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VOLUME I
CHAPTER I (1)

IT is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

``My dear Mr. Bennet,'' said his lady to him one day, ``have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?''

Mr. Bennet replied that he had not.

``But it is,'' returned she; ``for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she told me all about it.''

Mr. Bennet made no answer.

``Do not you want to know who has taken it?'' cried his wife impatiently.

``_You_ want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it.''

This was invitation enough.

``Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; that he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place, and was so much delighted with it that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately; that he is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to be in the house by the end of next week.''

``What is his name?''

``Bingley.''

``Is he married or single?''

``Oh! single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or

PART I.

I. MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES.

IN the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army. Having completed my studies there, I was duly attached to the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers as Assistant Surgeon. The regiment was stationed in India at the time, and before I could join it, the second Afghan war had broken out. On landing at Bombay, I learned that my corps had advanced through the passes, and was already deep in the enemy's country. I followed, however, with many other officers who were in the same situation as myself, and succeeded in reaching Candahar in safety, where I found my regiment, and at once entered upon my new duties.

The campaign brought honours and promotion to many, but for me it had nothing but misfortune and disaster. I was removed from my brigade and attached to the Berkshires, with whom I served at the fatal battle of Maiwand. There I was struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery. I should have fallen into the hands of the murderous Ghazis had it not been for the devotion and courage shown by Murray, my orderly, who threw me across a pack-horse, and succeeded in bringing me safely to the British lines.

Worn with pain, and weak from the prolonged hardships which I had undergone, I was removed, with a great train of wounded sufferers, to the base

Brandon Dauphin is jobless and feels worthless, and falling in love has only made his problem worse. In an authoritarian and overstimulated 22nd-century America, all he can do to relieve his pain is indulge in the computer-simulated fantasies of Dynamic Reality, until a virus takes control. Unable to return to the real world, Brandon finds that the virus shares his questions about existence, and that she will stop at nothing for her answers.

Keith Logan is a pretty radical and avant-garde sort of guy and his influence on friends and associates isn't always to their employers' satisfaction, as Martin Thurber finds out at first hand when he is threatened with dismissal from the magazine for which he writes art reviews when one of his reviews of an out-of-favour artist seems not to bear the stamp of its maker, or, indeed, to reflect the attitudes of the magazine. Can Logan's influence be countered or, at any rate, reduced? Thurber's girlfriend appears to know the answer.

Lemon Girl is a thought-provoking story about a girl who becomes victim of a sexual crime. She gets even more shattered when she is made to bear the blame for the incident. This breaks her down psychologically. She rejects her real self and transforms into a submissive parasite who is totally devoid of self-respect and acts as a glamourous but voiceless doll made to be played about by men.

But the true love of one man helps her to get over from the forced guilt, find her true self, re-discover her lost self-respect and dreams and assert that what happened to her was not her fault.

Despite being based upon a serious social issue, the book keeps a balance between poignancy and entertainment and has a very pleasing and heart-warming love story.

The book has been beautifully woven around the themes of abuse of women, the injustive forced upon the rape victim by Indian society and the effects of all this on the victim. The novel has brilliant display of psychological trauma of such victims.

Lemon Girl is well written, fast paced and has superbly drawn, realistic and likeable characters.

From an unearthly distance, earth seems blue - but not where we stand. Life seems predictable because we live backwards, always seeing into and repeating the past, but sometimes the future surprises - and sometimes you surprise yourself. This novel tells of a contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence and illuminates the tragic confluence of a handful of lives though this alien light.

Appalachian Christmas Dream is an inspirational novel about the Moonlight School movement in Kentucky in 1913. Young school teacher Junie Corban's dream is to teach the illiterate adults in her county to read and write, but she faces overwhelming odds, including a lack of money. When Junie gets unexpected help from handsome mining engineer Linton Todd, her dream begins to take shape, along with a surprising romance. Junie's father gets injured in a mine collapse, and the only way to save him is to hijack a train. Zavada, the author of four paperback western novels, mixes romance, suspense, and a heartwarming reminder of what matters most at Christmas.

As a member of the Resistance, Dr. Bridget Dunne's assignment is to tame the Prime Reaper Kamerone Cree. Though she fears the Shapeshifter, she knows the only way her fellow captives will ever know freedom is to bring the Iceman Cree over to their side.

This novel is told as a long letter written by John Densch to his son, but the letter is addressed to his son ten years in the future. In it, John tries to understand what happened to him and his family after an accidental media circus brings them momentarily into the national limelight - and brings John into suspicion in the case of a missing person. John himself is trying to wrestle with memories from his childhood that he intertwines into his narrative. He realizes, eventually, that those memories - those stories of alien abduction and time travel - matter to him in ways he had never realized before. The story has a wide cast of characters and philosophical questions. But it all comes down to: who is the bog monster and what does he want?

In the realm beyond the seventh circle a princess prays to the mother goddess for a man to fight her enemies. She asks for a man skilled in the arts of war and put the plans of her enemies to nought. By chance, a suitable candidate is conducting bizarre experiments beside a holy spring in the realm beyond the sixth circle - our realm. He arrives in the princess' camp and her prayers seem to have been answered - but not as she imagined. Genre: fantasy, romance, humour. Free for a limited time.