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When the island of Leshp suddenly surfaces in the middle of the Circular Sea, it is immediately claimed by fishermen from both Ankh-Morpork and Klatch. Klatch sends very soon after to Ankh-Morpork a diplomat, Prince Khufurah, who is nearly killed by an unknown murderer. Vimes investigates and finds the assassin, but the latter is already dead, and the profusion of clues make it clear that it was a setup. Very soon, Ankh-Morpork and Klatch are preparing for war. The Patrician is evicted and replaced by Lord Rust, who reformes the regiments in order to invade Klatch, and disbands the Watch. Meanwhile, Vimes is still investigating the attempted murder and sails to Klatch with his faithfull ex-watchmen. At the same time, the Patrician enrolls Colon and Nobbs for manning a submarine made by Leonarod da Quirm. The Patrician discovers that the island is floating on a giant pumice, and is soon going to disappear into the sea once again. He then lands incognito in Klatch in order to gather intelligence about the situation. Meanwhile, Vimes catches the man he was following, 71-hour Ahmed, bodyguard of Prince Khufurah, who also happens to be a Klatchian copper. Ahmed tells Vimes that Prince Kadram, ruler of Klatch, had organized the assasination of Prince Khufurah, his brother, in order to provoke a war between his country and Ankh-Morpork. Ahmed cannot arrest his own ruler, that's why he attracted Vimes to Klatch, hoping the descendant of Old Stoneface would get rid of Kadram. Ahmed and Vimes finally manage to reach Kadram and keep him at point blank, undecided about what to do. Just at this moment, the Patrician appears and announces that Ankh-Morpork surrenders unconditionnaly before the war actually begins. He agrees that a treaty, containing numerous benefits for Klatch, will be signed on Leshp, a neutral territory. But Leshp disappears just before the treaty can be signed, suppressing all legitimate reasons for the war and making the treaty impossible to sign.

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A compilation of ghost stories by Roald Dahl, originally for a TV series project that was finally aborted.

W.S. (L. P. Hartley) Walter Streeter is a novelist. His hateful character, William Stainforth, comes to him as a ghost to take his revenge from having been created so bad a person.

Harry (Rosemary Timplerley) Christine is an adopted daughter. Her brother, who loved her and died saving her life when she was a baby comes as a ghost to take her back.

The Corner Shop (Cynthia Asquith) A man buys for a low price a very valuable object at a gloomy antique shop, from a very dusty looking shop owner. He wants to return part of the money to the owner, but the shop actually belongs to the daughters of the owner, and their father has been dead a long time.

In the Tube (E. F. Benson) A man sees the ghost of another one in the London underground, meets the real man later, and learns about his death in the underground some time later.

Christmas Meeting (Rosemary Timperley) A woman spends Christmas with a neighbor who disappears strangely, and happens to be a ghost. The neighbor, before dying many years ago, had mentionned spending Christmas with a female neighbor who disappeared strangely.

Elias and the Draug (Jonas Lie) Elias is a fisherman who had injured the Draug (a sea demon) confusing him with a seal. Years later, the Draug kills Elias and all his family but his son and adopted daughter.

Playmates (A.M. Burrage) A lonely, adopted girl lives in a former girl's school. She plays daily with the ghosts of the girls who died there of disease years ago.

Ringing the Changes (Robert Aickman) A couple spends their honeymoon in a small village just the day when the villagers ring all the bells to wake the dead. The bride is taken away by the crazy villagers/risen dead and saved by an old sailor who lives there.

The Telephone (Mary Treadgold) A man divorces his wife to go with a younger girl. Later, the ex-wife dies, but the man manages to reach her ghost on the phone at their old house. The new wife asks the ghost for forgiveness and peace and obtains it.

The Ghost of a Hand (J. Sheridan Le Fanu) A ghost of just a hand frightens a whole household.

The Sweeper (A. M. Burrage, as Ex-Private X) Years ago, in order to earn some food, a tramp died sweeping the alley leading to a lady's house. Since then, his ghost comes back sweeping every autumn, each time closer to the house, when he reaches the house, he takes the woman with him.

Afterward (Edith Wharton) A couple lives in a haunted house where the ghost is never to be seen. Only long afterwards one knows it was the ghost. One day, a man comes to the house, and the husband disappears. The man was the ghost of a businessman who commited suicide because he was ruined by the husband. Only long afterwards does the wife understand it was a ghost.

On the Brighton Road (Richard Middleton) A tramp meets a young boy along the road. The boy claims to have died many times already. He's sick, taken to the next city by a driving-by doctor, dies at the hospital. The tramp meets him again on the road the next day.

The Upper Berth (F. Marion Crawford) The upper berth of cabin 105 on the Kamtschatka is haunted by the ghost of a drowned man, driving to suicide all the passengers who sleep in the berth. A man on the lower berth wants to solve this mystery, but the ghost is a real ghost.

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Fourth and last book of The Dreamers series, The Younger Gods was published by David & Leigh Eddings in 2006.

The Vlagh has decided to attempt a last time to take over the world, this time launching all her bug-children through the Long Pass in Aracia's domain. In order to keep Aracia out of their way, the allies pretend that the attack is going to take place on her temple, and Sorgan and his Maags are sent there to build makeshift forts, while Narasan and the Trogites build real forts in the Long Pass. Sorgan discovers that a woman-looking bug has become a priestess very close to Aracia, and discovers that she tries to compell her to kill her dreamer. Aracia eventually complies, but ceases to exist, because she tried to break the Law forbidding her to kill living being. Meanwhile, Omago discovers that he is not a simple farmer, but a God, the mate of Ara (who is also a Godess), and has erased his memory and started to live as a human to try and understand mankind. In order to get rid of the Vlagh once and for all, he takes Rabbit and Longbow with him to the nest of the Vlagh, impersonates her Voice, and tells all her bug-servants to eat her newborn children, while preventing her to procreate anymore. The Vlagh will then cry the loss of ther children forever. Finally, Omago and Ara change the past so that Longbow's girlfriend is not killed by the Vlagh's servant, and erase the whole story from History.

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Eighteenth volume in the Discworld series, Masquerade has been published in 1995 by Terry Pratchett.

Agnes Nitt (who'd rather call herself Perdita X. Dream) doesn't want to become the third witch along with Granny and Nanny (although she has the necessary talent) and leaves to Ankh-Morpork, where she finds a position in the chorus of the Opera. Recently, the phantom of the opera has started to kill people, but even though people are frightened, the Show Goes On. Meanwhile, Nanny and Granny come to Ankh-Morpork in order to recover royalties on Nanny's cookbook. They notice the presence of Agnes in the city, go to the opera, notice that something is wrong, and decide to meddle. Thanks to the money the witches took from the publisher, Granny buys posh clothes and pretends to be a patron of operas, donating a small fortune. They soon discover that the odd job man, Walter Plinge, who is simple minded, actually becomes the ghost as soon as he wears a mask. But the killer is another person and actually the director of music who has been embezelling money for years (which explains why the opera never makes any benefit) and started to get rid of people who discovered his scheme. The witches unmask the killer during a performance, while the audience still thinks it is part of the show. Walter had written musicals while he was hiding in the cellars, the manager loves them, and decides to change the orientation of his opera. The two witches go back to Ankh-Morpork, and Agnes joins them soon and becomes the third witch.

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When Harry Potter turns seventeen, the protection charm given by his mother when she died ceases working. The Order of the Phoenix decides to move Harry to a safe location. Ron, Hermione and Harry, according to Dumbledore's will, receive the Deluminator, a book of tales for children and the first snitch caught by Harry. Shortly after that, during the wedding of Bill Weasly and Fleur Delacour, they are attacked by Death Eaters, and Harry, Hermione and Ron flee to London and hide in Sirius's family house, now Harry's property. They discover thanks to Kreacher that the fake locket recovered by Harry and Dumbledore a couple of months earlier has been Sirius's brother's property, and that the real locket was hidden in the house. While the Order of the Phoenix was cleaning the house a year earlier, it had been thrown away, stolen by Kreacher and then by Mundungus Fletcher who sold it to Dolores Umbridge. The three friends then steal the locket from Umbridge, at the Ministry (now under the control of the Death Eaters), and manage to escape miraculously. Their safehouse being compromised, they flee in the countryside, camping and moving all the time. Ron leaves the trio after a fight with his friends. Harry and Hermione decide to go to Godric's Hollow, where Bathilda Bagshot, the great historian of magic leaves, hoping that she would know where Dumbledore had hidden Griffindor's sword, one of the only weapons that can destroy Horcuxes. They fall into a trap and make again a narrow escape. One night, Harry follows a Patronus which leads him to the sword. Thanks to Ron, reappearing just in time, they manage to get the sword and destroy the locket. Later, they go and see Xenophilius Lovegood who knows about a symbol they keep on finding on their path. The symbol represents the Deathly Hallows, which are the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone and the Invisibility Cloak. Again, they manage to escape the Death Eaters, warned by Lovegood who is blackmailed through his daughter's life. By mistake, they are later caught by Death Eaters and led to Malfoy's Manor, where they learn that Griffindor's sword is in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault at Gringott's; then they escape and take a few other prisoners with them: Luna, Ollivander and Griphook, a goblin working at Grigott's. Thanks to him, they manage to enter Lestrange's vault at the bank and take Ravenclaw's cup, another Horcrux, but loose the sword. They then go to Hogwarts, where Harry knows that Hufflepuf's diadem is hidden, thanks to his telepathic link to Voldemort. They destroy the cup with a fang of the dead basilisk, still lying in the Chamber of Secrets. Hogwarts is soon under attack by the Death Eaters, but Harry manages to find the diadem and destroy it. He then learns from Snape's memory that he is Voldemort's seventh horcrux, and that he must die in order for Voldemort to become mortal again. He also learns that Snape was in love with his mother, that he left the Death Eaters when Voldemort killed Lily, and was always faithfull to Dumbledore. Dumbledore was dying because of a curse, and Snape had killed him on his own request. Also Snape was the one who lead Harry to the sword in the forest. Harrythen faces Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest, but instead of dying, he meets Dumbledore in a kind of dream, who explains him that Voldemort's body is made partly of Harrys' blood, and that Voldemort could not kill him. Voldemort however killed the part of Harry who was Voldemort's soul. Harry is then taken to Hogwarts as a proof that Voldemort has won, but the defenders of the castle refuse to surrender, and attack the Death Eaters again. Neville Longbottom kills Nagini, Voldemort's snake and last horcrux, then Harry faces Voldemort in a duel and kills him. The epilogue tells about Harry's and Ginny's children going to Hogwarts along with Ron's and Hermione's.

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Tome 0 de la série Quand les dieux buvaient par Catherine Dufour.

Babine-babine est une fée qui s'est laissée envoûter par un miroir magique fabriqué par l'elfe noir qu'elle vient de quitter et qui veut se venger. Pour l'aider, ses deux copines fées Pétrol'Kiwi et Pimprenouche partent dans une quête dans sur la terre qui se trouve entre l'Éther et le Sub-Éther. Dans cette Terre du milieu, elles suivent une compagnie d'aventuriers qui semblent eux aussi poursuivre une quête, dont le but semble aussi être de détruire un artéfact magique. Elles passent la plus grande partie du voyage à observer les autres et à commenter leur comportement irrationel qui leur attire invariablement des ennuis. Vers la fin de leur quête, elles sont distraites par la mort du croque qu'elles avaient rencontré en cours de route et auquel elles s'étaient beaucoup attaché. Dégoûtée par l'injustice du monde, Petrol'Kiwi jette le miroir magique qu'elle a oublié de détruire dans une fosse à purin. Une créature mi-naine, mi-ogre le trouve par hasard, se laisse influencer par le mal qui en suinte, et infecte tous ses semblables, qui commencent peu à peu à ressembler à des humains.

1633 by David Weber and Eric Flint is a sequel to 1632 by Eric Flint.

Mike Stearns is the president of the relocated USA, in 1633 in the middle of Germany. He has sent his wife and his sister as ambassadors to France and to England, trying to guess how Richelieu and Charles I where going to continue the Thirty Years War is going. His sister is imprisonned in the London Tower, under the pretense of being diplomatic guests, while his wife moves to Holland and tries to convice the Dutch that France is going to break their alliance with them in order to let Spain take back the Netherlands. History books telling the future have been spread by someone in Grantville and all the leaders of Europe have read them at least partly. Richelieu's plan is, among other things, to conquer as much as possible terriroty in America, since it is going to be a major political actor in the far future. Meanwhile, people in Grantville are developing their industry and army in order to survive. 19th century style warships are being built in Magdeburg for the Navy, airplanes are built in Grantville and founding a new Air Force. Harbour cities in North Germany are threatened by the Danish fleet, but thanks to the (soon to be dead) american and german heroes, the invasion fleet is repelled. Finally, most German nobles are convicend to give up their nobility titles, and the United States of Europe are being founded.

Memory has been published in 1996 by Lois McMaster Bujold.

After his Cryo-revival, Miles suffers from random-happening seizures, causing him to injure an ImpSec agent he was saving from kidnappers. He tries to conceal the fact from Illyan, but the latter learns about it anyway, and forces Miles to resign from ImpSec, officially being medically discharged. Some time after that, Miles learns that Illyan, the man who remembers everything thanks to the memory-enhancement chip implanted in his brain, starts to make mistakes, confusing time and events. Illyan finally breaks down completely and is sent to ImpSec's clinic. Miles wants to visit him, Illyan being an old friend of his familly, but he is denied access. Thanks to Gregor, Miles get a temporary Auditor's charge, granting him almost absolute power. Miles then starts to investigate the reasons for Illyan's problems, and convinces Illyan's doctors to surgically remove the chip. Illyan is alive and pysically well, but suffers from short-term memory problems and depression. An analysis of the chip shows that the cause of the malfunction is a very specific bioweapon, designed to destroy these kinds of chips. Miles decide to conduct a thorough internal investigation in ImpSec HQ, and discovers that he is being framed for the attack on Illyan. He manages to get an alibi, and continues the investigation. Next, evidence that a Komarran ImpSec officier, friend of Miles and the son of the man from whom ImpSec took the bioweapon ten years ago, is found and the man is arrested. Miles cannot believe him guilty and goes on investigating. Finally, he remembers the air filters installed in each and every room, which have caught some amout of the bioweapon (which is spore-like). He sets up a trap for the real responsible for this mess, who happens to be the interim head of ImpSec. He finally confesses that he wanted to be head of ImpSec, whereas Illyan had planned to put Miles to the job.

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Dixième volume de Trolls de Troy, Les prisonniers du Darshan (II) raconte comment Waha s'échappe de sa prison et libère Teträm et Pröfy, avant de s'enfuire, poursuivis par les troupes de Dame Meshantä. Ils réussissent à lui faire donner des peaux d'un troll blanc adulte au lieu de celles des bébés qu'elle avait fait enlever, ce qui a pour effet de réveiller incomplètement Nymethny. Un vieux sage troll invoque alors Swoog, le dieu des trolls, pour combattre Nymethny, qu'il réussit finalement à vaincre.

Komarr has been published in 1998 by Lois McMaster Bujold.

Miles has left the military and has become an Imperial Auditor. He is sent to Komarr to investigate the partial destruction of the soletta, a device orbiting around the planet and concetrate energy from its sun towards the surface. Miles spends some time on the planet's surface time with his co-auditor, at the latter's niece's place. While there, Miles fells in love with Ekaterin (the niece), and learns that her husband (Tien) has been loosing lots of money on bad investments. Miles then discovers that Tien is involved with the people responsible for the destruction of the soletta, taking bribes from them while they embezzel money from a terraforming project under Tien's supervision. Tien being an insufferable husband, Ekaterin decides to leave him, just when the Auditors discover about the embezzelment and Tien's involvment. Tien decides to tell Miles all that he knows, but dies in an accident. The Auditors then discover what hardware had been bought with the embezelled money, and manage to infer its purpose: the four Komarrans involved have built a device that will close permanently the wormhole linking Barrayar to Komarr, its only path to the galaxy, as a revenge for Barrayar's invasion of Komarr several decades ago. The four conspirators are nowhere to be found, since they disappeared concurrently with Tien's death. Meanwhile, Ekaterin has gone to the space station where passengers and goods transit from Barrayar, in order to welcome her aunt. She is seen by one of the Komarran conspirators who takes her hostage with her aunt. Ekaterin manages to destroy the device shortly and call for help, leading Miles to the station. He manages to negotiate with the Komarrans, free the hostages and catch the conspirators. At the end, Ekaterin accepts his invitation to Vorbarr Sultana.

A novel by Lois McMaster Bujold published in 1994.

Miles and Ivan are sent to Cetaganda as representatives of Barrayar at the funeral of the late Empress. During a weird incident, Miles puts his hands on a mysterious object, and discovers later that it is the Key that opens the genetic database of the Cetagandan nobility, which in turn is necessary for deciding the genomes of the future noble heirs. Miles is contacted by a Lady who wants to get the Key back, but she immediately notices that it is a fake. Miles wants to help her finding the real Key, sensing that this whole story is a plot aiming at creating a diplomatic incident between Barrayar and Cetaganda. The Lady is the chief geneticist of the Empire, and she tells Miles that the late Empress wanted to backup the genetic database by giving copies to the eight planetary governors, each of them believing that he is the only depositary. The plan was only half implemented, and now one of the governors is trying to get it all for himself. After a difficult investigation and several attempts on his life, Miles discovers who the thief is. He goes onto his ship and manages to retrieve the Key. He finally gets the Cetagandan Medal of Honour.

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Un roman de Roland C. Wagner republié en 1998. Viper est un transporteur spatial indépendant. Achernar VI est une dépendance de la Terre et la seule planète de la galaxie où l'on peut produire des biopuces grâce à son absence de micro-organismes. Suite à une maladresse, Viper contamine la planète puis s'enfuit avec Ganja, une biopuce expérimentale unique en son genre capable de servir d'interface entre n'importe quels systèmes, électroniques ou biologiques. Sur Terre, il est comdamné à payer pour les dégats occasionnés. La Ligue Secrète pour le Désarmement le contacte ensuite pour faire évader un de ses membres de Spirit of America, la planète de Clowns gris, réputés pour leur esprit belliqueux, leur régime totalitaire, leur xénophobie et leur autacisme. Les Clowns gris sont les seuls fabricants d'armes en dehors des terriens, et ils s'apprêtent à envahir, dans un but encore inconnu, une planète voisine de la leur, Nieuw Amsterdam, qui est aussi la seule planète où pousse la sinsé, une herbe très en vogue qui est en passe de remplacer l'alcool, le tabac et le cannabis. Comme Viper a besoin d'argent pour payer son amende, il est forcé d'accepter. En transitant par Stellara, une station spatiale située entre la Terre et la Lune, il rencontre une Stelle qui lui propose de lui fournir un moyen d'entrer sur Spirit of America en échange d'un peu de contrebande. Après quelques péripéties, il arrive sur la planète des Clowns gris, mais l'agent de la ligue n'a pas pu venir à son point de rendez-vous. Viper doit traverser la planète pour aller la chercher (car il s'agit d'une jeune femme, la fille d'un des principaux industriels de la planète). Le retour est semé d'embûches, mais grâce à Ganja, ils parviennent à s'échapper. Ils se rendent ensuite sur Nieuw Amsterdam où ils parviennent à faire évacuer la plupart de la population et à sauver quelques rhizomes de sinsé avant l'attaque, qui avait été avancée. Grâce à des indices accumulés auparavant et à Ganja qui lui permet de s'interfacer avec la plante, Viper comprend que la Sinsé est un organisme intelligent, ce qui explique qu'elle est capable de muter pour s'adapter aux métabolisme des humains et devenir moins toxique. Enfin, les Clowns gris attaquent la planète afin de la stériliser complètement, mais leurs missiles se retournent contre eux, encore une fois grâce à Ganja qui a perverti les IA guidant les missiles. Le plan des Clowns gris était de stériliser Nieuw Amsterdam afin de la que la planète soit utilisable pour y produire des biopuces, la vendre à la Terre, puis s'en emparer afin de s'approprier la technologie des biopuces.

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Seventeent volume in the Discworld series, Interesting Times has been published in 1994 by Terry Pratchett.

A message coming to Ankh-Morpork from the mysterious Agatean Empire requests the Great Wizzard to be sent there. He is identified as being Rincewind, who is then brought back by magic from the island where he was stranded after his last adventure (thanks to Hex, the supercomputer that can say thousands of location spells in a short period of time), and sent the same way to the Agatean Empire. He there meets a horde of seven elderly barbarian heroes led by Cohen the Barbarian (the Silver Horde), and is soon after taken by the “Red Army”, who is fomenting a revolution in Hunghung, the capital city of the Empire. The legend has it that the Red Army, led by the Great Wizard, would once again free the people from the oppressing emperor, or something like that. Rincewind manages, against his own will, to make them enter the Forbidden City, but they are immediately taken prisoner by the guards. In prison, he meets Twoflowers, and learns that the Red Army's cadres are Twoflower's children; the revolutionary movement itself is based on the book he wrote after his holidays in Ankh-Morpork and which caused him to be sent to prison. The doors of Rincewind's cell open mysteriously, he frees the other Red Army prisoners, and he is forced by Twoflower's daughter to go and try to kill the Emperor. But he is already dead, assassinated by his Grand Vizier, who wants to put the blame onto the Red Army and use the counter-revolution to get himself onto the throne. But the barbarian Horde has already taken the throne, using the fact that not many people know what the emperor looks like and that anybody could actually play his role. But the heads of the five great families who are continuously fighting for the power declare war to the Horde, and they will have to meet on the battlefield the next day, seven against seven-hundred thousands. Rincewind manages to flee the battlefield, but only to enter by accident a huge storage where seven thousand golems made of red clay await someone to use them again (there are bits of magical armour dedicated to that purpose). Rincewind puts the armour on, and leads, without really knowing what he was doing, the original Red Army to the battlefield, provoking a panic in the armies and allowing the Horde to take once again the control of the imperial throne. But Rincewind soon disappears, transported magically again by the wizards of Unseen University. But instead of arriving in Ankh-Morpork as expected, Rincewind lands in XXXX.

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Cinquième volume de la série Opale publié en 2007. Darko et ses amis sont à la recherche d'un village caché appelé Onze Racines, construit dans la racine d'un des deux arbres géants dans lesquels les Titans avaient érigé des palais. Ils y arrivent, prisonniers des habitants dudit village. Ils y trouvent le dernier sage Shelmilis qui doit enseigner à Darko à se servir du pouvoir de la pierre de son bracelet et de son grimoire. En échange, le sage (qui est une petite créature espiègle) demande que Darko aille réveiller la dernière femelle Shelmilis, endormi dans l'autre palais des Titans et que seul un c½ur pur peut aller chercher. Darko accepte et y va en compagnie de Tara, triomphe des épreuves du gardier et accompli sa mission.

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Quinzième volume de la série Largo Winch, publié en 2007. Largo a autrefois réussi à s'échapper d'une prison chinoise au Tibet grâce à une triade chinoise. Maintenant, la triade lui demande de payer sa dette: il doit voler un parchemin précieux à un homme d'affaire chinois avec lequel il doit justement signer un contrat. Il est découvert en plein forfait, arrêté et envoyé au Tibet dans une prison chinoise.

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Dixième volume de la série Alpha, publé en 2007. Une BD qui n'en est pas une avec quelques planches entrecoupées de texte et dessins. L'idée est de présenter le passé d'Alpha : il est le fils d'un espion du KGB infiltré aux États-Unis qui a eu une brève liaison avec la mère d'Alpha. Cet espion est le descendant de nobles russo-finlandais.

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Sixteenth volume in the Discworld series, Soul Music has been published in 1994 by Terry Pratchett.

Susan, a sixteen years old orphan is the adoptive granddaughter of Death. When Death decides to quit its job and try to understand the concept of forgeting, she inherits her grandfather's special abilities and feels compelled to replace him. At the same time, Imp y Celyn, a musiciam from Llamedos, arrives in Ankh-Morpork and meets Lias the troll and Glod the dwarf, musicians too. Since Imp's harp gor broken, they go to a mysterious music shop and Imp buys a mysterious guitar. Imp and his two new friends start playing in pubs for a handfull of dollars, trying to avoid the representatives of the Guild of Musicians who mercilessly track people who dare to play music without paying the guild's outrageously high fee. The guitar has a kind of magical influence on the band and makes them play a new kind of music that they describe as Music with Rocks in. Susan is present at the concert since Imp is supposed to die there, but for some reason, he doesn't. Later, Imp decides to change his name to Buddy (Imp = bud, celyn = holly) and Lias changes his to Cliff. They meet Dibbler, who becomes their manager and organises a concert tour to Pseudopolis, Sto Lat and Quirm. In exchange, Buddy demands a free music festival, because in his opinion, music should be free and people shouldn't have to pay for it. Dibbler finally accepts, after estimating how many sausages and other products he could sell the the audience, as well as with music recording boxes invented by Ponder Stibbons. During the tour, Buddy becomes more and more apathic, and it becomes clear that the guitar is playing the man during the concerts rather than the other way round. At the end of their concert they decide to flee on a cart, but they got an accident on the road. Death appears again, having learned that he cannot learn how to forget, and returns to his duty, explaining to Susan (who witnessed the accident) that Buddy died already long time ago, but only music was keeping him going, which broke the fabric of reality. With the accident, reality comes back and part of what happened ceases to exist, replaced with another of the possible alternate realities. Susan understands that Buddy/Imp is alive, somewhere, and she event learns eventually where he probably is.

Very geeky, quite funny.

xkcd.com (CC-by-nc)

“In fact, draw all your rotational matrices sideways. Your professors will love it! And then they'll go home and shrink.”

xkcd.com (CC-by-nc)

“That cat has some serious periodic components.”

xkcd.com (CC-by-nc)

“This one is from the Red Belt collection, of 'medium' difficulty.”

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Fifteenth volume in the Discworld series, Men at Arms has been published in 1993 by Terry Pratchett.

An explosion happens at the assassin's guild. A clown from the neighbour Fool's guild is found dead in the Ankh. A dwarf is found dead in his weaponmaking workshop with a hole instead of his chest. The Night Watch is investigating the case, augmented by three new members, representative of ethnic minorities: Detritus (a troll), Cuddy (a dwarf) and Angua (a woman, and a werewolf). And captain Sam Vimes is depressed because he's going to get married in a couple of days, forced to retire, and in top of that, Vetinari forbids him to investigate the deaths of the dwarf and the clown. The guards soon discover that something labeled “Gonne” has been stolen from the Assassin's Guild museum, that the dead clown has been seen leaving the Guild one day after his death, that the document found in the dwarf's workshop is the formula for a firework powder. While Cuddy and Detritus are investigating together, they are attacked by someone they couldn't see and trapped into a warehouse of future porks which is very cold, and makes Detritus much smarter than usual. Meanwhile, the maid of the head of the Beggar's Guild is killed by the same weapon as the dwarf. Later, Cuddy and Detritus, escaping an angry mob of dwarves and trolls, get lost in the sewers of the city and discover the body of the clown (except that it is not the clown but the thief of the gonne, wearing the same makeup as the clown's). At the same time, Carrot falls in love with Angua (although she's a werewolf and he hates the undead), and Vimes is completely depressed; the Watch then starts to rely on Carrot to take decisions, and since the Day Watch got the order to dismantle the Night Watch, Carrot organises a milicia and starts hiring many new recruits. The next day, Vimes is getting married, and but as the men of the milicia are guarding the surroundings. When the Patrician arrives to the wedding, he's attacked by the holder of the gonne who is shooting from the top of the Tower of the Arts. Cuddy, who had been sent to watch that place, is killed by the shooter. Vimes puzzles out that the killer is Dr. Cruces, the head of the Assassin's Guild (although the dwarf and the clown have been killed by Edward d'Eath, an assassin who wanted to restore the monarchy in Ankh-Morpork and kill all the heads of the guilds. He also discovered that Carrot is the heir of the royal family, whose last king had been killed by an ancestor of Vimes. He had taken the gonne from d'Eath and had been overpowered by the gonne's will to kill everyone). Carrot and Vimes finally meet Cruces in his office, and Carrot eventually kills him. Vimes gets married and becomes Commander of the Watch, Carrot is promoted Captain and the Night Watch is expanded and becomes the only Watch.

© QuizFarm.com

You scored as Carrot Ironfounderson. You are Captain Carrot Ironfounderson of the City Watch in the greatest city on the Disc: Ankh-Morprok! A truly good natured, honest guy, who knows everyone, and is liked by all. Technically a dwarf, but only by adoption. You'd rather not be reminded that you are the true heir to the throne, but that does explain why people naturally follow your orders…

• Carrot Ironfounderson: 50%
• Gytha (Nanny) Ogg: 50%
• Esmerelda (Granny) Weatherwax: 38%
• The Librarian: 38%
• Lord Havelock Vetinari: 38%
• Cohen The Barbarian: 25%
• Commander Samuel Vimes: 25%
• Death: 19%
• Rincewind: 13%
• Greebo: 13%

Thank you Samuel

© Amazon.fr

First volume of the Manifold trilogy, Time has been published in 2000 by Stephen Baxter.

2010. Reid Malenfant, who had been rejected by NASA as an astronaut still dreams to go into space. Since he cannot do it in the traditional way, he decides to build his own space rockets using available technology in order to go mining the asteroids. His ex-wife, Emma Stoney is still working for him as a project manager. One day, Cornelius Taine approaches Malenfant and convices him using a statistical theory that within two years a major catastrophe is going to occur within the next two-hundred years, provoking the end of the world. He is however convinced that if mankind has survived, it will try to send a message back in time. Using a neutrino-based radiotransmission model that allows waves to travel back in time, they manage to pick up a message that directs them to one particular asteroid called Cruithne. Malenfant decides to change his mission goal from an easy to reach, rich in metals asteroid to Cruithne. The first mission sent there is manned by a genetically enhanced squid and discovers the presence of a blue circle that transports the probe traversing it to the future. They discover eventually that humanity has survived, but that in the very far future, matter in the universe is decaying and that mankind barely survives rather than lives. Meanwhile, prodigiously intelligent and slightly autistic children have been born for several years all over the world and seem to affectionate blue rings. Taine is convinced that they are somehow linked to the ring found on Cruithne. While a manned mission counting Malenfant, Stoney, Taine and one “blue child” called Michael is sent to Cruithne just before being arrested by the authorities, the blue children are being feared by the populations of Earth which view them as a new race going to take over humanity in the future. A group of these children, doing advanced research on fundamental physics manages however to escape to the moon. Meanwhile, the party on Cruithne is stranded there after being attacked by the descendant of the squid, which have taken over the asteroid and prepare to migrate to the Trojans (a remote asteroid cluster). Michael steps into the ring and disappears. Later, Military forces from Earth (mainly trying to show that they still control something) attack Cruithne, but all except one soldier are destroyed by the squids. Our heroes escape the wrath of surviving soldier by stepping into the circle. They are transported through parallel universes where the rules of physics are so different that matter cannot necessarily exist, witnessing their Big-Bangs. Each time they step again into the ring, they come a little bit closer to their original universe. Taine then sends back in time the message that would lead them to the exploration of Cruithne. Just after that, the soldier who has followed them finds them and Taine gets killed trying to protect the other two, providing them with the soldier's equipment and allowing them to survive a bit longer. Malenfant and Stoney manage to finally come back to Cruithne, five years after leaving, just in time for Emma to die. Malenfant, feeling responsible for Emma's death because he forced her to come with him to Cruithne, commits suicide while jumping into the circle. During those five years, NASA has built a base on the Moon next to the one built by the blue children, in an attempt to control what they are doing. Malenfant wakes up in what appears to be a hotel room, and meets there Michael, explaining that his conciousness has been transferred into the giant computer that allows humanity to survive in the very far future. Michael tells him that he can change the past, which he gladly accepts. In the new future, Emma is sent to the Moon to negociate with the children who are building a doomsday machine that would destroy the whole universe and recreate a new one. Their goal is to give a new start to this universe, trying to prevent humanity to surviving in horrible conditions in the far future. Floating in space far above the solar system, Michael and him watch the expolsion on the Moon extend to Earth, to the solar system, before being themselves anihilated by it.

This book is similar to 2001: A Space Odyssey in the sense that it starts like a hard science novel but ends up in a psychedelic way. The end is quite depressing (but the alternative predicted there is not really better).

I ordered on Tuesday morning the first thirteen volumes of Pratchett's Discworld series at amazon.co.uk. I already have them in French, but I wanted to compare Patrick Couton's excellent translation with the original English text.

I got an e-mail at 7pm the same day that the first three ones had been sent using International Mail. Wednesday at 4pm, I got another mail that the remainder of the order had been sent using DHL express. This morning at 8.30am, the DHL guy came to deliver the package, which came from Glasgow. That's faster than light! (on the Disc, of course). Of course, the price of the delivery was accordingly prohibitive, but it seems to have been the lowest possible. The same delivery fees was applied to both halves of my order, even though the second was probably much more expensive than the first.

© Amazon.fr

Sixième volume de Lanfeust des étoiles, publié en 2006. Thanos, pirate de l'espace au service du prince Delhu aborde avec l'aide d'Hébus le troll, enchanté et soumis à Thanos, un transport d'animaux rares pour s'emparer d'un pwoalp, animal qui permet à celui qui s'est fait mordre de voir l'avenir. Pendant ce temps, Lanfeust qui a voyagé seize ans vers le futur doit s'habituer à avoir un fils adolescent qui le déteste et Cixi, devenue une redoutable femme d'affaires, remplaçant la princesse Ophredla qui avait perdu son corps durant une bataille contre Thanos. Les princes marchands se sont organisés en deux factions, ceux qui sont sous la coupe de Delhu et ceux qui s'y opposent. Delhu est un fait un pathaselse, créature polymorphe, qui a pris place du vrai Delhu longtemps auparavant et est en train de remplacer les autres princes marchands par des imposteurs pataselses un par un. Lanfeust a ramené de sa précédente aventure la bectérie gawlax, seule maladie capable de terrasser un pataselse et les partisans d'Ophredla organisent un attentat contre Delhu qui échoue. Ils sont attaqués par les pataselses et parviennent de justesse à s'enfuir. La guerre éclate dans la galaxie entre les deux factions et l'épisode se termine sur l'enlèvement du fils de Lanfeust par Thanos.

© Amazon.fr

Troisième volume du donjon de Naheulbeuk, publié en 2003. Les aventuriers doivent retrouver leur commanditaire afin d'être payés, mais ce dernier leur fait faux bond et leur donne rendez-vous à Boulgourville dans sept jours. Le seule chemin possible pour un délai aussi court passe par la forêt maudite de Schlipak. Chemin faisant, ils vont se baigner, tuer un ermite qu'ils ont pris par erreur pour un sorcier, et passent la nuit dans sa cabane, se battent contre un troll qui tue le ménestrel et arrivent dans la demeure du vampire hémophile (qu'ils tuent aussi, le prenant pour un vrai vampire, alors qu'il est le seul vampire sympa du monde).

© Amazon.fr

Onzième volume d'Aquablue, publié en 2006. Nao est retrouvé dans le désert par une tribu de guerrier nomades. Il est vieux, sa force de vie volée par le baiser d'Arakh. Le guérisseur qui l'a recueilli lui redonne sa jeunsse et son énergie en sacrifiant un animal et lui révèle ce qui s'est passé. Nao a été fait prisonnier par Marachna, qui voit en lui le descendant de l'assassin de son époux, Tenoch, et dont la force de vie devrait permettre redonner vie à ce dernier. Mais Nao n'est pas la bonne personne, et la tentative échoue, donnant un Tenoch mort-vivant. Le véritable descendant de l'assassin est le salmir Nassûl qui est sauvé in extremis des soldats de Marachna par les amis de Nao. Marcachna parvient à retrouver le Nassûl, à l'enlever et à redonner vie à Tenoch. Ce dernier a compris après sa mort que le dieu Arakh n'est qu'un démon mineur qui s'est joué de tout le monde et ne mérite pas l'adoration de Marachna. Dans sa colère, Tenoch tue Marachna avant de se suicider.

© Amazon.fr

Cinquième volume des Arcane du Midi-Minuit, publié en 2006. Plusieurs politiciens sont assassinés de façon mystérieuse. L'un d'entre eux est signé Sylvak. L'assassin se révèle être Tilly, la fille d'un magicien nommé Sylvak, doué de télékinésie sur le métal, et mort de nombreuses années auparavant dans l'incendie de sa maison. Sa fille cherche à se venger en assassinant les hommes politiques qui avaient à l'époque tenté d'en faire une arme. Devant son refus, ils avaient essayé de faire enlever sa fille. Le kidnapping avait échoué et la filette s'était enfuie, mais les kidnappeurs avaient par accident mis le feu à la maison, tuant le père et la nourrice de la fillette. Jim et ses amis parviennent à arrêter Tilly, mais cette dernière réussit à s'enfuir. La dernière victime devait être le roi, mais l'attentat échoue de justesse. Tilly est arrêtée à nouveau, mais Jim lui redonne sa liberté en échange de son aide pour réparer in extremis une montre qui joue un rôle important dans la transformation de Jim en Jenna. Jim est finalement arrêté.

© Amazon.fr

Neuvième volume de la série Alpha, publié en 2006. Alpha reçoit un tuyau d'un informateur que Scala, une terroriste mercenaire soupçonnée d'être à l'origine de plusieurs attentats récents a été repérée. En même temps, le président Chávez et son concurrent pour les prochaines élections sont invités aux États-Unis pour discuter affaires, tandis que Scala organise une exposition d'artistes vénézuéliens. Tous les visiteurs de l'exposition sont assassinés dans le but d'y attirer Chávez qui ne manquerait pas d'y faire une apparition devant les caméras de la presse. Heureusement, Alpha qui a mené l'enquête sur Scala arrive à temps pour le sauver. L'histoire se termine par l'assassinat de Lawrence, le supérieur d'Alpha, par Scala. Lawrence avait payé Scala pour organiser l'assassinat de Chávez et avait tenté, sans succès, d'éliminer cette dernière après s'être débarassé de tous ses complices.

A novel by Lois McMaster Bujold published in 1989.

After their operation on Dagoola IV, the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet is badly in need of repairs, and especially of money. The park in orbit around Earth where Miles goes to the Barrayaran embassy, hoping to get his mony from ImpSec. The consulate has not enough credits to cover such large expanses, and Miles has to wait for a courier to go and come back. In the meanwhile, Miles is affected to the staff of the embassy along with his cousin Ivan… Trouble begins when Miles is recognized as Admiral Naismith by a reporter; Miles then makes up a clone of himself to explain why Miles Vorkosigan looks so much like Naismith. Some time later, Miles' commanding officer at the embassy disapears mysteriously, while Miles wonders why his money hasn't arrived yet, and is not even mentionned in the message from ImpSec. And right after that, Miles is kidnapped and locked up with his C.O. He is interrogated by a Komarran rebel who happens to be Miles' C.O.'s father, who wants to take revenge over Count Vorkosigan, responsible for the invasion of Komarr almost thirty years ago. The rebel had had a clone of Miles made by House Bharaputra, and then trained as a mole and a killer, whose goal is to pose as Miles, kill the Count, become the new count, and from there jump the the imperial throne. Miles is freed by his fellow Dendarii just in the nick of time and manages to expose his clone (who, according to Betan philosophy, he considers as his brother and consequently names Mark, following Barrayaran tradition of naming the sons of Vor families). Miles more or less convinces Mark that the plot against Barrayar cannot work and that the real plot is about provoking a political chaos on Barrayar that could allow a revolution on Komarr, by exposing the Emperor as a fake. This would inevitably lead to the death of the Emperor i.e., Mark. In the end, the old rebel is killed by Mark, and the latter disapears with the help of Miles.

Three not-so-short stories by Lois McMaster Bujold, wrapped into one book, where Miles explains Illyan why the Dendarii have been costing ImpSec so much money lately.

In The Mountains of Mourning, Miles investigates the murder of a “mutant” baby in a small village in the backcountry of Barrayar, where infanticide for such a reason is still common. The mother accuses her husband of the crime becaus he was seen near the house where the baby was sleeping while the mother was picking berries at some distance. The murderer happens to be the mother of the mother, who had had several “mutant” babies and had killed them herself. The husband knew that she was the murderer, didn't say anything to protect his wife.

In Labyrinth, Miles conducts a covert operation on Jackson's Whole in order to help a geneticist of House Bharaputra to defect. The scientist won't leave without taking some vauable samples with him, but these are currently hidden into virus residing in the calf of a genetically engineered super soldier that he helped creating. Alas, the super-soldier has too much physiological drawbacks to be useful, and the project has been canceld; the only surviving specimen has been sold to House Ryoval for the Baron's collection of weird creatures. Miles then tries to enter Ryoval's facilities by night, but he's caught and locked up in a cellar with the super-soldier, who happens to be a female teenager, admitedly 8 feet tall and with sharp nails, but very friendly if you are friendly with her. Miles manages to escape with the creature he named Taura, just after destroying the whole collection of Ryoval's tissue samples that is the core of his business.

In The Borders of Infinity Miles is a prisoner of war of the Cetagandans. The prison camp is on Dagoola IV under an everlighted dome. The prisoners are all living together, and organised as gangs; only the stronger survive. Miles manages to organize the weaker people to control the distribution of food (which appears twice a day in a random location of the dome as a heap of space rations). Once he managed to organize all the prisoners, the Dendarii arrive and extracts all the ten thousand people within two hours, the delay needed by the Cetagandans to get their fleet to defend the place against the attacker.

© Amazon.fr

Traditionalist dwarfs are mining under Ankh-Morpork. On the surface, dwarfs and trolls prepare to re-enact the Koom Valley battle for real, in the streets of Ankh-Morpork. A dwarf is murdered in the mine, obviously by a troll. Sam Vimes thinks that the truth is not that obvious and starts to lead an investigation, which leads to the discovery of other dead dwarfs in the mine. These have been killed because they found the item that the traditionalists had been seeking (a voice recorder that tells what actually happend at Koom Valley, a thousand years ago), heard what it had to say, and the traditionalist didn't want the truth to be revealed. Vimes and others watchmen chase the traditionalists who have fled to Koom Valley and discover the cave where the troll king and the dwarf king (now fossilized as stalagmites) had met, ages ago, to discuss peace between the two species. The traditionalists are defeated and taken into custody.

© WSOY

Arto Paasilinnan uusin kirja kertoo Antti Kokkoluodon elämän, syntymästä Ykspihjalassa ennustettuun kuolinpäivään asti. Antilla on monia seikkailuja: lapsena hän melkein kuoli kylmään, koska hän halusi mennä kävellen Ruotsiin (hänellä oli paljon kuumetta). Myöhemmin hän salakuljetti pirtua isänsä kanssa kieltolain aikaan. Hän myös pelasti isänsä hengen, jonka fasistit halusivat ampua koska he olivat päättäneet että hän oli kommunisti. Antti meni myös salakihloihin tytön kanssa joka kuoli vähän myöhemmin. Hän pääsi sitten armeijaan, tapasi lotan, jonka kanssa hän meni naimisiin juuri ennen lähtöän talvisotaan. Hän sai pari lasta, ja meni sitten taistelemaan jatkosotaan. Venäläiset ottivat hänet vangiksi ja hän vietti kuusi kuukautta vankileirillä. Kun hän tuli takaisiin Ykspihlajaan hän aloitti liikemiehen uran, ja hänestä tuli myöhemmin poliitikko ja Ykspihlajan kansanedustaja. Kun hänen ennustettu kuolinpäivänsä lähestyy, hän järjestää isot juhlat ja kutsuu kaikki ystävänsä (poliitikkoja, ministereitä, toimittajia, jne.)

© Space Coyote

Saturnalia is about a cop who gets dragged into a group of vigilante who fight for the right of androids, against another group who consider androids a threat against the humans and tries to get them exterminated.

© Chris Hazelton

Ash was a boy until an angel messed up his life and turned him into a girl. Emily is a girl who just managed to get admitted in college, and whose last two years of hard work have just been erase by the same clumsy angel. Misfile is about the two heroes trying to cope with their new lives and getting the angel, exiled on Earth, to do enough good to be admitted back in heaven and fix his mistakes (before his bosses actually notice it).

© Brion Foulke

Maytag is a shy woman who turns into a cheeky girl when she puts on her jester's costume. Bernadette is a fine swordswoman who dreams of becoming a knight.

© Mookie

Dominic Deegan is a seer. His life taks a sudden turn when he meets Luna, a beautiful girl (except for hers tusks) that her mother is trying to get killed. Later on, he discovers that he is chosen to fight against the Storm of Souls. And so on…

The series is quite fun and full of bad puns, just how I like it.

© Anne Onymous & Robin Ericson

A webcomic made by Anne Onymous and Robin Ericson and published at www.thewotch.com. Anne just arrived at Tandy's High School. Robyn and his friend Jason soon notice that she has magical powers. Anne is more than a witch, she's the Wotch, the most powerful witch in the world. Except that she's just beginning with all that magic stuff. With the help from Robyn and Jason, they are going to fight super-villains Anne made come out of their comics, demons, djinns, a bunch a feminist who want to get rid of all men, be turned into werecats and other magical creatures… One recurring trick of Anne's is to turn boys into girls (and Jason loves becoming Sonja, even if he won't admit it).

© Amazon.fr

La fin du A a été écrit en 1984 par A.E. Van Vogt et fait suite aux Joueurs du A. Au début de ce dernier tome de la trilogie du A, Gilbert Gosseyn se réveille dans une sorte de cercueil, qui se révèle en fait être une capsule spatiale. Il se rend rapidement compte qu'il n'est pas le Gilbert Gosseyn qui a été le héros des deux épisodes précédents, mais le troisième corps de Gilbert Gosseyn, que l'on croyait détruit à la fin du premier épisode. La capsule est récupérée par le vaisseau amiral de la flotte Dzan, originaire d'une autre galaxie et qui s'est retrouvé transporté dans la notre de façon inexplicable. Gosseyn Trois fais la connaissance de l'empereur, encore enfant, et déjà tyrannique, et de sa mère. Il emmène l'enfant sur Terre (un peu par accident), dans le but de lui enseigner la sémantique générale pour en faire une dirigeant plus juste, et aussi pour restaurer l'Institut de Sémantique Générale afin de plus tard reconstruire une Machine des Jeux (détruite dans le premier épisode) et de promulguer un État qui suit les préceptes de la sémantique générale. Ses projets sont interrompus par plusieurs similarisations intempestives qui le transportent pour un temps limité dans un vaisseau spatial inconnu. Gosseyn découvre que ce vaisseau appartient aux Troogs, ennemis héréditaires des Dzans, lui aussi transporté dans cette galaxie en même temps que celui des Dzan. Les Troogs suspectent (à raison) que Gosseyn est la cause de leur voyage intempestif et veulent l'étudier afin de comprendre ce qui s'est passé et comment rentrer chez eux. Gosseyn finit par rencontrer le capitaine (autoproclamé) du vaisseau qui est rapidement dépassé par la situation et qui est sur le champ remplacé par un autre Troog qui s'autoproclame capitaine. Durant la discussion avec les Troogs, Gosseyn expose sa théorie selon laquelle les Troogs seraient des humains qui ont muté à cause de la catastrophe qui avait forcé une partie des humains de l'autre galaxie à migrer vers la notre, et à la peupler (chose qu'il l'avait appris dans l'épisode précédent). À l'aide de Leej et de Gosseyn Deux, Gosseyn Trois parvient à renvoyer les Dzans et les Troogs dans leur galaxie.

© Amazon.fr

Les joueurs du A a été écrit en 1948 par A.E. Van Vogt et fait suite au Monde du A. Gilbert Gosseyn tente d'aller sur Vénus, mais quelqu'un, un être fait d'ombre qui se nomme le Disciple, cherche à l'en empêcher. Au cours d'un voyage par distorseur, l'esprit de Gosseyn se retrouve dans le corps du craintif Prince Ashargin, qui vient de quitter plusieurs années d'esclavage au service du temple du Dieu Endormi pour rejoindre la cour d'Enro le Rouge, dicateur du Plus Grand Empire qui veut étendre son hégémonie à toute la galaxie et en particulier détruire la civilisation A de Vénus. Gosseyn y rencontre Reesha, la s½ur d'Enro, qu'il a connu plus tôt sous le nom de Patricia Hardie, la fille de feu le président de la Terre, ainsi qu'Eldred Crang, son mari. Il y fait aussi la connaissance de Secoh, grand prêtre du Dieu Endormi. Au cours d'un voyage en distorseur, Gosseyn réintègre son propre corps qui se trouve dans un cellule, dans la retraite du Disciple. Il parvient à s'en évader à l'aide de Leej, sa co-détenue qui a un pouvoir de prédiction. Ils s'enfuient à bord de son aéroulote. Apprenant qu'Enro cherche à enrôler le plus grand nombre possible de Prédicteurs afin de mener son attaque sur Vénus et sur la Terre, Gosseyn et Leej montent à bord d'un destroyer d'Enro sous prétexte de rejoindre ses forces, et grâce aux facultés de Gosseyn, parviennent à se rendre maître du vaisseau en peu de temps. Malheureusement, Gosseyn se retrouve une fois de plus dans le corps d'Ashargin. Il cherche à joindre le destroyer pour s'assurer que son corps est sauf, mais la communication est impossible. Il apprend aussi que Crang a l'intention d'assassiner Enro, seule solution envisageable pour sauver Vénus et la Terre de la folie du dictateur. Lors d'un autre voyage en distorseur, Gosseyn rejoint son propre corps à bord du destroyer, et apprend que le système de propulsion par distorseur a été saboté et que le vaisseau est perdu dans l'espace. Gosseyn parvient à forcer le saboteur à se dévoiler et à replacer l'élément qu'il avait remplacé par une version défectueuse. Gosseyn, qui a acquis l'amitié du capitaine, rejoint alors Vénus juste à temps pour en prévenir les habitants de l'imminence d'une attaque. L'évacuation de Vénus est alors organisée et les habitants A se répandent dans toute la galaxie, commençant ainsi la propagation du A au delà des frontières du système solaire. En même temps, la défense de Vénus est organisée à l'aide de « mines spatiales » qui agissent sur le cerveau des équipages des vaisseaux ennemis afin de leur faire perdre connaissance. Gosseyn entreprend ensuite de découvrir l'identité du Disciple et du mystérieux deuxième joueur qui l'a plusieurs fois transféré dans le corps d'Ashargin. Le disciple se révèle être Secoh, et l'autre joueur est le cerveau électronique de la machine qui maintient le Dieu Endormi en vie. Ce dernier est un survivant de la Migration qui avait eu lieu plusieur millions d'années auparavant. Un phénomène inattendu avait effacé la mémoire de toutes les autres machines qui prenaient soin des corps des migrants, seule cette machine a conservé sa mémoire, mais en contrepartie a endommagé le corps, qui ne peut survivre que s'il est endormi. La machine apprend à Gosseyn qu'elle avait d'abord tenté de communiquer avec Secoh, mais que ce dernier avait activé un dispositif expérimental qui lui a permis de se déphaser à volonter et devenir l'être d'ombre qu'est le disciple. Elle lui apprend aussi que Gosseyn-Lavoisseur est le seul des migrants qui a survécu (à moins que ce ne soit un descendant, ce point n'est pas clair). Gosseyn prend alors possession du corps du Dieu Endormi et force la machine à le réveiller, ce qui rend Secoh fou et met fin au Disciple. Gosseyn réintègre son corps quelques minutes plus tard, lorsque le corps du Dieu Endormi meurt.

© Amazon.fr

Le monde des A a été écrit en 1945 par A.E. Van Vogt. Une partie de l'humanité a passé le cap de l'homme-animal et est devenu rationnelle et raisonnable grâce à l'intégration de la philosophie non-aristotélicienne (A) et son enseignement dès le plus jeune âge. La Terre est dirigé par une gigantesque machine, construite par l'Institut de sémantique générale, promoteur de la philosophie A, qui organise régulièrement des jeux destinés à sélectionner les personnes les plus adaptées à diriger le monde. Ceux qui ont les meilleurs résultats aux jeux sont envoyés sur Vénus, planète terraformée et entièrement peuplée de A, les suivants sont nommés à des postes clés, et les autres qualifiés reçoivent un travail garanti.

Gilbert Gosseyn est un A et veut participer aux jeux, mais il apprend rapidement qu'il n'est pas qui il croit être. Il se fait enlever puis interroger par un petit groupe de personnes (Thorson, le président Hardie et X, un homme mutilé au corps partiellement en plastique assis dans un fauteuil roulant). Ils n'apprennent rien de Gosseyn, puisque ce dernier ne sait en fait rien. Il parvient à s'échapper avec l'aide de la fille du président (qu'il avait rencontré plus tôt sous une fausse identité) et entend une conversation mentionnant Eldred Crang et John Prescott, « commandant et second de la base galactique » et présumés converties secrètement au A. Gosseyn se fait tuer avant de pouvoir quitter le palais. Il se réveille un certain temps plus tard sur Vénus dans un nouveau corps, mais avec ses souvenirs des jours passés. Il se rend à la maison la plus proche qui appartient à Prescott, puis un véhicule envoyé par la machine l'emmène à la maison de Crang, également sur Vénus. Gosseyn apprend que le système solaire doit être envahi par les galactiques, mais son arrivée dans un plan parfaitement au point a forcé les chefs des envahisseurs à repousser l'échéance afin de savoir qui il est et quel est son rôle. Conformément aux plans de la machine, il se fait arrêter par Crang et ramener sur Terre. Il est logé au palais présidentiel, où il apprend que Thorson est un envoyé d'Enro, un des chefs de la Ligue Galactique qui veut intégrer le système solaire à son empire. L'intégration passera par une invasion de Vénus afin de se débarasser du fief A, gênant et incontrôlable pour les galactiques. Aucun des participants au complot ne sait qui est X, et tous veulent savoir qui a fait entrer Gosseyn dans le jeu. Prescott aide alors Gosseyn à s'évader, tuant au passage X et Hardie (meurtres dont Gosseyn est publiquement accusé). Ils vont voir un psychiatre qui découvre que le cortex de Gosseyn est plus gros que celui des autres humains (un « cerveau second »), ce qui pourrait lui conférer des pouvoirs particuliers s'il apprenait à s'en servir. Discutant avec le psychiatre, Gosseyn se rend compte que Thorson est maintenant le meilleur candidat à la présidence (d'après le classement émit par la machine), mais Thorson n'étant pour sûr pas un A, il en déduit que la machine a été influencée. Prescott, qui se révèle être finalement un ennemi, leur avoue qu'un distorseur a été installé dans la chambre de la fille du président Hardie. Entre-temps, Vénus a été envahie, et la propagande de Thorson laisse entendre que la faut revient à la machine. Discutant avec la machine, Gosseyn apprend que c'est elle qui avait la gestion de son second corps, qu'il existe un troisième corps, dont le cerveau second est opérationel. Gosseyn devrait donc mourir afin de prendre possession de son troisième corps, ce qu'il se refuse à faire. Gosseyn retourne plus tard au palais pour voler le distorseur et laisser enfin son libre-arbitre à la machine, mais celle-ci se fait démolir peu-à-peu par la population, manipulée par Thorson. Bricolant le distorseur (qui est un moyen de transport utilisant le principe (fumeux) que lorsque deux énergies sont accordées à un degré de similitudes d'une précision de vingt décimales, la plus faible des énergies est instantément transportée vers la plus forte), Gosseyn se retrouve soudainement sur Vénus, dans un tunnel sous la maison de Crang, qui mène à une base secrète des galactiques (non-militaire). Gosseyn est ensuit fait prisonnier par Thorson qui lui montre un enregistrement video de la rebellion spontanée des vénusiens face à l'envahisseur : les A parviennent, sans chef et sans armes, à attaquer un bataillon d'envahisseurs pour leur prendre leurs armes (au prix de nombreux morts) et à s'armer pour mieux résister à l'invasion. Thorson révèle à Gosseyn d'une part que X était en fait Lavoisseur, le directeur présumé mort de l'Institut de sémantique générale, et d'autre part qu'Enro en a assez du pacifisme de la Ligue galactique et qu'il veut une guerre globale, l'extermination du peuple de Vénus devant servir de déclencheur. À cause de Gosseyn, Thorson a décidé de désobéir pour découvrir qui est à l'origine de l'apparition de Gosseyn dans le jeu, et comment devenir lui aussi immortel (grâce à des corps de rechange, comme Gosseyn). Thorson accepte de commencer par entraîner à utiliser son cerveau second : Gosseyn parvient finalement à utiliser son cerveau de la même manière qu'un distorseur, ce qui lui permet de se déplacer instantanément vers un endroit qu'il a déjà visité et « mémorisé ». Il retourne alors sur Terre avec Thorson, dans la ville de la machine dévastée par la guerre de Vénus qui s'est propagée sur Terre. Ils finissent par arriver à l'Institut de sémantique générale où Gosseyn retrouve Lavoisseur, dans un autre corps. Thorson se fait tuer par Gosseyn dans une bataille provoquée par Lavoisseur. Lavoisseur se révèle être l'inventeur de l'immortalité, et le créateur des corps de Gosseyn. En fait, Gosseyn est Lavoisseur, mais en plus jeune.

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Histoire en deux volumes de Gibrat, Le vol du corbeau commence à Paris en 1944 et met en scène Jeanne, arrêtée sur dénonciation de marché noir, et chez qui on retrouve des armes et des faux papiers destinés à sa s½ur. Elle rencontre François, arrêté pour cambriolage, qui l'aide à s'évader par les toits, profitant du remue-ménage crée par une alerte aérienne. Jeanne se foule la cheville en sautant d'un toit, et François l'emmène se cacher sur l'Himalaya, une péniche appartenant à une famille de ses amis. Jeanne est inquiète du sort de sa s½ur, elle aussi dans la résistance, qui est sûrement déjà la cible de la Gestapo. Le fils de la famille se porte volontaire pour aller jeter un ½il à l'appartement de Cécile, et se fait cueillir par des allemands. Il leur fausse compagnie, mais Jeanne est persuadée que sa s½ur est déjà prisonnière. Jeanne contacte alors Michel, le troisième membre de sa cellule ex-fiancé, mais il ne sait rien de Cécile non plus. Toute la troupe quitte Paris en péniche, mais les allemands les attendent à la prochaine écluse. Jeanne se chache dans le puit de chaîne de l'ancre.

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Les allemands ont réquisitionné la péniche pour aller chercher un chargement quelconque et ont laissé un planton à bord. Jeanne repart à Paris avec François, sur une moto que ce dernier a volé la nuit précédente. Jeanne va alors laisser un message à Cécile dans la boite aux lettres secrète utilisée par sa cellule, un livre d'occasion dans une librairie. Ils décident alors de cambrioler le bureau du procureur qui a inculpé Cécile. Afin d'identifier ce dernier, François interroge le commissaire qui les avait arrêtés au début de leur aventure. Ce dernier n'étant pas très amis avec l'envahisseur est prêt à les aider. Revenue sur la péniche, Jeanne manque de se faire arrêter par la milice et ne doit son salut qu'au soldat qui monte la garde sur la péniche. Mais ce dernier veut abuser d'elle et elle le tue avec son propre fusil. Peu après, la péniche se fait mitrailler par des avions anglais, et l'allemand se retrouve avec des blessures supplémentaires, qui permettent de cacher la cause exacte de sa mort. Le corps se fait emmener en ambulance avec les propriétaires de la péniche dont la femme est sur le point d'accoucher. Le soir, François part cambrioler le procureur. Tandis que Jeanne attend son retour sur la péniche, Cécile fait son apparition, grâce au message que sa s½ur lui avait laissé. Le commissaire arrive un peu plus tard leur annoncer que François s'est fait prendre. Jeanne et lui essayent alors de le faire évader, mais c'est peine perdue et il se fait déporter peu de temps avant que les alliés ne libèrent Paris. L'histoire se termine sur un échange de lettres entre Jeanne et Cécile, et sur des images qui suggèrent que François s'est évadé de son camp de prisonniers.