all. Then, Nat introduces the song, which is dedicated to a “very special person” (Rosalina) and notes that he wrote this when he was in pain and now that he's happy, he can actually enjoy it. The band performs the song, "Girl Of My Dreams " and win the battle of the bands.

Dan, an anthropomorphic puppy, is in the rear of the arctic "Malibu Saloon" playing pinball. A villain enters and sees Dan's love interest, Sue, and is instantly smitten with the Bette Davis lookalike; she tells the villain in the voice (and catchphrase) of Katharine Hepburn: "I hope Dan mows you down, really I do." A boxing match ensues, and Dan is able to dodge most of the villain's blows for most of round 1. In round 2, the villain gains the upper hand, knocking Dan unconscious. When Dan's ghost revives him with a bucket of water, Dan accuses the villain of cheating; four horseshoes – and a horse – are found in his boxing glove. In round 3, now with a blow-by-blow commentator and freeze-frame shot analysis, Dan goes on the offensive, but the fight remains evenly matched; the narrator then gives the combatants pistols to duel and finish the fight once and for all. The lights go out, shots are fired and Sue screams ("Eek!"). When the lights come on, Dan is seen lying on the floor. His girlfriend says repeatedly, "Say something! Say something!" Dan McFoo wakes up and says "Hewwo!".

Most of the children are orphans. One mother sends her child a doll, but Grimes crushes its head and tosses it into the swamp.

The children are ordered to hide any time someone comes to the farm. When a hog buyer shows up, Ambrose, the Grimeses' son, maliciously prevents Splutters, one of the children, from hiding. The buyer then purchases the boy from Grimes.

Molly has promised the others that God will rescue them. When a boy asks why nothing has happened after a month, she tells him that He is busy attending to sparrows (a biblical reference).

Ambrose catches Molly with stolen potatoes, so she and the others are given no supper. She pleads for the children, especially the sick, youngest baby, to no avail. Late that night, in a vision, Christ enters the barn where they sleep and takes the baby. When Molly wakes up, the child is dead.

Joe Bailey and his associate bring a kidnapped baby girl to the farm for concealment until they receive a ransom from the rich father, Dennis Wayne. When Grimes reads about the kidnapping in the newspaper several days later, he decides it is safer to chuck the baby into the swamp.

When Ambrose grabs the little girl to carry out the plan, Molly gets her back. After she fights off Grimes with a pitchfork, he strands her in the hayloft and decides he must get rid of her, too.

That night, Molly flees with the children. Grimes finds this hilarious; he figures either the mud or the alligators will take care of the children. However, when the kidnappers come back for the baby, he leads them on a search.

Meanwhile, Splutters is brought to the police station, having been discovered by one of the search parties. He tells the policemen and Mr. Wayne about the baby farm.

Molly and the kids emerge unscathed from the swamp and hide aboard a boat, unaware it belongs to the kidnappers. Pursued by the police, Grimes runs into the swamp, but falls into deep mud and perishes, while the two criminals flee in the boat. Unable to shake the harbor patrol, they try to slip away in a dinghy, but are run over and drown.

The baby is reunited with her wealthy father, but when she refuses to drink her milk without Molly, Mr. Wayne offers Molly a comfortable home. She accepts only on condition that he take in the other children as well.

Mirush leaves Kosovo hoping to find his father in Norway, who abandoned the family when Mirush was very young. Now the father runs a restaurant in Oslo, but he is also in deep debt to the Albanian Mafia. Mirush starts to work in his father's restaurant without letting him know that he is his son.

Bernard, an accountant in a jewelry store, plots revenge against his abusive employer, Monsieur Vendôme, with the help of his friend Robert.

Jason Kane is on a quest to finally discover the truth about Irving Braxiatel. What he discovers will change the lives of everyone around him forever.

Benny meets up with an old friend...

The heavens are being attacked by the demons of Iccus, led by a being known only as the Destroyer. The angel Wor must bring the fight to Iccus itself and put an end to the Destroyer's dark plans.

The first part of the story opens in a near future world, at the climax of a devastating world war, in which “The Master”, a Hitler-like figure, has tried and failed to dominate the world by military force. As the enemy closes in on his last stronghold in the Himalayas, the Master seals himself in a suspended animation chamber buried deep in the mountains. He intends to hibernate for one hundred years, after which he assumes that his enemies will have forgotten about him, and then resume his plans for world domination. However, a freak accident disables the mechanism which is supposed to revive him automatically, and the Master remains in suspended animation for billions of years while geological forces reshape the planet above him.

The second part of the story skips ahead to the far future when humanity has colonized the stars. Trevindor the Philosopher commits the unprecedented act of challenging the political and philosophical orthodoxy of this peaceful but uniform galaxy-spanning civilization, where dissent, criminality, violence and any form of conflict, are all virtually unknown. Instead of promising to give up his unorthodoxy, Trevindor chooses exile into future time, when the Sun is entering its red giant phase, and Earth is a parched, virtually lifeless desert. Trevindor explores the dying Earth, and has almost resigned himself to spending the rest of his life in isolation, when he finds the Master's hibernaculum, now exposed on the surface by millennia of erosion.

In the last part of the story, the two strands come together; Trevindor enters the chamber, and his presence apparently triggers the Master's revival. The Master is shocked to find another person in the chamber with him – more so when it becomes apparent that Trevindor can read his mind, and thinks there is nothing unusual about telepathy. The Master begins to suspect the truth of what has happened, but Trevindor has also learned the truth about the Master – and he must now choose whether to share his exile with a man of almost inhuman barbarism, or to commit an act of inhuman barbarism himself.

While preparing for a night out, a young man attempts to frighten his girlfriend with a Richard Nixon mask. Outside, a killer murders him and steals the mask, before also killing his girlfriend. A short time later, Los Angeles City College students Louise Kingsley, Michael Simpson, and Sally Smith are appointed to do a research project on a supposedly-deceased German expatriate rocket scientist named Frederick Bartholomew. Bartholomew was allegedly responsible for the V-2 rocket before embarking on a murderous rampage in the small community of Littletown, slaying all who he worked with in his final days spent in America. It is also suspected he may have been a Nazi.

Sally meets with Littletown local Dr. Marbuse and his brother, Gary, to interview them about Bartholomew. Sally is unaware that Marbuse is a mentally-ill, unlicensed physician who believes parasites have infested his brain; Gary is a shy, lonely psychopath obsessed with reading tarot cards. Meanwhile, their father—who is in fact Frederick Bartholomew—prowls lonely highways at night, stalking motorists. Marbuse and Gary drug and kidnap Sally, holding her hostage in their home, and subjecting her to haphazard occult rituals.

That night, Bartholomew, dressed in the Richard Nixon mask, attacks a young couple parked in a car. After a fight ensues, the young, drunken man hits Bartholomew with his car, but it only momentarily stuns Bartholomew; however, the male driver is killed on impact. His girlfriend survives, only to be attacked and murdered by Bartholomew. Meanwhile, Michael and Louise park their van in a remote area near Littletown to begin working on a model V-2 rocket, but become stranded when their van fails to start. Michael walks to the nearest house, which happens to be the home where Bartholomew killed the young couple and stole the Richard Nixon mask; Michael finds their corpses lying in the living room.

Michael enters an adjacent home searching for a telephone, unaware this is the house where Marbuse and Gary are keeping Sally. He becomes lost in its labyrinthine, red-lit hallways. In a darkened corridor, he finds his way into an abandoned basement, and is struck by an apparently supernatural force. He grows delirious and falls onto the ground, landing on a rake that lacerates his head. From behind a window, Bartholomew observes Michael. Meanwhile, Louise, waiting at the van, is startled by rustling noises emanating from the underbrush, and flees. She also enters the house, and locates Sally. Louise attempts to unchain her, but is stopped by Gary, who bludgeons Sally to death.

Louise wanders through the house, and also encounters an invisible supernatural force, as well as finding a dead body of one of Bartholomew's recent victims. In a darkened room, Louise finds Michael, the rake still stuck in his head. When she attempts to remove it, he collapses and dies. Louise eventually wanders outside, only to be attacked by Marbuse, armed with a brace drill. He chases Louise back to the van, where she manages to bludgeon him to death. She is subsequently confronted by Bartholomew, whom she temporarily stuns by detonating the model V-2 rocket, only to find, after removing his Richard Nixon mask, worms crawling from his eye sockets, suggesting he is undead. Back at the house, Gary somberly dances with Susan's corpse.

At dawn, Louise, having fallen asleep in underbrush, awakens and wanders down a hillside toward the highway. A man driving a van stops and picks her up. Louise attempts to explain to the man that her friends have been killed, and the man agrees to stop at a call box along the freeway to phone police. The man attempts to coax Louise into the back of the van, promising her there are blankets and hot cocoa. When she opens the rear door, she is attacked by Bartholomew, who attempts to pull her into the van, but she manages to free herself by biting him. As the van speeds onto the highway, Louise lies on the side of the road, watching it drive into the distance.

In a remote village in the province of Tanba, a household of peasants cowers during a series of earth tremors that are interpreted as the escape attempts of Arakatsuma (阿羅羯磨), also known as Daimajin (大魔神, "Great Demon God"), a violent divine spirit said to be trapped within the nearby mountain held in fear and reverence by the locals.

As the village gathers at the local shrine to perform an ancient ritual to pacify Daimajin, Ōdate Samanosuke (Ryūtarō Gomi), chamberlain to the local lord Hanabusa Tadakiyo (Ryūzō Shimada), stages a coup d'état. He and his henchmen slaughter Hanabusa and his wife, but their son and daughter escape, aided by the heroic samurai Kogenta (Jun Fujimaki). Back at the shrine, Samanosuke's men break up the ceremony, forbidding all such gatherings in the future. The elderly priestess, Shinobu (Otome Tsukimiya), issues a dire warning, but the men ignore her.

Kogenta takes the two children to his aunt Shinobu's house. The priestess takes them up the mountain, into forbidden territory, where a gigantic stone idol of the mountain god who had sealed Daimajin long ago stands half-buried atop a waterfall. Near this idol is an ancient temple - safe as only Shinobu knows of its existence.

The children grow to adulthood. The son, Tadafumi (Yoshihiko Aoyama) reaches his 18th birthday. The years have been miserable for the villagers. Samanosuke is a brutal leader (in one scene, he gouges out an old woman's eye with a red-hot iron hook) who is using every man in the starving village as slave labor. The place is ripe for revolution, and surviving Hanabusa retainers are starting to return.

Kogenta journeys to the village to try to gather the old retainers but get himself captured. A boy, Take-bō, gets word to Tadafumi and his sister, Kozasa (Miwa Takada) that their friend is a prisoner. Tadafumi tries to rescue him, only to discover it is a trap. With both awaiting executions, Shinobu tries to talk to the tyrant, warning him that the god of the mountain's curse will befall him should he continue his evildoing ways. Samanosuke, refusing to heed Shinobu's words, kills her and orders the idol demolished. With her dying breath, Shinobu curses Samanosuke to die a harsh, merciless death and declares that if he attempts to destroy the idol, the wrathful Arakatsuma sealed inside it will come out.

The crew that travels up the mountain to smash the idol accidentally discovers Kozasa and Take-bō and forces them to take them to the statue. The soldiers bring out an enormous chisel and proceed to hammer it into the idol's head; they stop when they see blood beginning to drip from it. Horrified, the men attempt to flee, but the earth cracks open and swallows them.

Kozasa begs the god of the mountain to save her brother and Kogenta and punish the wicked Samanosuke. At the fortress, Tadafumi and Kogenta are tied to large crosses, awaiting their fates. Kozasa offers her life to the god and attempts to throw herself over the nearby waterfall, but the rock and earth covering the lower half of the idol fall away, and it comes to life. As it walks out into the clearing, Kozasa prostrates herself before it; the idol, animated by the reawakened Daimajin Arakatsuma, assumes a terrifying appearance and goes to Samanosuke's stronghold.

Daimajin rescues both Kogenta and Tadafumi and proceeds to utterly destroy the fortress. After impaling Samanosuke with the chisel on its forehead, Daimajin now turns its wrath upon everyone in sight. Take-bō unsuccessfully begs Daimajin to stop; as the boy was about to get trampled on by the idol, Kozasa steps in and saves him. Kozasa tearfully pleads with Daimajin to cease its rampage, letting her tears fall on its stone feet. Its anger now quelled, Daimajin's spirit leaves the idol, restoring it to its former appearance before it collapses into a heap of rubble.

During Christmas vacation at the rural Calvin Finishing School For Girls, a student is killed when she is accidentally pushed over a balcony during a prank. Two years later, on the Friday before Christmas, the school is emptying out for the holiday; however, five students — Nancy, Melody, Leia, Trisha, and Sam — decide for various reasons to remain at the school, planning to have a weekend get-together with their respective boyfriends. That night, while the remaining girls have dinner, their classmate Cynthia and her boyfriend are murdered outside the school by an assailant with a hunting knife.

The others meanwhile coerce the innocent Nancy into giving their housemother, Mrs. Jensen, milk laced with sedatives to make her fall asleep. After she falls asleep, the girls go to a nearby airstrip to meet their boyfriends, T.J, Alex, Tom, and Blake, who have flown in on a private plane. At the house, the group sit in the living room and talk. Trisha goes to the kitchen to retrieve beer, but is confronted by someone in a Santa Claus suit and mask, who slits her throat. When Trisha does not return, Tom goes to find her. He is confronted by the killer, who chases him outside and smashes his head with a rock. The killer buries each body in the school's garden.

Later, Sam and Blake have sex in the parlor. They are interrupted by the killer, disguised in a decorative suit of armor, who shoots Blake with a crossbow and decapitates Sam with an axe. Meanwhile, Nancy runs into the school's groundskeeper, Ralph, who ominously tells her he believes something evil is about to happen. Melody, meanwhile, seduces Alex in her bedroom and gives him a handjob.

The next morning, Nancy finds Ralph's corpse in the woods outside. A detective, Polansky, investigates the murder, and suggests the students remain sequestered inside for the remainder of the weekend. He also surmises that those missing may be victims of the killer, or possibly perpetrators in Ralph's death. That night, Jim, a police officer stationed outside the school, is murdered by the killer with an axe. Inside, Leia seduces another officer named Dan before going to take a shower. In the bathroom, she finds Sam's severed head hanging from the shower head. Dan rushes into the bathroom, but is stabbed to death from behind as he enters the doorway. Nancy and Alex subsequently come upon the scene, and find Leia suffering a psychotic break, traumatized by what she has witnessed; unable to speak, she begins dancing and humming to herself.

Melody and T.J. meanwhile are outside, unaware of what has happened. They kiss under a tree, but the killer, hiding above, strangles T.J. to death with a garrote made of wire. Melody flees inside to find Nancy, Alex, and Leia; the four are confronted by the killer in the Santa outfit, who reveals themselves to be Mrs. Jensen, avenging the death of her daughter who was killed in the prank two years prior. While Mrs. Jensen stalks Nancy through the house, Melody flees back to the airstrip and begs the pilot, sleeping beneath the plane, to take her to safety; the two are killed, however, when an unknown person in the Santa costume starts the engine, slicing them to pieces with the propeller.

Back at the school, Nancy is chased by Mrs. Jensen to the balcony. In a struggle, Mrs. Jensen is thrown over to her death. A horrified Nancy goes downstairs, where she is confronted by a second assailant in a Santa costume; it is revealed as Polansky, who explains that he is Mrs. Jensen's husband. Polansky attempts to strangle Nancy, but is killed with a crossbow by Alex. Together, Alex and Nancy flee the school, leaving Leia behind, dancing maniacally on the balcony, singing to herself.

The book is split into three parts.

Part I: Cass

Part II: Rogerson

Caitlin and Rogerson's relationship becomes more physical. Rogerson introduces Caitlin to drugs and a woman in her mid-twenties named Corinna. They become best friends and begin to smoke pot.

Caitlin begins to forget school which causes her to not attend classes and fail every class possible. Rogerson helps her with this, claiming that "he knows everything."

Caitlin soon begins to be abused by Rogerson when she does not tell Rogerson where she is, and when she is seen talking to other boys. Caitlin begins writing in the gift that she received from Cass, a dream journal. Caitlin begins to see Cass in a TV show that Cass's boyfriend works on. Caitlin's mom engages in the show, not caring about what's happening but finally seeing her daughter again.

On Christmas Eve, Caitlin finally agrees to sleep with Rogerson. She says later in the book that whenever they have sex it is the only time she feels safe.

One day, Caitlin's friend, Rina, decides to take her out for some fun. They go to Rina's step fathers' lake house, but Caitlin was terrified because she knew that Rogerson was waiting outside of her house. She tried calling him, but he never picked up the phone.

Caitlin walks away and heads home. She sees Rogerson parked in front of her house. She gets into his car and Rogerson becomes angry with her and begins to abuse her, until she is pushed out of the car. He continues to abuse her until Caitlin's mother shoves Rogerson away from her and calls for help. One of the neighbors calls the police, and Rogerson is arrested.

Part III: Me

Caitlin joins the ''Evergreen Rest Care Facility'' after Rogerson is arrested. She comes in because of drug addiction, and after all Rogerson did to her, she still loved Rogerson. She starts counseling and begins a slow improvement.

Caitlin gets a letter from her friend, Corinna, saying that she left her longtime boyfriend, Dave, and is in Arizona living her life, trying to forget her past. She says she hopes to see Caitlin again soon. She also gets a letter from her sister, Cass, saying that she did not want to go to Yale. She was having a tough time and wasn't happy with her parents' plans for college, which explains her sudden departure. She wanted to be able to do what she wanted to do with her life, and if her parents knew where she was they would try and come get her.

Rina tells Caitlin that she ran into Rogerson at the Quick Zip and he briefly passed by her not saying a word or looking her in the eye. Caitlin realizes that she must prepare herself for the next time she sees Rogerson.

At the end of the book, Caitlin is released but before she goes she takes a picture of the new her, and compares it to the old picture she once ripped but has put back together. Her family has a welcome home party with a special guest, Cass.

Young Jeremy Proctor, recently orphaned, is taken in as ward by blind Sir John Fielding, Magistrate of the Bow Street court and organizer of London's first police force. When Sir John investigates the apparent suicide of Lord Goodhope, it is Jeremy's eyes which note the crucial clue.

Category:1994 American novels Category:Sir John Fielding series Category:American crime novels Category:American historical novels Category:Novels about orphans Category:Novels set in London Category:Historical crime novels Category:Historical mystery novels Category:Novels set in the 18th century Category:G. P. Putnam's Sons books

The plot concerns a rag-tag group of U.S. Army reservists who are deployed to Honduras to build a runway. After an intervention by the U.S. Embassy, the crew are then sent to a dangerous nearby village to repair a bridge. The title comes from one particular character's death scene, wherein he remarks, "Two tours in 'Nam I never get hit. This is a lousy weekend war!"

Alek is an immigrant from the Soviet Union, who was not allowed on the Soviet national team because he is Jewish. One day, he meets two young amateur boxers named Roland Jenkins and Timmi Boyle and begins to coach them.

At an anti-globalisation rally in New York City, a sniper called John Guyton — who calls himself "The Hand of The Voice" — shoots a protestor, causing panic. However, his true target is soon revealed when he, along with a couple of allies, proceeds to gun down multiple reporters and camera crews who arrive to cover the story. All three, along with their fellow "brothers" and "sisters", are members of a revolutionary cult made up of individuals whose lives were destroyed when they were targets of sensationalistic, irresponsible and/or fraudulent media coverage, and all are determined to destroy the mainstream media under the guidance of The Voice, their messianic leader who communicates with them only by cassette tape.

As more attacks on journalists occur, including the bombing of a bar frequented by reporters, high-ranking media moguls begin to pressure Senator Jay Rector, Chairman of the Senate FCC Oversight Committee, for increased protections for journalists. Their true motives, however, are more cynical; they want protect their organization's profits and abilities to continue with their reckless, profit-driven approaches to journalism in the face of a new threat and possible public discontent. Meanwhile, disgraced journalist James Andrews is approached by Guyton and recruited into the cult, and is gradually indoctrinated into their methods and motives until faced with his ultimate recruitment test — murdering fellow journalist Warner Rogers, the ''New York Times'' reporter who broke the story of the journalistic fraud that ruined Andrews’ life.

Andrews shoots Rogers, but soon after overpowers Guyton and brings him to a cult deprogrammer; it is revealed that Andrews and Rogers had been working together after Andrews, learning of the cult's existence, had decided to go undercover to expose them. In response to the attacks, Senator Rector has drafted legislation called the Freedom of Media Act, but in addition to increased protections for journalists informs the media moguls that they must accept either increased government oversight or weaker protections against liability for the stories they publish; the moguls, viewing it as a safer "public-friendly" option with little teeth, choose the latter option.

After being freed from his brainwashing, Guyton is overcome with remorse at his actions and agrees to go with Andrews to the police and confess what he has done. Before he can, however, he is intercepted by a limo owned by The Voice, leaving Andrews to face the police by himself. When Andrews’ links to the cult are uncovered by the police, they accuse him of being the ringleader of the cult. As Rogers is dead and there is no other evidence that Andrews was undercover, Andrews realizes that the cult has set him up as a fall guy. Guyton speaks to The Voice via speakerphone, who urges him to follow through with their plan; when Guyton resists, The Voice gives him the address of Elias Lee, the reporter who broke the story that ruined Guyton's life. Guyton confronts Lee, who eventually admits that his main motivation for writing the story and destroying Guyton was for power, profit and because he could. Guyton kills Lee and decides to complete The Voice's plan.

A series of coordinated attacks on the media occur, killing all of the media moguls and several well-known journalists; Senator Rector, holding an interview with one of them, narrowly escapes death. During the attacks, most of the members of the cult are killed, including Guyton; no longer brainwashed, Guyton admits to himself before his death that he is no longer certain of the righteousness of his actions, but feels that he has at least done something to protect innocent people from experiencing what he did at the hands of the media.

Following the attacks, the Freedom of Media Act is passed by the US Congress; however, the weakened liability protections have proved to be more damaging against the media than expected, as thousands have launched lawsuits against media organisations for unfair and unethical reporting. James Andrews has been convicted of being The Voice, despite his protestations of innocence. After his conviction, Senator Rector visits Andrews in prison and reveals that he is The Voice, and set Andrews up because he knew all along that Andrews was a reporter. Rector experienced an epiphany after a bout of late-life depression and decided to spend his remaining years destroying the institutions he thought were corrupting America, using weak and easily manipulated victims of the media as his tools. Leaving Andrews in prison, Rector meets with the surviving members of the cult to plan a campaign against his next target — lawyers.

Future Ted tells his children that although they know the short story of how he met their mother, there is a bigger story of how he became the man he needed to be in order to meet her.

At Lily and Marshall's wedding, Barney tries to get Ted out to help him "conquer New York" but Ted says he is not ready yet. Robin returns from Argentina with her new boyfriend Gael (played by Enrique Iglesias) and Ted announces he's finally ready, having decided that Robin is trying to “win” their breakup. Marshall backs up this theory by explaining to Lily about the winner and loser in each break-up, so Barney takes Ted out to help him win by getting Ted "a 12" (compared to Ted’s admission that Robin is "a 10"), but Ted gets "a 12" on his own, a tattooed girl named Amy (guest star Mandy Moore).

Meanwhile, Lily and Marshall are having a night in with Robin and Gael after Lily inadvertently asks Gael out on a double date. They are supposed to be supporting Ted by hating Gael, but both end up falling for Gael as he plays the acoustic guitar, gives massages and sensually feeds fruit to everyone else.

On the night out with Ted, Barney clashes with Amy about everything and insists that he should be helping Ted as he is his wingman but Ted is solely interested in Amy. Ted decides to get a tattoo, but blacks out shortly after. The following morning, Lily and Marshall spot a butterfly tattoo on Ted's lower back and call Barney to come and see it.

Lily and Marshall explain what happened in the apartment the night before, which annoys Ted who goes to see Robin and accuses her of being over their break-up too fast. She reveals she cried for three days at the start of her vacation about missing Ted, which led her to Gael. Ted is still upset that Gael is so attractive, but Robin tells Ted that he has a bigger penis than Gael, which leads Ted to tell the guys at the bar that he has won the break-up.

In the epilogue, Barney is terrified upon seeing a countdown clock at roughly 55 days until Marshall is to give him the third slap in their Slap Bet.

Fed up with Brad's (Frank Roberts) on-screen foul-ups, his director, Hilary Jacobs (Kylie Minogue), publicly humiliates him and fires him on the spot in front of onlookers. As he comes hoping for one more chance, she further degrades him in her office, which causes the actor to go berserk, mutilating himself then cutting out her tongue using the modified prop shears as his real-life signature weapon. Before he can harm anyone else, his co-star Vanessa Turnbill (Molly Ringwald) gives him a makeshift tracheotomy which ends in Brad being seemingly electrocuted as P.A. man Lossman (Geoff Revell) looks on. But as Brad dies, he curses the perceived source of his misery: the movie ''Hot Blooded!'' and all who would work on it.

In present-day Australia, Lossman is a teacher using his personal experiences as warnings to his students that any attempts to complete filming or even screening of ''Hot Blooded!'' has ended up with lives lost in mysterious and disturbing ways (like a producer being suspiciously electrocuted in an editing room or a director mysteriously discovered with his throat slit). But some of his pupils, seeing the chance as too much of a temptation, decide to finish the film as a graduation grade. They contact Vanessa Turnbill to co-star. When she arrives at the airport she is greeted by Raffy and Hester who take her to a press conference to give the film publicity. Interviewing her, a reporter asks Vanessa if she is worried about the curse on the film. She passes off the question with a joke, saying "Oh if I die, I get paid extra".

As the crew makes the movie, the Scarman kills most of them, one by one, attacking when they are alone and then hiding the bodies. He also kills two police officers who were investigating the strange events, and the caretaker of the house where the crew was filming. Raffy, Vanessa and Lossman are the last ones alive. Lossman realizes that the Scarman is a supernatural monster and they have to destroy the work print to defeat him. Raffy manages to burn the reels in a fire, and the Scarman is eradicated.

In New York, another copy of the movie ''Hot Blooded!'' is found and a college teacher decides to show it to her students. As the projection of the film starts, the Scarman comes out of the print.

Catherine is waiting for her boyfriend to arrive at her home, where she is cooking dinner. She discovers her boyfriend's car in her driveway, and inside finds him with his throat slit. A killer wearing a skull mask breaks into the home and murders her, throwing her body in a swimming pool.

Shortly after, a group of international students from an elite Prague school are graduating; among them are the American Sarah; the Scottish Mike; the English Frank; Kim, an Australian; Carmen, from Germany; Diego, from Argentina; and others. To celebrate, Sarah's boyfriend Greg plans to break into an indoor swimming complex with the help of Martin, an American former student and employee of the water park, giving the friends free access to pools and water slides. On finals day, Kim is upset over failing her tests. She and Mike, her boyfriend, go swimming at a lake, and she tells him she feels like an outcast among him and his wealthy peers; she decides not to attend the party. Later, Kim is accosted in the woods by the masked killer, and stabbed to death with a machete.

Late that night, the group arrive at the water park and are let inside by Martin, where they begin drinking and swimming in the pools. Svenja and Carter go to an isolated pool to ride a water slide. While Carter waits for her at the bottom, he is stabbed to death. As Svenja descends the waterslide, the killer drives a machete through the bottom of the slide; she attempts to stop but is unable to, and the machete slices through her groin. Shortly after, Carmen and Chris discover their bodies floating in the small pool. Carmen and Chris locate the remainder of the group, but they find they are unable to leave the building as the entryways have been locked. Meanwhile, Martin and Mel find an empty weight room to have sex. When Martin goes to retrieve a condom, Mel is attacked by the killer chased into a locker room where she is killed.

Aware that a killer is loose, Sarah, Mike, Carmen, and Chris intercept Martin en route back to the weight room. In a panic, they rush to save Mel, but find her corpse in a bathroom stall. The group are unable to locate Greg, Frank, or Diego, and Martin finds that the lock picks and spare keys to the building have been removed; the phones have also been disconnected. Martin recalls an air duct leading out of the building, and proposes the group exit that way. He goes ahead to dismantle a vent grate, after which Sarah, Mike, and Carmen follow; Chris stays behind, as they are unable to turn around and lift him from inside the duct. As they crawl through the duct, the killer begins driving his machete through the bottom of it, killing Mike and Martin.

Sarah and Carmen escape through a separate duct and find themselves in the basement, where they are confronted by the killer, who chases them through the building. They momentarily hide in a security monitor room and ponder who the killer is; Carmen believes it is Greg. Meanwhile, Diego and Greg find Chris, terrified. Greg decides to enter the air duct to find a way out, and Diego waits with Chris. Greg finds Sarah and Carmen in a room overlooking the pool. Convinced he is the killer, Carmen knocks him unconscious, and she and Sarah lock him inside. Carmen attempts to swim into a filter chamber to exit the building. She injures her leg in the process, but is able to access the exterior of the building. Outside, she finds a security guard's corpse with a gun lying next to it, but before she can retrieve it, she is stabbed by the killer and thrown back into the filter chamber.

Inside, Sarah is confronted by Frank, who reveals himself to be the killer, motivated out of spite and jealousy over his failed romantic advances on each of the women. Sarah manages to douse him with vodka and light him on fire, but he leaps into the pool. Greg breaks free of the room overlooking the pool, jumping into the pool below, and the men begin to fight. Sarah enters the water and manages to stab Frank with a broken bottle. He rises from the water while Greg and Sarah attempt to flee, but is shot to death by Carmen, who survived the earlier attack.

Background

''Drowned God'''s concept centers around the idea that human history has been manipulated to cover up certain facts. The true history, according to the game, is that aliens from the Orion area of space seeded humanity on Earth thousands of years ago and have since guided its development. An ancient, highly developed civilization was lost millennia ago in the Great Flood. and an independent government group spent the subsequent decades in contact with the aliens following the Roswell incident.

Story

The game's plot begins in a chamber containing the Bequest Globe, a device which the player has recently inherited. The Globe is a giant brass cylinder full of gears, fronted by a clock face made of sliding and rotating plates comprising twenty-two Roman numerals, which represent the Major Arcana, with the Kabbalistic tree of life in its center. A voice welcomes the player and tells them the Globe is a gift, then explains that the player must unlock the secret of the drowned god.

The player initially must enter their name into the device, The motivations of the two organizations represented by the faces are murky, although it becomes clear they are acting in opposition to each other. Both masks refer to the player by their assigned number.

The player must enter four different worlds through the Bequest Globe, each of which is an amalgamation of historical and fantastical elements and is named after one of the sefirot on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. The player seeks to recover four lost artifacts: the Rod of Osiris, the Holy Grail, the Philosopher's stone, and the Ark of the Covenant. According to Horse, "The relics you're searching for are not what you think they are". The first world, Binah, includes aspects of Arthurian legend, including Morgan le Fay and the Knights Templar, as well as Stonehenge. centers around an underground transit system, a steampunk carnival, and a mechanical maze. The final world, Chokhmah, takes place outside Area 51.

Throughout the game, the player finds and uses Tarot cards to unlock new areas and gain more information about the true history of the world. Upon returning to the Bequest Globe between worlds, the player sees the Roman numerals in its display light up in relation to the cards that have been recovered. After recovering three of the lost artifacts, the player fails to recover the last one, the Ark of the Covenant, which takes the form of a nuclear warhead. The player is able to choose one of three endings, depending on whether they decide to enter a final doorway in the chambers of one of the two opposing factions represented by Kether and Malchut, or enter a new central chamber via the Bequest Globe.

Choosing either of the two doors results in an ending in which the player is trapped in a dystopian world: either Kether's, a technological police state, or Malchut's, a society of forced genetic manipulation. Both have ominous men in black overseeing the proceedings. If the player instead chooses to open the central chamber, a scene with a group of grey aliens approaching is briefly shown, wherein they say, "We are coming, for we are Legion." All three options lead to the same ending credits, which feature a voice-over describing the murder of Osiris.

The novel is set in the modern Parisian quarter of Belleville. It starts with the dramatic death of a policeman, shot by a "grannie" he was trying to help, and witnessed by at least four others who conveniently forget all details of what they see. The inspector Van Thian goes undercover as a Vietnamese old woman to investigate. Three other investigations follow: one into the attempted murder of a young woman, another into the serial killings of small old women in the district, and a third into drug trafficking by old men. Benjamin Malaussènne, professional scapegoat, quickly becomes suspect number one of all four investigations, owing to the numerous children of his prolific mother he lives with, the various old men with obsolete talents that he shelters, and his repeated abortive romantic affairs. Like all novels in the Malaussène saga, the setting is anything but conventional, the streets of Paris brimming with immigrants in open celebration of their diversity, the situations rarely Gallic yet authentically Parisian.

The story begins on Theodosia's seventeenth birthday in the year 1800, where her father Aaron Burr introduces Theodosia to her soon to be husband Joseph Alston. Theodosia is not keen on her father's choice for a husband, for she does not realise that her father hopes the marriage will increase his political support in the southern states, as well as lead to financial gain. During Theodosia and Joseph's official courtship, by chance Theodosia meets Meriwether Lewis, and the two are instantly attracted to each other. However Aaron Burr spots the two together, and eliminates any chance of a romance before it begins.

Reluctantly but dutifully, Theodosia capitulates to her father's wishes and marries Joseph Alston in February 1801. The couple then settle in Joseph's home state of South Carolina, and Theodosia soon gives birth to her first and only child. However Theodosia is never happy in the South and constantly longs for the company of her father (and a reunification with Meriwether Lewis).

The story moves on through Aaron Burr's time as Vice President: his controversial actions dueling Alexander Hamilton; his working to take over Mexico, naming himself as king; and his subsequent trial. Theodosia is always behind her father, even if it is at the cost of her marriage to Joseph, and her romance with Meriwether.

Karen Filippelli (Rashida Jones), after being "dumped" by Jim Halpert (John Krasinski), has become the Regional Manager at Dunder Mifflin's Utica, New York branch. Karen attempts to lure Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker) away from Scranton by offering him a pay raise. Regional Manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell), believing that Karen is doing this to get back at Jim for dumping her, decides to retaliate. Michael and salesman Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) trick Jim into joining them on a trip to Utica to prank Karen's branch. After a failed attempt to steal the branch's industrial copier, the group is discovered by Karen, who chastises them in her office. Privately, she mocks Jim for devising such an elaborate ruse to see her. Jim's attempts to deflect the issue are unsuccessful, having mentioning that he and Pam are happily dating, which only further angers her. The group returns to Scranton, where Michael bids Stanley farewell. Stanley decides to stay in Scranton, revealing that his threat was a bluff to get a raise. Stanley exclaims that he does not know how Michael managed to call his bluff, even though Michael's hesitation and eventual acceptance over Stanley's departure was genuine.

Meanwhile, Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer), Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez), and Toby Flenderson (Paul Lieberstein) form a "Finer Things Club", discussing literature, music, and the arts. Their meetings are regularly disrupted by other employees, particularly Andy Bernard (Ed Helms), whose desperate efforts to join prove unsuccessful. Pam invites Jim to join the club but regrets the move when, during the discussion of ''Angela's Ashes'', Jim merely speaks in an Irish brogue and reveals that he hasn't actually read the book.

The film follows the story of a seventy-five-year-old Cree tribesman named Martin Fox who has been reading too many tabloids, and begins to believe that Elvis Presley and Princess Diana are still alive after their alleged deaths. From this he begins to wonder if his hero Hank Williams is not still alive as well. Before Fox's death, and joined by his younger brother and teenage nephew, he commits to making a Greyhound bus trip to Nashville, Tennessee to find out more about the country music legend and if he is truly deceased or still living.

Williams is actually buried in Montgomery, Alabama.

In Berlin, Germany in the year 1938, wealthy socialite Baruch Wane learns from his friend Komissar Garten that the police have confiscated the library, works, and notes of Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises, due to his stance against the Nazi Party policy of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich. Unbeknownst to Garten, Baruch is actually the mysterious Batman who has been terrorizing the wealthy members of the Nazi Party.

Years ago, when Baruch was still a child, he watched his Jewish parents get beaten to death by an anti-semitic mob. From that point on, Baruch swore that he would avenge their deaths and spend the rest of his life on a war against all criminals and injustice. As he grew up, he developed his mind and his body, and upon inheriting his parents wealth and estate, he became inspired by a bat which flew into his home and decided to use this symbol as a means to frighten criminals.

The following night of his visit with Garten, Baruch suits up and heads down to the trainyard in order to steal back Mises's works. He tries to stop the train, but when Garten's men surround him, he instead blows up the train so that way Mises's works and ideals do not fall into the wrong hands.

The following is an excerpt from the unpublished memoirs of Baruch's assistant, Robin.

"''...Ludwig Von Mises escaped to the United States when the Nazis ransacked his apartment in 1938. It was his landlady, a friend of his mother's, who told the authorities Von Mises was working on a new book which challenged Nazi social and economic policies. They slowed him down, but they couldn't stop him. He continued work on a book which was eventually published in '49, called 'Human Action', now considered one of the great libertarian works of our times. Von Mises anti-authoritarian ideas were first a threat to the Nazis, then the Soviets, and to all increasingly regulatory governments in our own times. He was against socialism in all its many forms. He was an advocate of individual liberty, free speech, and free thinking... and so, should I add, the Berlin Batman. The Batman, as we all know, got better at what he does, and the legends of his exploits continued to grow to this day''.

Lily and Marshall explain they are each putting together their 'death folders' containing useful information should either of them die, which includes a letter to the other, but Marshall tells Ted and Barney that he forgot to write his letter. Ted and Barney play on Marshall's superstitious nature by insisting he will not die before writing it, forcing Marshall to knock on wood, throw salt over his left shoulder, and spin around three times before leaving.

Future Ted narrates that Robin needed time away following their break-up and we see her on vacation with Gael, saying she felt up-tight in New York. Back in the bar she claims to be a different person, but Barney says Robin is still the same, adding that she will realize this and dump Gael soon. When Gael joins them, the gang use formal language in order to continue their conversation without letting on, which makes Gael ask if they are talking about baseball.

Marshall writes his letter to Lily, pouring his heart (and tears) out over many pages. Once finished, he decides to read Lily's letter to him and is angry to discover it is not as heart-felt as his, instead containing information on her teacher's pension and a reminder to cancel ''Vogue.''

At the bar, Gael is surrounded by women while Ted and Barney lament how easy it is for Gael to get women simply by being from out of town. This gives them the idea to pose as tourists outside MacLaren's and they strike up a conversation with two passing women, Colleen and Lindsay. The women agree to show them around town the following day and Barney suggests they meet outside MacLaren's, but Colleen and Lindsay say it's a lame bar. Ted tries to defend his favorite watering hole without revealing he is a New Yorker.

Inside, Lily asks Robin how things are going with Gael and Robin reveals she has become annoyed with things at home that she loved on vacation, such as being hand-fed her food by Gael (dropping spaghetti on her sofa) and him sweeping the table clear to make love to her (breaking her laptop). Robin says she won't complain and wants to go with the flow. However, when she is in the shower later, someone uses her toilet and, initially thinking it is Gael, she is shocked to discover it is actually a strange Australian backpacker (Damon Gameau). Robin goes to speak to Gael, but discovers he has invited the backpacker and his friends to stay with them indefinitely.

Marshall starts an argument with Lily over her loveless letter. They exchange a quick hug after Lily mentions this is their first fight as a married couple before Marshall continues to storm out.

Colleen and Lindsay take Ted and Barney to a potato restaurant. When the women go to the bathroom, Ted says they have met the "two lamest New Yorkers of all time," but Barney convinces Ted to continue with the plan and the women decide to take Ted and Barney to a friend's party.

Robin reveals she ate a marijuana-laced blueberry muffin that one of the backpackers had baked, causing her to say some inappropriate things on the air at her news anchor job. She tries to lay some ground-rules but the group is watching television, so Robin decides to lie down as she is still "pretty baked."

Ted, Barney, Colleen and Lindsay are in a cab on their way to the party. Ted questions where they are going and is terrified to learn they are heading for the South Bronx. His fears are confirmed as they end up giving descriptions to the police of three guys who have apparently mugged them.

Marshall quizzes Lily over why she couldn't write a love letter like he did and Lily states it is because she cannot bear to think about not being with him, and that he would just open the letter and read it as soon as she has finished writing anyway. Marshall promises he won't, so Lily agrees to write her letter, but Marshall asks her to make the letter "dirty" and slip in some Polaroids.

Back on the street, Ted and Barney are invited back to Colleen and Lindsay's place but Ted finally snaps when he finds out that they are actually from New Jersey. Ted chastises the women about not being from New York and derides New Jersey due to his deep seated hatred for the state. He tells them to go home, which they do by getting a ride from the police officers that interviewed them. Ted and Barney try to get the same courtesy, but the police officer refuses by stating he is from "Newark, born and raised."

Robin is woken by the sound of bongo drums and confronts 'vacation Robin' in the living room who tells her that she has lost her way since coming home. Robin retorts by saying that her vacation self is boring, lame, and getting sand everywhere. As the two are about to kiss, Robin is really woken by drums and finds the group of travelers playing in the living room. She finally gets rid of them by brandishing her gun, but the shouting wakes Gael and Robin tells him they have to break up. Barney toasts the return of the real Robin while she mentions that 'vacation Robin' popped up in her dreams again and that "that chick knows what I like."

Lily finishes her letter and makes Marshall swear not to read it until she is dead. Future Ted narrates that he kept his promise until November 2029 when an older, balding Marshall opens the letter (implying that Lily has died) to find Lily's words telling him he is busted for reading it too soon. Marshall calls Lily, older and very much alive, into his office and they argue. Marshall says Lily also broke her promise as there are no naked pictures in the envelope for him; Lily says she will take some photos – but Marshall doesn't want them anymore, which offends Lily and sparks an argument.

Paul Cleveland (Carmine Giovinazzo) fights off Georgia's (Monet Mazur) attacker. A strong bond develops between the two and the ambition of Cleveland begins to surface rapidly as he starts to participate in scams with Georgia to raise enough money to leave his job as a hospital orderly behind. When they try to scam Marshal (played by Vincent Ventresca) by staging a road accident using Georgia as a distracting female hitchhiker it seems that they have struck a very dangerous individual as he produces a gun and kidnaps them.

Marshal is head of a record company and controls a very large financial empire and he takes Paul and Georgia to his offices where he eventually makes them an offer and congratulates them for their enterprise. The ambitious Cleveland then offers his further services to Marshal in a similar way to Bud Fox approaching Gordon Gekko in the film ''Wall Street'' The similarities between Gordon Gekko and Marshal are apparent as he begins to reward Cleveland for tasks accomplished. The empty warehouse that he gives them for Georgia and Paul to freely decorate and furnish is a similarity. Paul soon begins to become obsessed with how much Marshal needs him and begins to neglect Georgia in preference to Marshal's lucrative offers. Georgia also begins to become disenchanted with their lifestyle and this becomes the theme for the rest of the film as her ethics begin to clash with Marshal's organization and Paul's trance like obedience to him.

Randy is severely constipated and has been unable to defecate for over three weeks. After taking a laxative, Randy undergoes an extremely painful bowel movement, during which he produces an abnormally large, football-shaped feces. Impressed at its size, he contacts the Zürich-based European Fecal Standards and Measurements office. Representatives from the institute conclude that Randy has achieved the world record, weighing the feces in at 8.6 courics (one couric is approximately equal to ). As Randy is the first American to ever achieve the record, the American government holds a ceremony in his honor. However, it is interrupted by a video of Bono, the previous record holder, claiming that he has produced feces weighing 9.5 courics. His claim is accepted, despite his only evidence being an unverified photograph.

Randy becomes despondent over the loss of his record, before his friends convince him to train to reclaim the position. After three weeks of eating, an ultrasound reveals his feces to have reached up to 14 courics in weight. Bono successfully demands that Randy be required to defecate at the headquarters in Zürich. In response, Randy's son Stan visits Bono's mansion and tries to appeal to him, noting Bono's overt success in comparison to Randy's failures. However, Bono angrily refuses to be "number two" at anything. Bono's butler reveals to Stan that Randy may die if he defecates. As they head towards Zürich, the butler explains that no one has ever survived defecating in such large amounts. He further explains to Stan that Bono set his record in 1960, the year of his birth; Stan determines that Bono is not the record holder, but the record itself.

Everyone is gathered in Zürich, where the institute's leader, Sir Orloff Broloff, confirms Stan's claim; he reveals that he defecated Bono in 1960, and his pride was such that he raised him as his child ever since. Over time, Bono grew strongly indignant at being "number two", and strove to be number one in many fields; Stan realizes that this is why Bono can help many people through his humanitarian work and yet still "seem like a piece of shit." Broloff further reveals that Bono has grown to over 80 courics in weight, a record that remains unmatched. At that moment, Randy finally produces a gigantic feces that lifts him off the toilet seat and is estimated to weigh more than 100 courics. Randy is thus proclaimed the new record holder, and an institute member lifts a recurring Emmy image off the screen and presents it to Randy by lodging it in his feces.

The film story begins in the second half of 1984 the final months of Konstantin Chernenko era - ending in the first part of 1991 - a few months before the anti-Gorbachev's GKChP coup d'état attempt.

A hero Andrey Obnorsky (Nikita Zverev), a young student-orientalist from Leningrad - along the line of the Soviet Defense Ministry falls on his Arabic language practice into Marxist South Yemen.

When he comes by Aeroflot Tu-154M plane in PDRY's capital Aden he feels shocked! He has to understand a local dialectal speech - but they learned only the language of the Quran! He has to survive in this Arabian heat but they say Soviet predecessors - Englishmen - freed their servicemen, who served in Aden, from the penal responsibility for several years because of it.

Above this, Obnorsky has had to be a translator and interpreter in a newly forming elite 7th Airborne brigade of the General Staff of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, to take part in the near-boundary clashes of southerners with the northerners (the way to the unification of Yemen was entirely complex) as well as between government forces and murtazaks, southern local armed opposition men, coming from abroad.

Without his own will, Obnorsky occurs in the middle of a dangerous plot with the participation of the KGB, GRU men, and Palestinians, who had to receive a large party of weapons from the USSR, and the quarreling fractions in the ruling Yemeni Socialist Party authorities, President Ali Nasser Muhammad supporters and opposition, before and during bloody combat on the streets of Aden.

Yet in the Happy Arabia the hero of film will meet his love, and then will find two most loyal friends. Another Arabic language student-interpreter Ilya Novoselov (Andrey Frolov), a cadet from the legendary Moscow VIIJa (the Military Institute - formerly the Military Institute of Foreign Languages of the Red Army), will introduce him into the vicious circle of military interpreters. The Palestinian instructor officer called Sindibad (Ramil Sabitov), the master of a hand-to-hand fighting, will teach him to fight.

After being graduated from the Leningrad State University and urgent service of two years in one of the Soviet flying military schools - already as the interpreter/translator-officer Obnorsky goes again to the Arab World, now to Libya. This mission from The Ten (the 10th Main Direction of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defence of the USSR) also will not be calm. There will be some Moscow's gilded youth in his, senior translator, subordination, who must be run and translate! There will some modern Soviet-made fighters disappear from the Benina Libyan airbase, and Obnorskij will be asked to clear up the situation for the Soviet competent bodies.

Finally, his friend Ilya Novoselov commits suicide leaving a very strange letter, and Obnorsky begins his own dangerous investigation which leads him to his old enemy from Adeni times his elder colleague and GRU man Kukarintsev (Pavel Novikov).