The Stars Shine Down

The late Sidney Sheldon was the first novelist whose work I started reading, about 22 years ago at the age of 12 years old. I’ve kind of read almost all his books and hold a lot of them as some of my fav reads throughout the years. I’ve read The Stars Shine Down twice before, once around 10 years back and once more in 2007. I lost my copy of this novel and hence got this current copy about 2 weeks back at the used book store near Shenoy’s Junction.

Published in 1992, the novel tells the story of Lara Cameron, a successful real estate developer who came from a broken family in Nova Scotia. Lara’s mother dies in childbirth and her Scottish father doesn’t want her. Early in life, she learns to fend for herself and how to get her own way in a male-dominated world. After her father’s death, Lara makes a deal with the owner of the boarding house to secure her first building. Thrilled at her success, she moves to Chicago to start her real estate empire. Even though she encounters many problems, she is able to overcome them all and become one of America’s most successful businesswomen.

She has to use her body for that first deal and almost loses it but bounces back due to the kindhearted people who have stayed in the boarding house at once time or the other. Along the way, past her successes  in Chicago & New York city, she earns the nickname of the Iron Butterfly and also gets involved with attorney Paul Martin, who has links with the mafia. She falls in love with piano maestro Philip Adler and nearly loses everything towards her 40 birthday. The novel ends with Lara seeing a fresh opportunity in a vacant lot and dreaming of what buildings could come up there, leaving the readers to presume that she gains back her empire within a year or two. The novel is good, 7 out 10, but awesome heroine.

The Lost Symbol – Dan Brown

After 2000’s Angels & Demons & the extremely successful Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown returns with another dazzlingly page turner in The Lost Symbol. This is the 3rd novel to feature Brown’s famous character Prof. Robert Langdon. This novel features the theme of god, freemasonry & the seeking of ancient knowledge & power. On its first day the book sold one million in hardcover and e-book versions in the U.S., the UK and Canada, making it the fastest selling adult novel in history.

This movie is set in Washington DC and throws Langdon into the world of freemasonry. Hoaxed into thinking that he is invited apparently from his mentor, a 33rd degreeMason named Peter Solomon, who is the head of the Smithsonian Institution. Solomon is actually abducted by the mysterious Mal’akh, a monster of a man who is obsessed with finding both the Mason’s Pyramid, which Masons believe is hidden somewhere underground in Washington D.C., and the Lost Word, lest Solomon be executed. He believes that Langdon can unlock the source of the power of the ancients.

The CIA & the local police are also involved in the investigation when Solomon’s severed right hand is found on the rotunda of the Capitol, a sign pointing the direction to Langdon. Solomon’s sister Katherine is also in the mix; her leading yet secretive research of Noetic Science is something that also attracts the attention of Mal’akh. Langdo & Katherine are soon captured by Mal’akh who places Robert in a tank of breathable oxygenated liquid, from where Langdon unlocks the code at the Pyramid’s base for Mal’akh, who then flees with Peter Solomon to the Temple Room of the Scottish Rite’s House of the Temple. Langdon and Katherine are eventually rescued by Sato and her staff, who race to the House of the Temple, where Mal’akh threatens to release a heavily edited video showing government officials performing secret Masonic rituals.

Mal’akh turns out to be Solomon’s son, Zachary, long thought to be dead in a Turkish prison and who resents his father for what he believes to be an unfair choice of wealth over wisdom. Zachary then orders Peter to sacrifice him, as he believes that it is his destiny to lead the forces of evil. Director Sato, however, arrives at the Temple in a helicopter, which smashes the Temple’s overhead glass panel, the shards of which fatally impale Zachary. The CIA then thwart Zachary’s plan to transmit the video to several leading media channels. Peter informs Langdon that the word Zachary tattooed on his head is not the Word. Deciding to take Langdon to the true secret behind the Word, Peter leads him to the room atop the Washington Monument, and tells him that the Word lies in the Monument’s cornerstone. Langdon realizes that the symbols that pointed spelled out the words Laus Deo which translate to Praise God, and which imprinted the small, aluminum capstone atop the Monument, which is the true Masonic Pyramid.

Time 2 Switch 2 Vodka After Drinking Coffee All Week

It was a bright, sunny & beautiful day and I felt that it was a waste to stay indoors the entire time and waste it. Especially since I had stayed home all Saturday and spent most of it in bed – just lying about watching videos and reading. I wasn’t so sure that I would go out as I didn’t sleep well and woke up by 5 am and then drifted in and out of sleep occasionally getting up to answer my phone. I thought that I might be too tired to go out in the afternoon but turns out that I wasn’t.

I took a shower and got ready to go out. On the way back from the ATM near my apartment, I noticed that it was a beautiful blue sky with big clouds and I just had to stop and take a pic. Sorry that my camera is just a 2 mega pixel thing but I love the pic. It’s now used as the wallpaper for my BlackBerry.

A bright sunny day like this deserves some good coffee and so I headed over to Shenoy’s Junction and went into Cafe Coffee Day. I noticed that they had a huge jumbo pedestal fan over there and they should have used it as the place was warm. Apparently the air-conditioner was down and I sweated a bit as I settled at a table. However about 20 minutes later the ac kicked in and things were much better. I later changed my seats to one of the big sofas, as soon as one became free but I discovered that they aren’t very comfortable at all. I sat there for a while and read a few chapters of a book.

My coffee, a new one that I was trying, is one of the new wares that CCD have in their new menu. I wanted to try out the All day refresher which is thick coffee milkshake, whipped cream and what looked like powdered cookies. It tasted ok but I wish it was a lot more colder. Anyway I did like it and sipped it as I read my book. 90 minutes there and then I headed over to Planet M and checked out the cds, dvds & movies over there. I browsed the titles and decided to buy The Wolfman & Clash Of The Titans (2010 version). I also checked out their selection of cell phones for sale. Despite the price of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 going down it’s still too expensive for me at this point in time. Maybe next month or so.

Then it was on to the second hand books store in the same building. I spent about 40 minutes there checking out the various titles and fending off the dust bunnies that seem to be lurking in every shelf. My choice was the 2009 Dan Brown novel The Lost Symbol, another in the series featuring Robert Langdon. Then I took an auto and went to Velocity bar.

I enjoyed 4 MGM Apple Kizz vodkas with 7up and lots of ice. To eat I had some tiny fish fry (kozhuva for us localites) and then some kada (quail) fry which was oh so good. Dipped those birds in sauce and bit into them. Yummy in my tummy! I watched some Hindi songs remix videos which all features these women gyrating and bouncing about. Funny thing is all these videos start looking the same, especially after a couple of drinks. Babe in short dress is late, her boyfriend is upset and decided that he is not going to propose to her (the ring that he hides from her is slipped into his pocket as a sign to us that he is not sure about her). So babe is left with only one option – slip out of her short dress into a much more shorted one and dance along with her suitably attired friends. By the time she has bounced her assets, the guy is reconsidering his decision and by the end of the video, her friends point out that he has brought out some puppies in a basket, flowers or some other objects that show affection and he slips the ring on her finger right at the end. Man, are these concepts lame or what!

By 4 pm I was back home and lying on my bed watching Clash Of The Titans. A review will follow.

The Last Juror – John Grisham

John Grisham’s 2004 novel The Last Juror, was a novel I recently purchases and read within the gap of 2 weeks. Yeah, I know, it’s a long time but you must understand that I read so little these days and that’s why it has taken me so long to finish this book.

The book is set in the 70s, right from 1970 till 79. The first part of the novel is about how young Willie Traynor comes to Clanton, Mississippi and starts work on a local paper and how on borrowing money from is rich grandmother he buys the paper once it goes into bankruptcy. As he starts to establish himself as the new owner/editor of the paper, a brutal rape/murder occurs in the town committed by Danny Padgitt. Danny belongs to the powerful Padgitt family, who live on their own island and are into all kinds of illegal trade. Willie focuses on the rape case and the trial and his readership grows. Danny is sentenced to life imprisonment but he threatens all 12 jurors before being led away. Among the jurors is Miss Callie Ruffin, a middle aged black woman who befriends Willie.

While Danny is in jail for those nine years, Willie settles in and adjusts to life in Clanton. He buys a big house and gets it renovated and becomes a part of the community. He spends every Thursday afternoon at the Ruffin house, where Miss Callie invites him for great tasty lunches. After 9 years Danny is paroled and the jurors start dying one by one, murdered by Danny’s henchmen. Convinced that Danny is exacting his revenge, as promised, the judge of Clanton issues an arrest for Danny Padgitt. At Padgitt’s trial, the former lover of Rhoda Kassellaw, Hank Hooten, guns down Danny Padgitt in the courtroom by positioning himself on the balcony. Willie later discovers that the assassin is also a schizophrenic and would often hear the voices of the victim’s children in his head, convincing him to murder Danny and the three jurors who voted against his conviction to Death Row. After nine years of ownership, Willie sells The Ford County Times for 1.5 million dollars. Soon after, Callie Ruffin dies of a heart attack, and the book ends with Willie writing her obituary.

Master Of The Game – Sidney Sheldon

At the age of 12 I first read this Sidney Sheldon novel, the first “grown up” novel that I can remember ever having read. It remains one of my favourites and also brings me nostalgic memories of a much simpler & care free time.

Master Of The Game is about the almost Queen like Kate Blackwell, on her 90th birthday still running a huge company. We are flashbacked to her dad, Jamie McGregor, who at 19 moves to South Africa to find his fortune in diamonds. He is cheated by the richer Saloman Van Der Meer and as revenge Jamie seduces and impregnates the former’s daughter Maggie. Jamie rises to power based on the wealth of his diamonds and soon starts a company called Kruger-Brent. Second child of Jamie & Maggie, Kate does not get to know her father and brother as both are killed in South Africa’s slave uprising. Maggie runs the company with the able help of Jamie’s young deputy, David Blackwell.

As Kate grows up she falls in love with David and despite the age differences, she uses her power as the heir to a huge company to manipulate things in such a way that David stays with her and they finally marry. David dies in a mining accident before his son is born and Kate raises young Tony to take over the business – but the young man has other plans. Always shy & retiring in front of his mother, he loves the arts and wants to be an artist in Paris. However, Kate interferes by first arranging for a model to fall in love with Tony and then sabotaging his art carrier by buying a critic to write bad reviews on Tony’s paintings. Tony marries a young German woman, who dies on delivering twin baby girls and Tony finds out that Kate encouraged his wife to have the kids against doctor’s advise.

Tony snaps and shoots his mother but she doesn’t die while Tony is admitted to an asylum. Kate raises the twins, Eve & Alexandra but it turns out that Eve is a jealous, ambitious & selfish brat who wants everything for herself. She can’t even share things with Alexandra, who’s oblivious to Eve’s jealousy & hatred and worships her older twin. Ever sleeps around and has flings, lies and tries to get Alex killed a few times. When Kate finds out, she disinherits Eve. Eve meets George Mellis, an abusive, ambitious & sexually violent handsome Greek and sets him up Alexandra. The plan is to kill Alexandra and get all her family’s wealth for herself and then get rid of George. However complications with the Greek make her change her plans and she kills him instead. She is later punished by a doctor who blackmails her to marry him and though he loves her, he purposefully damages her face in a plastic surgery that was done to actually get ride of some of her wrinkles.

With Eve punished, we now come back to Alexandra. Distraught over the death of George, she seeks comfort from a shrink, Peter Templeton. He & Alexandra marry and have a son Robert, who at the time of Kate’s 90th birthday is only 8 years old. He wants to be a classical musician and as we end the novel we read that Kate is interfering with his life by saying that she will recommend him to a friend who happens to know famous music conductor Zubin Mehta. Kate still believes that she acted properly, even though everyone in her family has been negatively affected by her actions.

Shatnertastic!

Taken from Bizarro Central’s books section:

It’s Shatner VS Shatners!

It’s the first ShatnerCon with William Shatner as the guest of honor!  But after a failed terrorist attack by Campbellians, a crazy terrorist cult that worships Bruce Campbell, all of the characters ever played by William Shatner are suddenly sucked into our world.  Their mission: hunt down and destroy the real William Shatner.

Featuring: Captain Kirk, TJ Hooker, Denny Crane, Rescue 911 Shatner, Singer Shatner, Shakespearean Shatner, Twilight Zone Shatner, Cartoon Kirk, Esperanto Shatner, Priceline Shatner, SNL Shatner, and – of course – William Shatner!

No costumed con-goer will be spared in their wave of destruction, no redshirt will make it out alive, and not even the Klingons will be able to stand up to a deranged Captain Kirk with a lightsaber.  But these Shatner-clones are about to learn a hard lesson…that the real William Shatner doesn’t take crap from anybody.  Not even himself.

It’s Shatnertastic!

The Associate

Probably the author who writes the most readable and enjoyable novels in the world, John Grisham delivers with yet another page-turner in The Associate.  In this, his 21st novel, young law student & editor in chief of the Yale Law Journal,  Kyle McAvoy is approached by the mysterious Bentnie Wright, who blackmails him with a video of his 3 roommates and him at a party. At the party, two of his buddies have sex with the local party girl, while Kyle falls asleep on the sofa. The girl later claims that she was raped while she was unconscious, a charge which was refuted by the cops. However in the video, a friend clearly asks the question, although drunk, “Is she awake?” With this tape in his custody, Bennie threatens to expose Kyle and his buddies unless he cooperates with his plan.

The plan is for Kyle to join a huge law firm as an associate (he was offered a position there) and to provide information to Bennie details about an upcoming case on aeronautics which is held in secrecy and is bound to be one one of the most expensive court cases of all time. The thought of the shame and embarrassment that would be caused for his family if this tape was played in public, makes Kyle agree with the plan. However, Kyle is a smart & resourceful individual. Read how he outwits and stays one step ahead of his blackmailers by using his brains. Kyle recruits his buddy Joey (one of the guys who had sex with the girl in the video) to help him out and despite the tragic murder of another friend, Kyle is determined to not play into the hands of the blackmailers. He seeks the help of a seasoned litigator and the FBI to expose the secret organization behind the blackmail.

Unfortunately Bennie and his associates elude the Feds but Kyle is now free to leave the big NY firm and go and work with his dad. The threat of being targeted by Bennie and his associates is still in the air but the young lawyer refuses to let that stop him from living his life.

The Robber Bride By Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood’s The Robber Bride is set in Toronto in 1993 (then present day) and revolves around 3 women, who are close friends, united by the effect that a 4th woman, Zenia, has had in their lives. Infact, they have almost nothing in common except for the fact that Zenia has stolen their lovers from them at one time.

Once a month, the three now middle aged friends meet for lunch in a hip cafe called The Toxique. On their recent gathering, in walks Zenia, who they had thought was dead. Infact they had attended her funeral. The novel alternates between the present and flashbacks featuring the points of view of our 3 women – Tony, Charis, and Roz respectively. Zenia has given 3 different versions of her history to the three women and in the end they and us are sure as to which her true version.

As we learn, in the past Zenia has approached all 3 friends at different times for help, sympathy, love & money and betrayed them all in turn. She had affairs & stolen Tony’s husband West, Roz’s’ husband Mitch & also part of her business and ratted out on Charis lover & US draft dodger Billy. At the present stage, it seemed that she had also hooked Roz’s 22 year old son Henry – but it was later revealed that she was selling him drugs and that he was infact gay.

The chapters tells us the stories of these 3 women and how Zenia comes into their lives. All 3 have had struggles and pain in their lives and Zenia snatched what little love & happiness they got. Tony was the luckier one in that West comes back to her after Zenia is through with him and they live together. But Charis has no clue as to what happened to Billy and Roz’s husband Mitch is killed in what seems to be a suicide, after living with Zenia and then being dumped by her.

Zenia faked her death to get away from her life and live anonymously in Europe but then she comes back, haunting the three friends. They approach her individually at her hotel and she taunts then but when they decided to confront her together, she is found dead in the hotel pool. Her death is left as a mystery, as much of her life & origins were, and it also turns out that she had terminal cancer which would given her 6 months more. The 3 women resume their quite lives.

The Da Vinci Code

I’ve seen the movie 3 times (I have a copy of it on dvd) before I even started reading the book. American authour Dan Brown’s much criticized & maligned and yet hugely popular and controversial novel, The Da Vinci Code, is in my opinion a very well written and though out book.

The book is a worldwide bestseller that had sold 80 million copies as of 2009 and that has been translated into 44 languages. And the theme is this – Jesus was a mortal man, learned & wise, but a man nonetheless. He had a wife, Mary Magdalene, who bore him a child. One group, the Priory of Sion protects the secret and the bloodline of Jesus and the other Opus Dei will do anything to ensure that the bloodline is never revealed for fear that the church’s stronghold on faith, religion and humans is lost!

Fascinating read with some strong characters in the protoganist Robert Langdon, Sophie Neuvu (who turns out to be very central to the whole thing) & Sir Leigh Teabing who is the unexpected mastermind behind the entire chase that leads to the finding of the bloodline. Good book; I’d say to hell with the zealots and go enjoy a nice pageturner. Go Read!

If Tomorrow Comes

If Tomorrow Comes is, in my humble opinion, the best novel by the late author Sidney Sheldon. I saw the mini series first, way back in 1986 while living in Kuwait. My sister had recorded it and we must have watched it quite a few times over the next few years, so much so that the mini series is embedded in my brain.

I often hear of movies often not matching up to the book but I think they were both equally good. Sheldon created his best heroine ever in Tracey Whitney, who gets framed for a crime she didn’t commit while trying to salvage her mom’s reputation. Prison time brings the loss of her unborn baby, her fiance breaking up with her and society shunning her. She gets revenge on the men who framed her and then when all else fails, turns to conning & theivery to get by.

Her path crosses with a fellow con artist Jeff Stevens and towards the end they fall in love, while going to Europe on jobs that their boss has assigned them. The threat of an investigator who is obsessesed with Whitney and uncovering her crimes also looms but he is outwitted by the duo at every turn. This is a magnificent page turner and I assure you that you will not be dissappointed.

Archie To Propose To Veronica

Is a 65 year old love triangle about to reach it’s conclusion? Well it seems so. Comic book legend Archie Andrews is to propose to Veronica Lodge in the release of Archie issue number 600, due to go on sale Sept. 8.

Is that ever a shocking story in a comic book! The competition between Veronica and Betty for Archie’s attention has been the cornerstone of Archie Comics for 65 years. The official website of the comic has this same picture posted there.

I always thought that Archie would end up with Betty as it made more sense. Now she’s heart-broken and weeping as…..wait a minute! What am I talking? It’s just a comic!!!

Get actualtests ccna voice demos for Pass4sure 1Y0-A19 and Testking scwcdwith 100% success guaranteed. Our high quality certkiller 70-647 prepares you well before appearing in the final exams of examsheets ged.

The Afghan – Fredrick Forsyth

One of the best writers that the world has ever know, the late Frederick Forsythe, has given us a look at how a British intelligence officer infiltrates the Al Qaeda in order to avert a threat of terror. The story takes place in Indonesia, Pakistan, Guantanamo Bay, Trinidad and Tobago, Washington state and on board various ships sailing the high seas.

bac cheap comment leave soma

Mike Martin, a retired SAS man is recruited to infiltrate Al Qaeda and pass for an Afghan prisoner, who is currently held in Guantanamo Bay. Martin is able to do this as he was raised in Iraq as a small boy, has perfect command of Arabic & Pashtun, is familiar with Afghanistan terrain (due to being previously posted there) and because of his chestnut brown complexion – passed on to him by an Indian grandmother.

watch in the name of the king a dungeon siege tale online

In the story it is revealed that prior to Martin’s escapades in Iraq he had worked with the Mujahideen in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation where he met Osama Bin Laden and rescued a young Afghan boy, Izmat Khan, who later became a resistance leader. Izmat Khan is the Afghan that Martin has to pretend to be. Highly covert, the operation is successful as Martin is accepted as Izmat Khan and welcomed to the fold, albeit after passing an interrogation.

king of new york online

He volunteers to be part of a suicidal terrorist attack – hijacking a tanker carrying liquid petroleum gas and ramming it into an ocean liner on which the G8 summit is taking place. Martin’s heroism averts the attack and he is killed in the process.

The only weak part of this novel is how Izmat Khan dies –  a US Airforce jet accidentally crashed and hits the secret hiding base in Washington state where Izmat is held.The crash destroys most of the wall and the building and Khan escapes. While at the Canadian border he finds a phone booth and as he tries to alert his commrades, he is shot to death. That was a highly improbable scenario and is termed as rubbish in this otherwise immensely thrilling novel.

Reading Jackie Collins

juno dvd Reading Jackie Collins novels are my one vice that I am admittedly a little embarrassed about. It’s sleazy and full of corny dialogues and lots of cliches and sex scenes. Women are either classic beauties & sexy but with style & substance or the dumb blonde variety. Men are sex gods or feinds or drug dazed.

miss potter movie She’s been enormously successful: to date she has sold over 400 million copies of her novels which have been translated into 40 languages. The first book of hers which I had read was Rock Star, which I have to admit is my fav of hers and I think it’s a really good novel. I have read atleast another 11 of her books but this one stands out. Among the rest, what I have noticed is common trends. For eg, stealing a food item! Like ‘she stole a french fry off her friend’s plate’.

First of all, the friend offered her some of her food, our lady said no, but deep in conversation she decided to ‘steal’. Another novel has ‘stole a pancake’; again while two people are having breakfast together. And ofcourse, she has this trend of dumb dialogues among people. Long time friends saying things so obvious about each other. Or a father saying to his daughter “You’re really something kid” or the ever present “God, she loved him”!

home of the brave online download There’s a lot of insincere talk along the way but it’s fun in a sleazy way. When I pick up one of her books, I know that I won’t be taxing my brain too much. Except when I try to imagine the “blonde bimbo, with the floppy boobs and jammy lips applying a liberal dose of lip gloss”! That would be some scene!

ROSHAN’S ELEVEN : John Grisham Novels

  • The Client
  • The Firm
  • King Of Torts
  • The Broker
  • The Summons
  • The Brethren
  • The Street Lawyer
  • The Chamber
  • The Rainmaker
  • The Pelican Brief
  • Runaway Jury

Whew! I think that’s almost his entire body of work over here, eh? The only book of his that I didn’t like was The Painted House. And that’s the only book that doesn’t deal with law & lawyers. I only know of one other novel that he has wrote but I can’t remember the name.

watch there will be blood online

Oh and I’ve also seen 5 movies that were based on his novels. This guy is a sure moneymaker! Sure does like ‘The’ in his titles a lot though!

roanoke the lost colony online download

inside movie download

Blackwood Farm

download two can play that game Published in 2002, Blackwood Farm isone of the more recent books written by author Anne Rice as part of the ‘Vampire Chrnonicles”. The main character here is Tarquin ‘Quinn’ Blackwood, heir of the Blackwood farm & estate of one of the oldest & most powerful New Orleans families. Quinn, who was recently turned into a vampire, is being haunted by a doppelganger spirit, Goblin, who looks just like him but appears only to a few. He seeks out the legendary vampire Lestat De Lioncourt to aid him in defeating Gobin. As the story develops, narrated by Quinn, we learn of his birth, childhood and his falling in love with Mona, a witch from the Mayfair clan. We also learn of how he gets turned into a vampire. Finally Quin learns from his unloving mother that Goblin is in fact the spirit of his dead twin, Garwin, who died a few days after being born. The child did not leave this world; he is bound to Tarquin and is relentlessly jealous to experience what Tarquin does. Lestat asks the powerful witch, Merrick, to fashion a ritual, using the corpse of the dead twin, to exorcise Goblin. During the ceremony, Merrick joins herself with the flame and the corpse. She carries her spirit and that of the child to the Light and perishes. Lestat is forlorn at the loss of Merrick but he has a new vampire companion now in the form of Quinn.

watch the anderson tapes online changeling download garfield gets real online download

Goodbye Michael Crichton

The literary world will mourn the death of one of it’smost talented stars as cancer took Michael Crichton away. Author, film producer, film director, medical doctor, and television producer best known for his science fiction and techno-thriller novels, films, and television programs. His books have sold over 150 million copies worldwide.

He was the author of The Andromeda Strain, Congo, Disclosure, Timeline, State of Fear, Eaters of The Dead, Prey, Sphere and Next. He was also the creator of ER, but he will remembered most for being the author of Jurassic Park, and its sequel The Lost World. Most of his work has been made into movies starring some of the world’s top celebrities like Demi Moore, Julianne Moore, Jeff Goldbloom, Antonio Banderas, Sharon Stone & Dustin Hoffmann. We will miss you.

The Vampire Lestat

Among the world’s most fascinating fictional characters, Lestat de Lioncourt holds an esteemed position in the world of goth & vampirism. Created by noted author Anne Rice, (and the second series in the Vampire Chronicles) The Vampire Lestat shows how a young Frenchman, son of a country marquis became the sophisticated child of the dark that we all know. Narrated by Lestat, the story unfolds from when he is honoured by the villagers for hunting & killing a pack of wolves and meeting his friend Nicolaus. The two run off to Paris to become an actor and a musician. Lestat is kidnapped by Magnus, an old vampire, and is ‘made’ into one. Magnus wanted to die but he also wanted an heir. Then Lestat turns his beloved & beautiful mother Gabrielle into a vampire and later his friend Nicolaus.

He helps create the Theatre Des Vampires, where a now derange Nicolaus lives until he kills himself. Gabrielle wishes to be alone and leaves after first asking him to join him. Lestat also searches out the vampire Marius, the existence of whom he learns from the teenage vampire Armand. Marius shows him “those who must be kept” – the mother & father of all vampires. The book ends on a cliffhanger, with Lestat having a brief reunion with Louis and the concert in San Francisco, setting up perfectly for the third in the series – Queen Of The Damned.

Hearts In Atlantis

Hearts In Atlantis is a 1999 published book by celebrated author Stephen King. It consists of 2 novellas and 3 short stories, each in chronological order and connected to each other. King’s depiction of the 1960’s generation, in his view, as promising so much yet under-achieving is evident here as is the looming figure of the Vietnam War and its prolonged effect. The novel starts with the story of Bobby Garfield, a 11 year old boy, whose widowed mother is subjected to sexual torture by her boss & his cronies. Bobby befriends the newcomer in town, Ted an elderly man who is hiding from the low men in yellow coats. This novella is the only part in which the horror/sci-fi/supernatural element appears, albeit in small doses. John Sullivan & Carol Gerber are Bobby’s childhood friends. In the second novella, narrated by Peter Riley, we learn of a group of college students who while their time away playing Hearts, an addictive card game for pennies. Carol is the now 18 year old girl who Pete falls for. Getting good grades in college, which is a kind of Atlantis, is the only escape from the army draft & the Vietnam war.

Next is Will Shearman, a Vietnam war veteran, who disguises himself as a blind beggar making hundreds of dollars in donations. He keeps the bills for himself and gives the rest to charities. Will, who saved John’s life in Vietnam, used to be Willie, a bully who picked on John, Carol & Bobby.

Next we see John Sullivan, much older going to the funeral of a fellow Nam vet and speaking about why they were in the war with another veteran. On his way back, Sullivan dies of an heart attack while stuck in a traffic jam. This leads us to the conclusion and last story – Bobby Garfield returns to his hometown to attend Sullivan’s funeral. This is his first visit in 40 years, yet he finds closure to his relationships with Carol Gerber and Ted Brautigan.

The first novella was adapted into a movie starring Anthony Hopkins in 2001 called Hearts In Atlantis.