Cory Doctorow Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom

"Aku masih menjaga kamu dalam pikiranku AUSTRALIA." Haidar bangun dari tempat tidur. Mengusap wajah dan memandangi dinding kamarnya. Di sana ada brosur pendaftaran magister salah satu universitas di Australia. Sekolah yang menjadi impiannya saat ini. Namun semua itu tidaklah mudah untuk di wujudkan, bertahun-tahun ia dan ibunya berpindah-pindah rumah demi menutupi jati diri mereka. Tinggal di rumah yang reot serta makan dari hasil belas kasihan orang. Semua pekerjaan dilakukan ibunya agar dia bisa sekolah seperti anak-anak Aceh pada umumnya. "Kau anak seorang pejuang. Kakekmu juga seorang pejuang. Jangan ada air mata untuk setiap masalah yang kau hadapi." Kalimat itu yang diulang-ulang ibunya setiap kali Haidar menangis karena ejekan teman sekolah. Terpaan ibunya tiap hari membuat keteguhan hati Haidar menjadi sekuat batu. Sama seperti namanya, Ibnu Haidar. Nama ini dalam bahasa Arab artinya, si Anak Batu.

I, Daphne Thorn, am an impoverished woman from the slums. William Blackburn, on the other hand, is the son of the richest man in Wylland. Unexpectedly, the two of us who share such vastly different identities end up being together. So far, we've tried out various difficult positions in our bouts of passion during our secret rendezvouses in secluded areas. Like the madman he is, William often torments me in every session. I'm so exhausted that I'm about to fall asleep. That's when a notification pops up on William's phone, which is sitting next to me. So, I take a peek at it. "William, my stomach hurts a lot! I'm suffering so much right now!" It's a text from someone named "Ellie". All the exhaustion in me disappears. I can feel my chest tightening up in discomfort. Once William is done with his shower, he leaves the bathroom and picks up his phone. "You should sleep first. I'm heading out," he says. When I see William turning his back on me, I blurt out, "Are you going to meet that childhood sweetheart of yours?" William wheels around to look at me. Suddenly, he moves to lift my chin. There is a trace of wariness in his eyes. "Don't go around sticking your nose in my business, Daphne. I like my woman docile and obedient." But I end up stalking William all the way to Royale Hotel, where I witness him visiting Elaine Moore, his childhood sweetheart. He coaxes her as though she's the most precious treasure in the world. I don't have the courage to question William in person. But still, I want to know who he thinks is more important to him—me or Elaine? So, I give him a call. "William, my gastritis is acting up again! It hurts so much! Can you drive me to the hospital?" I said. I use the same tactic that Elaine had used earlier. That night, I keep waiting for William, and yet he never returns to me. That's when I decide to not love him anymore.

Yesterday, my name was Elizabeth Summers. I was 43 years old with a good job that I didn’t like much, but it paid the bills. When I woke up today, I was told my name is Kimberly Sparks. My birth certificate says I’m 24 years old. I don’t have a job or a place to live. But there’s a seriously hot guy taking me home with him. Elizabeth Summers died yesterday in a terrible fire and Kimberly Sparks was born. But I’m not a phoenix; I’m a werewolf. Who knew?

The night before the company went public, my wife told me she had a surprise for me and reminded me to dress up for the occasion. I thought she was planning to reveal our secret relationship, and I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep all night. However, the next day, in front of everyone, she announced that I was a creepy obsessive admirer. On top of that, she revoked my promotion and gave my position to her first love who had just returned to the country. Everyone was waiting to see me humiliated. I froze for a moment but quickly composed myself, walking up to her first love with a faint smile. Then, I took off the badge on my chest and placed it on him. “As the new director, you should celebrate, shouldn't you? How about a wedding? I’ll officiate for you two.” Glaring at me coldly, my wife told me to get lost and stop embarrassing myself. What they didn’t know was that I was the key connection holding the entire company together. If I left, none of the investors would back them anymore.

"Curses, monsters, ghosts, the underworld, armies of witches, sacrifices, legends, werewolves, moonlight magic, they were legends that no one believed in and I didn't believe in these things until I went to that island and my voyage of exploration turned into a real tragedy I don't know if I would have survived or not” It was just a quest to explore some treasure I didn't know that everything would change; My beliefs, thoughts and even my life have changed since I arrived on that island.

Elnora Tuffin is an amazing Mother and Wife who goes above and beyond her daily role. Unfortunately, her husband Brogan thinks poorly of her as he has given her and her three sons as payment in a deal with the Vampire King. Being an honorable man, the King chooses to accept the help of her youngest son in making a deal with his father and protecting them from any further harm.After leaving the hospital in a hurry and learning of her husband’s infidelity Elnora and her boys rushed to the gates of the Vampire Kingdom. Once arriving, they are quickly thrown into a new world filled with a new set of problems. They expected to deal with Vampires. A breach within the Kingdom, someone being kidnapped, magic, and family drama was not expected.The first challenge is to save the missing person and remove all of the threats from the Kingdom, even if they are family.

Mitzie Damos had always considered herself to be just another average woman. She came from what would be considered an average middle-class family with a father who was now retired from construction work, and a mother who was a now retired schoolteacher. Even though most would consider her spoiled by her parents, she maintained an honor roll student status from elementary through high school and held a high GPA in college. She was not so good to where she qualified as Valedictorian or any of that other genius student stuff, but she made her parents proud. Mitzie was an only child due to the loss of her twin during her mother's pregnancy. She'd heard her mother recount of how she had a very rare and rough pregnancy. Mitzie's twin just was not strong enough to maintain sharing their mother's womb. Doctors had believed that Mitzie had somehow absorbed her twin and amniotic sac, but when and how that occurred was a mystery. In her mother's first trimester there were 2 fetal heartbeats and 2 fetuses, but by the second trimester, there was one heartbeat and one fetus. It had remained a scientific enigma throughout Mitzie's 28 years of life. Mitzie had a successful career of her own. She married well, a CEO for one of the biggest corporate umbrella companies in the world, and life seemed to be grand. Until Mitzie's pregnancy revealed things about her life that would change it forever.

Arabelle Virgata an adoptive daughter of a rich couple who has been slaughtered by the thieves who looted their mansion. She has been chased by one of them and almost got hit by a truck but unexpectedly a Magical Portal appears and absorbs her. She was teleported in the other dimension and there she met the most distant, vigilant and introverted Prince Aegolus Flammeus who had been cursed and turned into a huge predatory bird called "Owl" by a wicked Guardian Mirabela. Arabelle was declared as Priestess, to be able to go back to her world she must complete her task; break the curse and defeat the evil guardian. The two joined hands, together with their new found friends. But… After facing lots of difficulties they've been through and possibilities of prospering romantic feelings, will Arabelle choose to go back home and leave everything including her friends and Prince Aegolus?

Orennox is a wizard who has been around since the world was made. As technology progresses, magic tends to wane and Orennox adapts to the trends. Now called Oren Knox, he is mostly known as a gunfighter, a notoriously cheap gunfighter who will use magic to make one bullet do the work of many so he doesn't have to keep buying ammunition. His quest is to locate the last Earth Nodes, the last strongholds of magic, and harness their power with the goal of bringing back his trapped wife. In order to find these Earth Nodes, he must use the services of the female Diabolists (night witches) who can sense the magic from long distances. Only, Diabolists are extremely rare and there is a psychopathic killer out there who wants them all dead. After losing one Diabolist to fate, Oren must protect his new asset from those who would hunt her down and kill her so he can find enough magic to complete his quest. However, he is not the only wizard left looking for Diabolists, Diabolists have minds of their own, and, according to him, everyone Oren comes in contact with is a sidewinding, low down, scoundrel.

The girl who will fight for her rights in the world that seems to forget their existence and identity. What will she choose? The desire to rebuild their fallen kingdom or that one man she deeply loves who was born from her enemy's blood?