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resolved High fantasy novel with priestesses and dragons Literature
I read the first book in this series a while ago and it completely slipped my mind. It involved a king and queen, and a convent of priestesses, which is where one of the main characters came from. I'm sure she was a priestess named Melisande or something similar but even that might be wrong. What I do remember vividly is the queen travelling away for some business and one of the antagonists, a dragon disguised as a human, stopped her and raped her in his original dragon form, which is rather graphically described as almost tearing her in two from the size difference. I think she'd also had sex with someone else recently (possibly the king). She returned to her palace and fell pregnant, and gave birth to a normal human child and some disgusting dragon-human crossbreed, which she had her head maid send away somewhere.
I've been trying to find this one on-and-off for years. Please help!
resolved No Title Literature
A kids/young adult fantasy novel I read probably some time around the late 2000's. It takes place in ancient Greece, in a world where all its mythical creatures are real. The main character is a boy with goat legs, but he isn't referred to as a satyr. Instead, the villagers call him a name that meant something like "demon child."
The villagers ostracize this boy, so he comes to live with a group of monsters. I can't remember much about which ones there were: There was definitely a harpy, and the Nemean Lion. I think there was also a hydra, and I think there was also Medusa, or some other gorgon. I think there was one part where they summoned a giant made out of bronze, or some other metal.
The main villain is similar to Gaston - he is a human man who is well-known and loved by his peers. When he finds out about the monsters, he organizes an army to go and kill them. In an intentional, hilarious use of Anachronism Stew, he even starts a line of action figures based on himself!
I think the gods - most likely Zeus himself - were the ones who wanted the villain to go kill the monsters.
The harpy has a Disney Death.
The book's overall theme is that Dark Is Not Evil.
Any ideas on what this is?
Edited by DrNoPumaresolved No Title Literature
This was a novel I saw in the public library a few weeks ago. I read the inside jacket, but I didn't check it out. Now I regret not checking it out, because it sounded interesting, but I can't remember what it was called.
It was in the library's tween section, and because I saw it on display, instead of on the shelves, I think it was a new book.
From what I remember, the story is about a boy and his imaginary friend, a Mega Neko with a very British-sounding name. The cat's name was also the title of the book. It started with a C. For some reason, the name "Cheswick" keeps popping into my head, but I'm sure that wasn't it.
If this helps, I'll describe the picture on the cover: It appeared to be at a park, at night. The picture is the back view of a bench, where the boy and the cat are sitting side-by-side, leaning against each other.
Sorry that this isn't much to go by, but does anyone know what this book might be?
Edited by DrNoPumaresolved No Title Literature
I'm trying to find a horror short story that I believe I first read after seeing it mentioned on this site. I know that I read it online, but Google has proved useless so far.
The story is from the POV of a wife who I believe is visiting her husband's parents for the first time. She is constantly thinking to herself how great her husband is, how in love with him she is, things like that, but the only dialogue we get from the husband is sort of flat and unimpressive. (I want to say the husband's name was also something really dull like Kevin.)
We start to realize that the husband is not this incredible dreamboat but something way worse - he has sort of hypnotized his wife into adoring him and caring for him - I seem to recall something about her clipping his awful toenails while she's in this hypnosis. Anyway, this all comes out after the wife meets her mother-in-law, and it turns out the husband's father has the same thing going - "hypnotizing" the mother-in-law to tend to him and take care of him when really he's kind of awful - even monstrous. The two women are alone together when they manage to figure out that they've been married to these toad-like, horrible men who have convinced them to be their caretakers. There's a sort of awful realization where the wife has flashbacks to taking care of her husband where she is able to see that he's ugly, charmless, the toenails, etc. etc.
As the women are realizing this they both turn to each other in horror and I think decide that they have to kill their husbands to break free of this awful hypnosis. I think they do end up murdering their respective husbands - I forget the murder weapon but want to say it's a shotgun or a shovel for the wife (POV character). Despite recalling the plot this much I haven't been able to find hide nor hair of this story - can anyone help me out?
Edited by pellycanresolved Found: The Last Dragon Chronicles (was untitled before) Literature
There's this book series that I read in middle school that I just can't remember the name of. Here's what I remember of the basic plot: A new tenant (named David, if I remember right, but not David Tennant) moves in with... an older woman I guess. She has all these clay sculptures of dragons. It turns out they're magical or something, and one bonds to him I guess, and is named 'Gadzooks'.
I may vaguely remember the title of one of the books, but my searches at a rather large local library turned up nothing. It was 'fire heart', if I'm even remembering something.
Later on, all I can remember is something weird is happening, and then David needs to go... somewhere cold and snowy. Arctic or Alaska or something. Or that may be another book getting mixed in. It's been years. Possibly as far back as 2006-2008 or earlier. Back then I was still waiting for the next book. Then I forgot about it.
Edited by Archabacteriaresolved No Title Literature
There was a book I read between 2002 and 2008 that I picked up at a library. It was in the Young Adults section. The book was about a group of kids/teens being sent to to an alien planet to survive. On of the kids got torn to shreds by a dog or dog-like creature. And one of the characters, Jack, everyone thought was a guy, turns out is a girl. That is what I can currently remember of the book. I'm not sure if it was a stand alone title, or the start of a series, but either way, I'd love to re-read it.
resolved No Title Literature
Technically this was a book on tape. I remember that this was a single story told from twenty or so different points of view (the story progressed linearly, but each new chapter was told from the point of view of a new character, some of which were inanimate objects). I also remember that each character was voiced by some celebrity, but the only one I can remember was Geena Davis as The Mirror (her first line was, "I am perfect.") Any help?
resolved No Title Literature
There was a book (a sci-fi one, IIRC) I read long ago. I remember it must have been like the second book of a trilogy, possibly, since the story references events that must have happened prior to the story itself. It takes place on an island or something similar (might have been Nuku Hiva) where the protag and a woman (his lover, perhaps) have been living on after something like a competition or else.
Anyways, they've been living peacefully on the island until an aircraft comes to drop off twin redheaded kids. I think they were genetically engineered or something. One gets called Brig, while the other's name I forget. The former is more impulsive and such, while the other's more gentle, maybe? Anyways, the protag starts teaching them how to live on the island and how to hunt and find food and swim, while Brig gets more clingy and jealous. Did I mention the kids are also kinda precocious?
There's a reference to Typee, there's a doctor who's sterile, the protag helps a cow give birth, there might be usage of the twin-connection trope, there's a discussion about something to do with zygotes (in-vitro fertilization? The twins might have been artificially conceived or whatever), and I think Brig kills a boar for its tusks (maybe multiple times, even).
Eventually, Brig becomes an antagonist, and I honestly don't remember how the book ends.
I do also remember that the book cover I had used this design that consisted of a black background, a red bottom border, and two redhead kids positioned in such a way that each one is cut off vertically, a half of each face on opposite sides, one smiling and one not. I think "Brigand" might be in the title, but I'm unsure.
resolved No Title Literature
It's a short story. I read it in the 1980s, but I think it dates back further, to when computers were a new thing.
It's a science fiction story set in a future where all records have been computerized. The protagonist is the victim of some small error (a false overdue notice from the library, something like that), and when they try to get it corrected, things get worse and worse until their entire life gets destroyed (and maybe they wind up dead?). And the whole time to people in charge of the computer system insist that of course it's more reliable than human record-keepers and never makes any mistakes.
resolved No Title Literature
Yo, another newb here. I remember the basic plot from a book I once read, but cannot remember the title. I think I managed to pull out every detail that I remember. Here it is:
It is a Science Fiction story. Man has colonized Luna (lunar colony is now seperate legal entity from Earth) religion of all sorts has gotten out of control on Earth, and now earth based science is stalling. Lunar science is still advancing at breakneck speed. That is just background. There is a small research expedition to mars. They have established a semi-permanent base/colony, but they still require regular resupply from Earth. Earth government is threatening to shut them down, when they discover remains of extinct Martian Civilization. Religious establishments and governments on Earth rail harder to get martian expedition shut down. Mars expedition leaders go to moon to ask for aid, lunar government says "yes, if you can proove that the ancient buildings are real and not natural formations". Foreward thinking religous leader has idea to go to mars, and declare that martians fit within canon. He dies, but just as he does, he finds what reveals the location of the martian graves. He dies before he can tell the others. Explorers get into fight, one falls down, and sees what religous leader saw, stops fight, and another discovery is made when an object impacts with martian surface, revealing microbial life under martian surface. The life dies quickly, due to exposure to environment to which it did not evolve. Explorers have idea to bomb surface of mars, putting dome over craters to let an atmosphere form and protect the microbes, letting them evolve and rebuild mars's environment. They call it the "Million Year Experiment". End
That's about all I remember. You guys got anything?
Edited by Bronze_Mooseresolved No Title Literature
The story is that a boy goes to his local library and takes a book out for the summer, but he has to sneak it out or negotiate with the librarian or something and the book only opens to the first page which has math questions, and is phrased as a princess being trapped in either a dungeon or a tower... and she can escape if she answers the guardian of each floor's questions which are all math questions, he says something about a prank with putting toothpaste between pages? and it remains sealed shut until he does the math questions on it, and he gets really into it and when the princess or him needs more paper or something, and he gets it, it appears in the book and at the end, it reveals that the princess in either in a world inside the book or something and he returns the book to the library at the end, or not?
Edited by Maladyresolved No Title Literature
Young adult or possibly middle grade novel where the main character's parents were divorced because they were both gay, and remarried/partnered with someone of their preferred gender. IIRC, they weren't portrayed particularly positively, although it wasn't anything to do with their orientation, just the fact that they were viewed through the lens of an angsty teenager.
resolved Multiverse Alternate Self Travelling Girl Literature
A book where the blurb at the back talks about a girl travelling between alternate universes where she exists in each one, and she keep travelling to find her way back or escape her boyfriend or find a better one or something, and after a while either she fears, or that it happens that she forgets details or her original life, like her name, her parents, etc, it has a listing of some of her various names...
Edited by Maladyresolved No Title Literature
A short story,possibly by an Australian author, in which a conman sells a miracle glue that holds everything together... but only for four hours, by which time he is long gone. The conman runs into an inventor with a pair of functioning jetpacks, they both try them on. As they fly higher, the conman asks what he used to keep it together, the inventor replies he used the conman's glue, and the story ends just as the conman's jetpack falls apart midair.
resolved No Title Literature
Trying to recall a recent children's fantasy novel - maybe published about a year ago, certainly no more than three years at the absolute outer limit.
The two main characters, pretty sure that they were a girl of probably around 8-10 and her younger brother, were in a plane crash, and when they awoke, found themselves in a place where they were granted their every desire, but only for a day. They then had to either try to escape or join the people of this new world that they found themselves in, and chose to try to escape. A fantasy adventure story, with chases and escape sequences, and I'm pretty sure that the result was that it was All Just a Dream, but there may have been some sort of twist.
Oh, and it's possible that the younger brother was deeply disturbed by the decision to demote Pluto from being a planet, as it meant that things he felt were fixed and certain no longer were, though it's entirely possible that's something I read in a completely different story.
Edit - never mind, I managed to find the answer myself. No Passengers Beyond This Point by Gennifer Choldenko, published February, 2011.
Edited by JMQwilleranresolved No Title Literature
This is a book I read as a kid about the possibilities of extraterrestrial life. One section of the book had pictures and descriptions for various hypothetical other planets, like a low-gravity one, a high gravity one, a jungle one, an ice one, and a gas planet where life floated around in the atmosphere. The illustration from the latter was used for the cover, showing a whale/manta ray type creature on a bluish background.
resolved No Title Literature
Takes place in a women's prison in the early 1900s, the main character went to jail for stealing millions in jewelry under the command of a man who took her in as a child after her father died. A woman who works at the prison, who is relatively well-off, convinces the warden to let the prisoners put on the Pirates of Penzance.
resolved No Title Literature
There was a YA (probably) book I read in the mid-90s or so. The main character was a girl (pre-teen or teen), who moved from Milwaukee (random specific detail, eh?) with her mom and brother, to some small town.
They lived in an older house that would creak because it was settling. Somewhere nearby there was an abandoned mine that either she was trying to convince her brother was haunted, or vise versa.
I seem to recall that one of them had planted this tape recording of ghostly cries in the mine to try to scare the other.
At the end of the book, the ground was so unstable (due to the mine?) that the house settled all a-whack, breaking the gas line, which caused the house to catch on fire.
I'm not sure when it was written or who wrote it, but I might recognize the title or the cover if I saw it.
resolved No Title Literature
This guy somehow ended up many decades into the future, I think it was some sort of accident that brought him there. He meets this woman who teaches him about the society he's ended up in. Nudity is no longer taboo, free love is the norm, there's no such thing as marriage anymore, if you say you're married, you are, polygamy is not frowned upon. It's got some Zee Rust elements, like moving sidewalks, and it was very Mary Sue Topia-ish.

This is a kids' novel that I read somewhere between 2003-2008. I do not know who the author was. I think it was part of a series, but I don't know which book in the series it was, and I never read any of the other books.
The title was something like "Sidekicks", but this is not the graphic novel by Dan Santat. The art style was similar, but it wasn't a graphic novel, just a novel with illustrations. Also, there were no animal characters.
It takes place in a city where superheroes exist, but the story is about their sidekicks. The main character is called something like "Speedy", because his power is Super-Speed. "Speedy" is the sidekick of quite possibly the worst superhero ever: Pumpkin Pete, who has a pumpkin for a head and appears to be wearing a green unitard. Pumpkin Pete claims to have "all the powers of a pumpkin", but the fact that he runs away from every fight makes it clear that he has no powers at all. As if that wasn't bad enough, he's a total glory hound who takes all the credit when someone else saves the day. And all the citizens believe that he saved them.
"Speedy" hates this, and wishes he was a superhero so that he could be acknowledged for once. He gets his chance when a Mad Scientist attacks the city with a giant robot. Hilariously, when he first meets Speedy, it takes him a while to come down and meet Speedy face-to-face because he has to go down the stairs in his robot. When he finally makes it to the bottom, he's out of breath.
I don't remember the mad scientist's name, but I do remember this: He was really short, and he hated it. His plan was to use his robot to crush everyone so that he would be taller in comparison. (I only just realized how horrifying this is.)
There's one other thing I remember: One of the other superheroes was called Haggis Man. I bet he's still more effective than Pumpkin Pete.
Does anyone remember this?