Debt of Bones (Sword of Truth, prequel)

Author: Terry Goodkind
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
ISBN: 0-7653-5154-4 / 978-0-7653-5154-8
Description:
The exciting prequel to Terry Goodkind’s much-loved, highly successful Sword of Truth series & complete with a specially commissioned author’s introduction and exclusive full-page illustrations by artist Keith Parkinson! Goodkind’s fervent admirers have sent all his books in this landmark fantasy series soaring to the top of the best-seller lists’ and Debt of Bones will surely continue the tradition.

Wizard’s First Rule (Sword of Truth, Book 1)

Author: Terry Goodkind
Publisher: Tor Books
ISBN: 0-7653-4652-4 / 978-0-7653-4652-0
Description:
In the aftermath of the brutal murder of his father, a mysterious woman, Kahlan Amnell, appears in Richard Cypher’s forest sanctuary seeking help…and more. His world, his very beliefs, are shattered when ancient debts come due with thundering violence.

In a dark age when it takes courage to live, and more than mere courage to challenge those who hold dominion, Richard and Kahlan must take up that challenge or become the next victims. Beyond awaits a bewitching land where even the beat of their hearts could betray them. Yet, Richard fears nothing so much as what secrets his sword might reveal about his own soul. Falling in love would destroy them - for reasons Richard can’t imagine and Kahlan dare not tell him.

In their darkest hour, hunted relentlessly, tormented by treachery and loss, Kahlan cals upon Richard to reach beyond his sword - to invoke within himself something more noble. Neither knows that the rules of battle have just changed…or that their time has run out.This is the beginning. One book. One Rule. Witness the birth of a legend.

Stone of Tears (Sword of Truth, Book 2)

Author: Terry Goodkind
Publisher: Tor Books
ISBN: 0-8125-4809-4 / 978-0-8125-4809-9
Description:
An Epic of Two Worlds

In a world as rich and real as our own, Richard Rahl and Kahlan Amnell stand against the ancient forces which besiege the New World - forces so terrible that when they last threatened, they could only be withstood by sealing off the Old World from whence they came. Now the barrier has been breached, and the New World is again beset by their evil power.

War and treachery plague the world, and only Richard and Kahlan can save it from an Armageddon of unimaginable savagery and destruction.

Terry Goodkind, author of the brilliant fantasy bestsellers Wizard’s First Rule and Stone of Tears, has created his most masterful epic yet, a sumptuous feast of magic and excitement replete with the wonders of his unique fantasy vision.

Blood Of The Fold (Sword of Truth, Book 3)

Author: Terry Goodkind
Publisher: Tor Books
ISBN: 0-8125-4809-4 / 978-0-8125-4809-9
Description:
An Epic of Two Worlds

In a world as rich and real as our own, Richard Rahl and Kahlan Amnell stand against the ancient forces which besiege the New World - forces so terrible that when they last threatened, they could only be withstood by sealing off the Old World from whence they came. Now the barrier has been breached, and the New World is again beset by their evil power.

War and treachery plague the world, and only Richard and Kahlan can save it from an Armageddon of unimaginable savagery and destruction.

Terry Goodkind, author of the brilliant fantasy bestsellers Wizard’s First Rule and Stone of Tears, has created his most masterful epic yet, a sumptuous feast of magic and excitement replete with the wonders of his unique fantasy vision.

Dune

Author: Frank Herbert
Publisher: Ace Books
ISBN: 0-441-17271-7 / 978-0-441-17271-9
Description:
The Duke of Atreides has been manoeuvred by his arch enemy, Baron Harkonnen, into administering the desert planet of Dune. Although it is almost completely without water, Dune is a planet of fabulous wealth, for it is the only source of a drug prized throughout the Galactic Empire. The Duke and his son, Paul, are expecting treachery and it duly comes - but from a shockingly unexpected place. Then, when Paul succeeds his father, he becomes a catalyst for the native people of Dune, whose knowledge of the ecology of the planet gives them vast power. They have been waiting for a leader like Paul Atreides, a leader who can harness that force…

The Last Templar

Author: Raymond Khoury
Publisher: Signet
ISBN: 0-451-21995-3 / 978-0-451-21995-4
Description:
Four masked horsemen, dressed as Templar Knights, make their way from Central Park to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They do not stop at the steps, but steer the horses through the crowds gathered for opening of the museum’s exhibition of Vatican treasures, scattering the great and the good of Manhattan society and storming through to the exhibition, collecting artefacts, opening gunfire on security and police, beheading a security guard with a broadsword. Among the melee, archaeologist Tess Chaykin observes the leader of the horsemen head for one piece in particular, observing the reverence with which he selects the object and utters words in Latin as he makes away with it. The four horsemen leave the stunned crowd and disappear into the urban nightscape of Manhattan. The FBI’s investigation team is led by Sean Reilly, a practising Catholic, and involvement from the Vatican in the guise of De Angelo, a senior priest. When it is discovered that the piece stolen by the leader of the horsemen is an ancient decoding device used by the Knights Templar, Tess Chaykin becomes more than a witness to the event, and is drawn into the investigation by her professional knowledge which leads her to aid them in pursuing a former colleague, Vance, whose obsession is fuelled by the most personal of tragedies. She leads the team, and Reilly in particular, through the dark history of the crusading Knights and on a journey which takes herself and Reilly through the sewers of New York, over continents to the barren Turkish coastline, and from there to the highest point of command at the Vatican, culminating with a dramatic sea chase amid a fierce storm. As Tess is compelled by curiosity and a critical desire for archaeological truth, so her growing relationship with Reilly plunges him into spiritual and professional conflict, the legacy of which is the secret for which the original Knights Templar were persecuted and tortured. Vance’s desperate wish for its revelation threatens to shake all modern religions to the very core, leaving Reilly and Tess with the burden of this truth.

The Bonesetter’s Daughter

Author: Amy Tan
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0-451-21995-3 / 978-0-451-21995-4
Description:
Amy Tan’s books tell us about tortuous lives of an older generation of women whose fate has brought them from China to the US, and also those of their culturally-confused, American-born daughters. In this novel, Tan takes this theme once again.

As a child, Ruth was subjected to her mother’s notions about curses and ghosts and her repeated threats to kill herself. But now LuLing Young seems happy. Struggling to hold onto the past, LuLing begins to write all that she can remember of her life as a girl in China. When Ruth discovers the papers, she finds each page reveals secrets about a mother’s heart that LuLing cannot tell her daughter.

Some Background Info:
Jordan & I were boyfriend & girlfriend for seven years. We broke up in 2005 to my unhappiness. Though I never planned on marriage & to my knowledge neither was he. He sidelined me with the knowledge that he adopted Desi with the thought that it would make me marry him in order to give Desi a family. Little did he realize that his little scheme would not work. I refused and we had a huge fight and he broke Desi heart in the process. Desi didn’t want us to get married. She was happy the way things were going. If she had wanted us to get married then I would have tried my hardest to make her happy.
Brittany & I became friends while I was in college. It was through her that I met her brother, Jordan (the above). Through her I made friends with Jock and Rhea. She later married & divorced Jock.
Jock is my adopted big brother, my boyfriend in need (you know when you have to have the boyfriend to go somewhere), basically whatever I need he is my man. He is Desi father now, & we share the parenting duties between the two of us. About two or three times a month I usually spend the weekend at his house with him & Desi. No, for those of you that are curious we are not boyfriend & girlfriend, there is no sex between us, there will never be a marriage between us. We are not that type of a couple. Though we do tend to act like an old married couple, we are just really good friends that have gone through some really hard times together. We have gone through treatment with the abuse that Desi went through with her mother, the abandonment from Jordan, & making sure that Desi realizes that she is not going to be abandoned again by Jock & me. That is Desi’s worst fear. Though we have legally made sure that she will be taken care of no matter what happens.

Desi is my adopted daughter, she is eight years old this year. She has platium blond hair and ocean blue eyes. Don’t ask me where she gets this coloration from cause I have no idea. I know both her parents and neither have them. I first met Desi when she was three years old while I was dating her supposed father, Jordan. Angela, her mother, brought her to try and force Jordan to claim Desi as his own child. Angela thought that by throwing Desi under my nose that I would force Jordan to claim fatherhood. Even though the paternity test proved Jordan wasn’t the father, Angela was obsessed with getting Jordan to claim paternity. Well, all this did was start the path of Desi falling in love with me. As Desi grew up she only knew Jordan as father and he did take care of her. He sent her toys, clothes, & money all the times. So she always called Jordan daddy, & he never had a problem with that.

As time passed Jordan and I had our ups & downs and our arguements were always about the same thing. I was always honest with Jordan about the fact that our relationship was casual and I had no intention of having it become serious. Jordan said that was fine, he wasn’t interested in marriage or anything serious either. So I thought we were on the same level, but we always had small little spats over it. Never anything to break up over, but small spats.

When Jordan got a job in Columbia, we decided to maintain our relationship even though it meant that he would have to drive down to see me every week. He had no problem with that. One day about six months into his job he gets this phone call from the Kansas City Children’s Welfare Department. They informed Jordan that Angela had been arrested and that he was listed has Desi’s (she was four) next of kin. Was there a way that he could come & pick her up? He was like huh? They explained further that the Kansas City police had made a meth bust on Angela’s house and found a meth lab set up in one of the bedrooms. They were taking the child into protective custody and Angela informed them that Jordan was the father of the child. He said that he was unable to come and get Desi, but he would have one of his parents come and get her. Well, his father went, got Desi & brought her back to their house.

I found out the following from Jordan who got it from his parents. When Desi got to their house she was fithly. It took Jordan’s parents three changes of bath water to get her completely clean. All she had from Angela’s house was a sundress, this was in the middle of October. After the bath they dressed her in some of Jordan’s sister t-shirts. During this whole time she hadn’t uttered one word to either of them. Desi did know these two people, she had spent time with them before. By this time, Jordan was on his way from Columbia to their house which about a two hour drive. His parents took her into the kitchen and sat her down at the table thinking that she might be hungry. When his mother asked her she nodded her head yes. Desi ate: six cheeseburgers, a whole can of carrots, & four tall glasses of milk. Jordan mother said that she honestly thought that Desi would have eaten more. But they think that she thought that they would have told her no. By this time, Jordan had gotten home. The minute he walked in the door and Desi ran scream “Daddy” to him. She launched herself into his arms.

That is when they got the whole story from her. Desi said that she slept in the room where the lab was & the reason that she was only wearing the dress was because that was all she had. She told Jordan that she was sorry, but Angela (from this moment on she never called Angela mom again) took everything Daddy gave her away and she never saw them again. Daddy asked her if she had enough to eat and she said that she wasn’t hungry anymore. Her tum-tum was happy again, it wasn’t unhappy anymore. She said that her tum-tum was unhappy quite often and she had to sneak her food or Angela would get mad at her. Desi also said that Angela had lots of people in the house that Desi didn’t like and if Desi was seen during any of this time Angela would spank her.

There was several other horrible things that this child went through, though thankfully she wasn’t sexually abused. The last thing she asked Jordan before they put her to bed that night was if she could stay with them and not go back to Angela. Jordan said that Desi didn’t ever have to worry about it, she would never have to go back to Angela.

Well, he went through the court system and legally got custody of Desi. The judge of the case was not happy about the fact that there was no woman for a motherly figure for Desi. Well, Desi by that time had already determined who she wanted to call mommy and was already calling me mommy. Well, I got to be interviewed by the judge and pronounced fit and then I also got to sign the adoption papers for Desi. Of course, there is more to this, but I am trying to keep this fairly short and simple.

As time progressed, Jordan & I separated but we remained a united front for Desi. No, we never lived together and Desi lived with Jordan. But I have always remained in contact with her. We had our days out and she learned how to use the phone and email really fast. I always fulfilled my requirements has her mother.

One day (Desi was six by this time) Jordan & his empoyer had a giant disagreement and he wound up fired and by the time I found out he had already left town. He left Desi with his best friend, Jock, and moved to Chicago. When Jordan refused to come back & take care of his responsibilities, Jock went to court and sued for custody of Desi and for child support. He was award both. Again there was a lot more to this situation.

I imagine you are wondering why Desi just didn’t come & live with me at this time. It is simple. Jock lives where there is better schools and all her friends are up there. Where I live there are no children her age. I chose to let her stay with Jock because her best friend, Mei-Mei, lives right next door to her. She goes to a private school also in the city where Jock lives. So it makes more sense for her to live with Jock. She stays with me for several weeks in the summer time and several weekends during the school year. Whenever she isn’t staying with me you can be sure that we are email, chatting, or on the phone with each other. We are all quite happy with this situation that we have.

Well, that basically covers how I got Desi. If you have questions, you can email them to me. I will answer them I skipped over a lot that happened cause I was trying to keep this fairly short & simple.