Not your regular cuppa joe
Clive Cussler – Lost City
0December 5, 2011
by scholarsarena in Clive Cussler
MY RATING: 9 / 10
SHORT STORY VERSION: Kurt Austin is taking Skye Labelle on a tour of the underwater as she is doing a report on the trade routes that existed a long time ago. However, their trip is cut short when Austin receives a distress call from an ice station nearby.
Trapped in a glacier, scientists find a man strangely preserved and with a helmet on him. The people at the station have managed to excavate both, but it seems that someone else wants the helmet too. Among a bunch of news reporters called in to report the findings, one of them turns rogue and tries to run away with the helmet. He does not get ay success in it, but all the others are now trapped in the chamber of ice due to an onslaught of water released from one of the outlet tunnels back inside.
Kurt arrives to find that he cannot be of much help, but thinks up a strange but doable plan to rescue the trapped scientists. While daringly fighting a whole bunch of people who seem to want the story of the helmet to remain buried, Kurt manages to rescue most of the people from their underwater coffins and safely emerges back on the ice station.
The helmet has a dark secret attached to it and most of the leads are taking them to an ancient arms-dealing family: the Fauchards. Kurt and Skye are out on a mission to find what secrets the helmet holds and what is it that the Fauchards are trying to hide.
On the other hand, there is also a viral plankton of sorts, nicknamed Gorgonweed, that is taking over the Atlantic Ocean a little at a time. Scientists are running out of possibilities of finding ways to stop this mutated form of sea life and it seems that something the Fauchards have may also be the missing link to kill this weed.
Dean M. Koontz – By the Light of the Moon
0November 21, 2011
by scholarsarena in Dean M. Koontz
MY RATING: 9 / 10
SHORT STORY VERSION: Dylan O’Connor has a younger brother, Shepherd, who is autistic. Shepherd has a great talent for remembering a lot of stuff and he is really great with Jigsaw puzzles. As the only family left, Dylan has vowed to take care of his kid brother for as long as it takes. Life with Shep is not all that interesting, but Dylan manages to remain calm and deals with his brothers likes and dislikes in a very caring manner.
Jillian Jackson is a comedian, who roams around with the a potted plant named Fred, and keeps wondering if she will ever find a man she can trust and if she will escape from the bane of the family: the large butt syndrome. She has been travelling and after grabbing a quick take-away dinner, she has finally reached home.
Dylan’s, Shep’s and Jillian’s life are just about merge together because of a crooked doctor, named Frankenstein later by Dylan. All three of them are injected by some serum prepared by the doctor. He says that it will not hurt them, but that it will effect them in different ways according to their own psychology. He also warns them that there are people after them, and they will want to know what they have been injected with, and that none of the three people will ever lead the same life again.
The three of them are now on the run from unknown people in Suburbans who seem to be intent on shooting first and talking later. Dylan finds that they seem to be getting special powers from whatever the doctor has injected them with. Dylan is able to trace a natural spoor from any object that he touches. Jillian seems to have a knack for premonition but Shep’s ability, which is understood by them a lot later, seems to be the most surprising. Shep is able to bend the space-time dimension and “fold” them from “here to there.”
While all of this is new and strange for them, they are constantly looking for clues for what’s happening to them and why some people are out to kill them.
Another Day at Work
0November 14, 2011
by scholarsarena in Poetry
On this day, just like any other
Stuff happens and nobody bothers
I sit alone, quiet and at ease
Trying to find my inner peace
There’s so much work left to be done
It’s being pushed upon everyone
And yet no one’s giving a damn
Everyone’s in their own fairy-tale land
Deadlines and time-lines among other words
Are drawing blood more than swords
We are ready to do it, alright
But when will this ever be taken live?
Jeff Kinney – Diary of a Wimpy Kid
0November 7, 2011
by scholarsarena in Jeff Kinney
MY RATING: 8 / 10
SHORT STORY VERSION: Gregory Heffley has just entered middle school and is finding that it is not very much to his liking. Studies are among his least concerns, because he’s not that great at it anyways. He does not have a body to boast of, and is pretty timid, and the bullying has just begun.
Rowley is his next-door neighbour and best friend. They get together and keep doing a bunch of crazy stuff. Rowley, being not much brighter than Greg, is happily being dragged as a sidekick in Greg’s adventures. But it seems that Rowley may have some special talents after all, and soon, Greg is the one being pushed away into the background.
School-time misunderstandings, fights and shouts of back-stabbing friends go up. Greg find himself suddenly all alone, with nowhere to go to and no one to talk to. The bullying at school isn’t helping much either and he decided that he would have to patch up things with Rowley.
The book follows the life of Greg told in his own fashion with amazing drawings making the whole thing seem even more funnier than when you just read it. It’s well written and definitely worth a read.
Neil Gaiman – American Gods
0October 31, 2011
MY RATING: 9 / 10
SHORT STORY VERSION: Shadow has spent three years in jail and is looking forward to meeting his wife, Laura. He even calls her the day before, but on the day he is to leave, he is informed that Laura died in a car accident. Shadow now has no one to go back to out of prison and he’s not a happy man. All the things that he had planned to do once he got out is now just a dream that never happened.
On his way home he meets a strange man who strangely knows him, talks to him and informs him that his name is Wednesday, and that he has some work for Shadow if he would accept it. Shadow is doubtful but, after making sure that none of Wednesday’s plans are illegal, he accepts to work for Wednesday as long he feels up to it. Doing menial tasks he ends up meeting a few other people including Mr Nancy, Mr Ibis and Mr Jackal.
As if all these acquaintances are not peculiar enough, Shadow starts being visited by his dead wife Laura, and although he is at first pretty sure that he’s hallucinating, Laura turns out to be pretty “real” and even helps him escape from a tough situation.
The world around him is suddenly very different, and Shadow has come to realize that the people he’s been meeting are no ordinary people, but gods – almost forgotten but not quite. A new set of gods, emerging from all the technology, are on the up-and-up and the old gods are not taking kindly to it. They are ‘dying’, and they must fight a good battle if they wish to survive in the world of the new. Shadow must figure out a way to either stop the war or an alternative settlement, else the world is at stake and so are his own beliefs. (more…)
