The Jack Bank

The Jack Bank PDF Author: Glen Retief
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1429960086
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
An extraordinary, literary memoir from a gay white South African, coming of age at the end of apartheid in the late 1970s. Glen Retief's childhood was at once recognizably ordinary--and brutally unusual. Raised in the middle of a game preserve where his father worked, Retief's warm nuclear family was a preserve of its own, against chaotic forces just outside its borders: a childhood friend whose uncle led a death squad, while his cultured grandfather quoted Shakespeare at barbecues and abused Glen's sister in an antique-filled, tobacco-scented living room. But it was when Retief was sent to boarding school that he was truly exposed to human cruelty and frailty. When the prefects were caught torturing younger boys, they invented "the jack bank," where underclassmen could save beatings, earn interest on their deposits, and draw on them later to atone for their supposed infractions. Retief writes movingly of the complicated emotions and politics in this punitive all-male world, and of how he navigated them, even as he began to realize that his sexuality was different than his peers'.

The Jack Bank

The Jack Bank PDF Author: Glen Retief
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1429960086
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Get Book Here

Book Description
An extraordinary, literary memoir from a gay white South African, coming of age at the end of apartheid in the late 1970s. Glen Retief's childhood was at once recognizably ordinary--and brutally unusual. Raised in the middle of a game preserve where his father worked, Retief's warm nuclear family was a preserve of its own, against chaotic forces just outside its borders: a childhood friend whose uncle led a death squad, while his cultured grandfather quoted Shakespeare at barbecues and abused Glen's sister in an antique-filled, tobacco-scented living room. But it was when Retief was sent to boarding school that he was truly exposed to human cruelty and frailty. When the prefects were caught torturing younger boys, they invented "the jack bank," where underclassmen could save beatings, earn interest on their deposits, and draw on them later to atone for their supposed infractions. Retief writes movingly of the complicated emotions and politics in this punitive all-male world, and of how he navigated them, even as he began to realize that his sexuality was different than his peers'.

Retief

Retief PDF Author: Keith Laumer
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1625588798
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 29

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Book Description
The ceremonious protocol of the Yills was impressive, colorful, and, in the long run, deadly! It was up to Jame Retief to figure out how to respond to the Yill's overtures in the correct manner; all the while keeping his superiors from making a deadly mistake. Only one man could think quickly enough to get the job done!

Return from the Stars

Return from the Stars PDF Author: Stanislaw Lem
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262357704
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
An astronaut returns to Earth after a 10-year mission and finds a society that he barely recognizes in science fiction novel by the Solaris author, whose works “make our weary universe seem pale and undistinguished by comparison” (The Washington Post). Stanisław Lem’s Return from the Stars recounts the experiences of Hal Bregg, an astronaut who returns from an exploratory mission that lasted ten years—although because of time dilation, 127 years have passed on Earth. Bregg finds a society that he hardly recognizes, in which danger has been eradicated. Children are “betrizated” to remove all aggression and violence—a process that also removes all impulse to take risks and explore. The people of Earth view Bregg and his crew as “resuscitated Neanderthals,” and pressure them to undergo betrization. Bregg has serious difficulty in navigating the new social mores. While Lem’s depiction of a risk-free society is bleak, he does not portray Bregg and his fellow astronauts as heroes. Indeed, faced with no opposition to his aggression, Bregg behaves abominably. He is faced with a choice: leave Earth again and hope to return to a different society in several hundred years, or stay on Earth and learn to be content. With Return from the Stars, Lem shows the shifting boundaries between utopia and dystopia.

Up Against the Night

Up Against the Night PDF Author: Justin Cartwright
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 163286018X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
Frank McAllister has long since dropped "Retief" as his middle name, but the legacy of his family's history proves harder to shake. His ancestor Piet Retief, leader of the South African Great Trek, was killed by Zulu king Dingane in the 1838 massacre, along with a hundred men, women, and children. Afrikaner legend paints Retief as a homegrown Moses, bringing his people to the Promised Land. But Frank believes something rotten lies at the core of this family myth. Frank spends his days in his London home with his new partner and her son and the products of his wealth. But the return of his daughter, Lucinda, from rehab in California brings him intense guilt: having sided with him during his divorce from her mother, she crumbled under the weight of the bitter separation. Lucinda has brought home with her a mysterious boy, and they will join the family trip to Frank's beach house in South Africa--not far from the site of the 1838 massacre. In the lulls of their idyllic days, Frank unravels what really happened on that fateful day, and how it may connect to the violence of the apartheid years, and the violence encroaching on them even now. Up Against the Night is an enthralling tale of personal conflict and intrigue, set against the backdrop of South Africa's tangled past and troubled present, and told with tremendous color and insight. Absolutely original and gripping, it is destined to be as influential as JM Coetzee's Disgrace.

End as a Hero

End as a Hero PDF Author: Keith Laumer
Publisher: Gateway
ISBN: 1473215781
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 65

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Book Description
Mankind was at war with the hideous Gool...and losing. Then, beyond Ganymead, one man fought the searing brain probe of an alien spy...and won. He mastered the power of its telepathic mind-control, captured the secret of its matter transmitters, and learned how to destroy the Gool Overlords. He called intelligence with news of the victory and headed home. Straight into a barrage of Terran nuclear warheads. Past missiles, shells, and assassins, he made it home - alone, badly wounded, and branded a traitor by conventional Terran wisdom that said no one could survive the Gool brain probe. No one, that is, except a brainwashed puppet deliberately allowed to survive to serve the Goos as a spy. But he must survive Earth's attempts to kill him - because no matter how much his fellow humans want him dead, he knows that he is the only one who can lead them against the Gool and have a chance at victory.

Retief

Retief PDF Author: Keith Laumer
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781515445166
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description


The Covenant

The Covenant PDF Author: James A. Michener
Publisher: Fawcett
ISBN: 0449214206
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 1250

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Book Description
Volume 2 of 2; The story begins 1500 years ago. The Bushmen are facing a crisis. the beautiful lake, long the center of their lives, is drying up, and they must move across a hostile African desert to seek better conditions.

TekWar

TekWar PDF Author: William Shatner
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1453286772
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
The national bestselling detective novel set in a futuristic Los Angeles by the legendary actor who played the original Captain Kirk on Star Trek! Not satisfied with the thrills of being one of Greater Los Angeles’ toughest cops, Jake Cardigan turns to Tek, a computerized brain stimulant which transports the user to any reality he can imagine. He’s soon addicted to this fantasy-enabler—and it isn’t long before Cardigan is accused of dealing. When he fails to convince the mechanized jury of his innocence, the state strips his badge and sentences him to fifteen years in suspended animation. Four years later he’s awakened. His sentence has been changed, but no one will tell him why. Cardigan’s search for answers takes him to Mexico, where a rogue scientist is attempting to rid the world of Tek. But these efforts have roused powerful enemies. Aiding this quest is the right thing to do, but for an ex-con, doing good can be the most dangerous decision of all. This ebook features an illustrated biography of William Shatner including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection.

Night of Delusions

Night of Delusions PDF Author: Keith Laumer
Publisher: Gateway
ISBN: 1473215838
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 77

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Book Description
It starts out as a weird but seemingly understandable assignment, bodyguarding a mad politician whose keepers have decided to let him "escape" as a sort of reality therapy. But to understand the Senator, Florin must enter the Machine, an reality will never be the same. From now on he's a Knight of Delusions.

The Monitors

The Monitors PDF Author: Keith Laumer
Publisher: Gateway
ISBN: 1473215943
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 95

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Book Description
Even after the set had been turned off, the TV blared the announcement: "Citizens of Earth, I am Tersh Jetterax. It is my pleasure to announce to you that a new government has taken over the conduct of all public affairs." And thus the US was in the hands of the Monitors, the strangely polite yellow-clad beings whose powers were such that they could render everyone helpless - without shedding one drop of blood. Who are they? The Russians? An alien race from another planet?