Alvis was a dark elf. People did not like his folk. They believed that all the existing elves were greedy and unfriendly. But Alvis decided to change everything. He told many other elves they were as good as other people. He was going to prove it and marry the daughter of Thor. Of course, everyone was laughing at him. No one believed that an elf could come to terms with the formidable and powerful God of Thunder. Alvis waited for the night and crept over the Rainbow Bridge to Asgard. Soon he met a big and strong man with a red beard in the clothes of a farmer. He got into conversation with this man and said that he wanted to marry Thor's daughter. Elvis was convinced that the farmer could not be a god. He did not know that it was Thor himself.
It was a deep night. Eight people gathered in a small house. They were sitting around a simple wooden table. One man was reading a book under the light of an old desk lamp. There was also the ninth person — the owner of the house. He was laying under a white rag dead. It was quiet in the house. Only the birds were shouting outside the window. The men gathered in the house had an important job. They had to understand how the owner of the house died. It was up to them to reveal the truth. They were farmers with tanned faces and strong muscles from the work in the field. The man with the book was different from them. With a hat and a mustache, he looked like an important educated person. The coroner was reading a diary that belonged to the dead man.
Mr. Brown's house is not far from the center of the city. But despite this, he has a nice small garden with lots of flowers. Mr. Brown likes sitting there for hours, resting after a long day. He would just sit and look at the bright flowers. His work is far from home, he has to go there by bus. Mr. Brown has almost no friends. He returns from the office and sits in his garden, lonely and sad. One day he decides to go home on foot: the day is hot. He wants to take a walk. On the way, Mr. Brown sees the store — old things are being sold there, and the man decides to stop by. He examines the goods and sees an old doll with a very sad face. Mr. Brown thinks this doll is as lonely as he is. He buys it, even though he is an adult who does not play with dolls.
A young pilot Cathy Fox has lost her job. She is said to be seriously ill. But Cathy tells a completely different story. Last year she flew a space-plane called «Space Bird One». Two other girls accompanied her. Helen was another astronaut and Mary was a journalist. The trip was very important and it was broadcast all over the world. The flight was going well until the girls saw a strange object. Mary wanted to discuss it on the TV, but the other girls did not let her. As the space-plane tried to move away from the object, the motors suddenly broke down. The plane went out of the Earth's orbit at the risk of never coming back. Fortunately, the pilots found a way out. What the girls saw on the dark side of the Moon changed their lives forever.
As the god of cunning and deception, Loki was very intelligent and treacherous. He had three children from different mothers. Jormungand was a giant snake that slept on the ocean floor, covering the whole earth with his rings. Hel was a girl whose one half of the face looked beautiful, and the second half was terrible, like death itself. Fenrir was a huge wolf. God Tyr loved to play with him when Fenrir was a cub. But he grew and became bigger and stronger. The gods realized that Fenrir was too dangerous and could kill all of them. They decided to tie the wolf so that he could not harm anyone. But which chain on earth would be able to hold such a monster? The gods went to the dwarves who made the hammer of Thor and lots of other incredible things.
The main character of this story is Alex Chen. He is a shy and not very confident teenager. He thinks he isn't good at anything except maybe cooking. The boy lives in Liverpool with his parents. Alex's Chinese grandmother always comes to Liverpool for the Chinese New Year. This time she surprises everyone by some news. Her younger brother Tong Po is going visit them soon. Tong Po used to study kung fu at the Shaolin Temple. Alex is excited. Now he can tell his school friends that his great uncle is a kung fu fighter. To the boy's disappointment, Uncle Tong Po is only a kung fu cook. He decides to help Alex improve his cooking skills. After some hard work his cooking indeed becomes much better. Besides, Uncle gives him a magic kung fu spice. However, when a crucial day comes, Alex can't find it.
Everything happened many years ago. In Odenwald, the south of Germany, the von Landshort Castle stood beside the river. The owner of this castle was a proud aristocrat. His father, a famous warrior, left him this castle. The Baron took care of his home as best as he could. Many other rich German families built comfortable modern houses in the valleys, abandoning traditional fortresses. The baron had another treasure — a very beautiful daughter. At the age of eighteen, she knew how to read, dance, play the guitar and sing beautiful love songs. Her skills were amazing. The girl never left the castle.The baron's daughter was raised by her aunts. They had always convinced her that she needed to be afraid of men and not to talk to them.
Brownville is a small provincial town in California. It is located between two hills covered with a dense forest. The air is fresh and clean here. Lots of people come to this town to relax. There is only one school in Brownville and the main character of the book works there as a teacher. He lives in a boarding house and the school is on the other side of the hill, about a mile and a half from there. There is another and shorter way- a forest path through the hill. The school can be reached in fifteen minutes. Late at night the teacher is walking through the forest. He sits down on a log to rest and suddenly hears voices. Someone is cursing and threatening to kill another. Then he hears one of these voices in the boarding house. The teacher begins to realize that the city is too quiet and safe.
Chico was well aware that the forest should be investigated carefully. So cautiously as the people of the forest did many years ago. The Amazon Forest is one of the most wonderful places on the planet. It is big, old and there are many animals and plants including rare species. Here is the larger part of the fresh water reserves on the planet. Chico was born in Brazil. There were no schools in the tropics, and he began to work hard at the age of ten. He did the same thing as the others. Everybody collected useful materials in the forest and sold them in the city. As a child, the boy did not think about the world outside the forest. But when he grew up, he realized, that the Earth is much larger than his beautiful tropical forest.
Everything happened in the summer. The protagonist of the book thought that it was very hot in the city. He wanted to take a walk in the forest, look at the mountains or the river, travel around the country and see it completely. The young man had a small red car and a good map. He went on a journey. Everything was great and he felt happy. The hot city was replaced by wide roads and green trees outside the car window. But one day the car broke down. The young man realized that he got lost in a completely unknown place. But then he saw a very beautiful long-haired girl in a dress. He decided to talk to her and got out of the car. He greeted this beautiful girl and said that he was lost. At first the girl was frightened by a stranger, but then she smiled and invited him to go with her to the village, where she would try to help.
It was a quiet and sunny day in the early summer. Thor and Loki were strolling around Asgard. Thor was bored. Thor did not like to rest and laze, he adored only one thing — fighting with the giants. He told Loki about that. Loki tried to convince Thor that Asgard was the most beautiful place in the universe and it was a great opportunity just to relax and enjoy the views. All his words were for nothing. Thor was not very interested. He was ready to harness the goats into the cart and fly to fight with the giants. His soul demanded something militant. After all, the giants themselves could appear in the land of Gods at any time and cause a lot of problems. Loki was not too convincing and he had to go on this dangerous journey with Thor.
Jean, a prominent scientist, is working on an important project. He is trying to invent an additive that can make people eat certain products. Jean wants to call his future invention WOW — the Water of Wanting. This substance can become revolutionary and bring him the recognition he deserves. Besides, the man has a more personal reason to create such an additive. Every day he watches his wife struggling to make their little son eat healthy food. Jean's boss is very excited about the project too. He expects to earn a lot of money if it is successful. But their plans are ruined when Jean sees the other side of this invention. People can get addicted to certain types of food and it can kill them. Jean quits the project and takes a vacation. But now it is up to his boss to decide how to use this WOW.
The first thing that happens after arrest is an interrogation at a police station. The police officer asks questions, and the offender answers or keeps silence. Some of them are silent, others trie to lie and make excuses. Ian likes to talk. He is ready to tell everything in detail. He begins his story with the fact, that the idea belonged to Tony. This is his younger brother, but despite their age difference — Tony has always been very smart. Ian just agreed. He is nervous, because it is impossible to feel comfortable in the interrogation room. There is a special chair and it is very uncomfortable to sit on it. The front legs are shorter than the rear ones. But nobody comes to the interrogation room of their own free will and Jan has to endure inconvenience and talk.
The main character of the book was born in NewYork, but lived in Hong Kong. He had a successful business in Asia and the money was always in abundance. Twenty years later, he decided to return home in New York. On the way, he stopped in California for a week. There he had a friend named Mohun Dampier. Dampier never worked. He just lived off his parents. Mohun was also convinced that the magic existed and ruled all his life. He enjoyed reading occult books. When the main character wrote to Mohun, he soon sent a servant to the hotel. In the evening, the main character went by taxi to his friend's house. It was a brick mansion near the ocean. Mohun changed a lot. He looked like an old man. Some interesting changes happened in his life.
New York consists of numerous districts. In one of such districts there are small streets called «places». Lots of artists discovered these places and decided to live there. Cheap rentals and old lofts were the things they liked. Later this place was named Greenwich Village. Sue and Johnsy opened a studio on the top floor of one old building. The real name of Johnsy was Joana. She came from California. Sue was from Maine. Soon they became best friends. Suddenly a dangerous disease came to their house. Sue got pneumonia. The doctor examined her. He said that the girl had only one way to survive — she had to obtain a passion to life. She needed either a beloved person or a life goal. Johnsy decided to help her friend recover.
