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Warren Spooner is a troubled boy whose father dies shortly after he's born. When his mother marries Calmer Ottosson, a decorated Navy officer fallen from grace, Warren is saved by Calmer's inexhaustible patience. As Warren grows up, the two men forge a bond that will carry them both through the hard times ahead.

Chistopher Chubb, an arrogant poet in 1950's Australia, creates a fictitious poet. Only the phantom poet comes to life to taunt, haunt and otherwise destroy his maker, pursuing Chubb from Melbourne to a seedy, sweaty, bitter ending in the tropical chaos of Kuala Lumpur. The Creature steals Chubb's life, eclipsing him as a poet and a man.

Nine people get trapped in the basement of an Indian consulate after an earthquake hits their American city. Emotions run high as the building begins to flood and the chance of survival dwindles. In oder to set their minds at ease, one of the nine suggest they each tell a personal story--one amazing thing that the have never shared before. One by one, the characters reveal remarkable experiences--involving love, family, war, and self-discovery--that helped shape their lives.

Minister Francine Amen dismissed a young woman's claim of sexual abuse by her pastor. When the young woman commits suicide, Francine returns home to face up to her past mistakes and all of the people she has betrayed, including her sister Dawn. But will Dawn ever trust Francine again?

A best-selling, Latin-American author living in Vermont, Alma stays behind when her husband travels to the Dominican Republic to help fight AIDS. She needs the time to work on her latest book, but she has terrible writer's block. Soon, her focus is diverted to an entirely new story, that of the early 19th-century anti-smallpox expedition of Dr. Francisco Balmis. Accompanying Dr. Balmis was Doña Isabel, who cared for the orphan boys serving as living carriers of the smallpox vaccine.

When a putrid odor fills the city during a heat wave, massive repairs to London's sewer system are called for. While most find the subterranean world a dark carnival of horrors, William May, a haunted survivor of the Crimean War, finds solace in the dim, dripping passageways. But after being implicated in a murder, William's sanity is called into question.

All residents of the City have recently died, and they will remain in the City only as long as someone still living on Earth remembers them. On Earth, however, the population has been devastated by terrible pandemic. Laura Byrd, isolated at an Antarctic research station, is running low on supplies and has only her memories to comfort her. The people of the City realize Laura is the common thread binding them together. But Laura, who may be the only person to have survived the pandemic, is running out of time--and her memories are fading.

Successful New York City psychotherapist Eric Lavender feels confident that he's a confirmed bachelor. Then he meets sexy divorce attorney Colleen O'Brien Golden. In a whilrwind of change, Eric finds himself married and enjoying his new suburban life with Colleen and a daughter. But when he begins to probe Colleen's unspoken past, events swiftly take a shocking twist. Suddenly Eric is arrested for sexual abuse of a minor--Colleen's daughter.

The strkingly beautiful and daringly bold Siena McMahon wants to be a movie star like her legendary grandfather. Her bigshot producer father, however, wants her to be a doctor. But Siena is her own woman, and she's determined to live life on her own terms. So she strikes a chord for independence, finding success as a model, exploring her decadent taste for the opposite sex, and striving to become the biggest starlet in tinseltown.

Nina and her brother Andrew share a strong bond: during childhood, they helped each other survive the cruelty of their physician father. Their mother has not fared so well: she is a drunken byproduct of domestic mythology. Now Nina, a reclusive editor, has sealed herself off from the world since her husband's accidental death, while her brother is busy locating and seducing women he knew in high school.