Villainsac

Villainsac is a small market village situated in Southwest France which was constructed during the 13th century by Count Alphonse de Poitiers. The Count begets an illegitimate son called Charles who was tyrannical and mentally unstable. The Count therefore built a Chateau where he had Charles incarcerated until he died on 13th January 1289 or according to folk tale, suddenly disappeared. The Chateau lay empty until it was occupied again in 1858 by John Henry Forbes, a wealthy London banker, and who on the night of 5th May 1868 also disappeared. In 2006 the Chateau was purchased by John Mortimer, also a wealthy banker. However, after signing the first contract for the purchase of the Chateau, the Maire discovers a document which proves to be a Decree signed by Count Alphonse enforcing the owner of the Chateau to pay a pension to the local residents, free of tax. John Mortimer is a wealthy man but finding the money to fund the pensioners seems impossible. John returns to London and late one afternoon in the City, John stumbles upon a pub which he had never noticed in the past called the “Alphonse.” On entering the pub John finds that he has gone back in time to 1868 and is addressed by the landlord as Mr. Forbes. He purchases a pint of beer, sits down at a table, and passes out. He is awoken back in his own time by a young man, whom in time; John will find familiar. Realising that he has been taken for John Forbes, he contrives to make a Will with himself the main beneficiary. Strange events start to occur, and it is presumed that the spirit of a person who died by means other than of natural causes was imprisoned in the tunnel. Meanwhile, the ancient Decree becomes public knowledge, and a great deal of interest is shown by the village folk. Cleverly, this is quelled less the Tax Officials should find out about it. However, there are three ladies in the village who have nothing much more to do than snoop on other people’s business and are hell bent in finding the truth about the pension payments; as a result, all three meet their untimely deaths. They do in their plight managed to attract the attention of the Tax Office which generates the interest of Mme. Baldazzini (Tax Officer). In order to find the truth, she finally gate crashes a Hallowe'en Party given by John Mortimer at the Chateau thus manages to gain access to his study and filing cabinets. In doing so, she becomes possessed and disappears. This generates further interest by the police, the news media, and the Tax Office. Further super natural disturbances occur at the Chateau which culminate in a surreal sexual experience being encountered between John and Mathieu Laffite (John’s Valet). John makes a trip to the Cayman Islands where his funds are held. He meets Charles Snoopchut Sfenalono who has a seat next to him on the aircraft and is staying at the same hotel on the island; John soon realises that Charles has very strange powers. Mathieu is asked to travel to the island, when he arrives, Charles has mysteriously disappeared. John goes to the bank where the Manager tells him that a further letter of wishes by Mr Forbes had been found and written at the same time as the Will, this letter gives further instructions that the monies are to be transferred to a Mr Charles Snoopchut Sfenalono. The night after John and Mathieu return to the Chateau, Mathieu is unable to sleep and in his disturbed state decides to take his bedding downstairs to sleep outside John’s room in the corridor. The following morning Mathieu discovers that John is missing he alerts the rest of the occupants in the Chateau and a search commences. Mathieu is arrested on the basis that he is the main suspect resulting in the disappearance of John.

From acclaimed bestselling author Laura Anne Gilman comes a unique and enthralling new story of fantasy and adventure, wine and magic, danger and hope.... Once, all power in the Vin Lands was held by the prince-mages, who alone could craft spellwines, and selfishly used them to increase their own wealth and influence. But their abuse of power caused a demigod to break the Vine, shattering the power of the mages. Now, fourteen centuries later, it is the humble Vinearts who hold the secret of crafting spells from wines, the source of magic, and they are prohibited from holding power. But now rumors come of a new darkness rising in the vineyards. Strange, terrifying creatures, sudden plagues, and mysterious disappearances threaten the land. Only one Vineart senses the danger, and he has only one weapon to use against it: a young slave. His name is Jerzy, and his origins are unknown, even to him. Yet his uncanny sense of the Vinearts' craft offers a hint of greater magics within -- magics that his Master, the Vineart Malech, must cultivate and grow. But time is running out. If Malech cannot teach his new apprentice the secrets of the spellwines, and if Jerzy cannot master his own untapped powers, the Vin Lands shall surely be destroyed. In Flesh and Fire, first in a spellbinding new trilogy, Laura Anne Gilman conjures a story as powerful as magic itself, as intoxicating as the finest of wines, and as timeless as the greatest legends ever told.

The development of science, according to respected scholars Peter J. Bowler and Iwan Rhys Morus, expands our knowledge and control of the world in ways that affect-but are also affected by-society and culture. In Making Modern Science, a text designed for introductory college courses in the history of science and as a single-volume introduction for the general reader, Bowler and Morus explore both the history of science itself and its influence on modern thought. Opening with an introduction that explains developments in the history of science over the last three decades and the controversies these initiatives have engendered, the book then proceeds in two parts. The first section considers key episodes in the development of modern science, including the Scientific Revolution and individual accomplishments in geology, physics, and biology. The second section is an analysis of the most important themes stemming from the social relations of science-the discoveries that force society to rethink its religious, moral, or philosophical values. Making Modern Science thus chronicles all major developments in scientific thinking, from the revolutionary ideas of the seventeenth century to the contemporary issues of evolutionism, genetics, nuclear physics, and modern cosmology. Written by seasoned historians, this book will encourage students to see the history of science not as a series of names and dates but as an interconnected and complex web of relationships between science and modern society. The first survey of its kind, Making Modern Science is a much-needed and accessible introduction to the history of science, engagingly written for undergraduates and curious readers alike.

Ships have played an important role in the history of many nations, from the ancient until the modern world. This book discribes in detail almost all kinds and types of historic ships from the Vikings until the battleships of the 19th century. The wonderful illustrations of Manning Lee, member of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, complete this rare book.