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RELUCTANT ZERO. #1, OCT. San Francisco, California: 148 Print, 2011. 1st ed. 8vo, wrps, unpag., illus. Staplebound Wraps. New. "Guillermo "Memo" Morales, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, is a nerd in the truest sense of the word. By day, he works various odd jobs to make ends meet. By night, he dreams of starting a family and supporting them with a t-shirt company starring his sketches as the main design. He lives with two roommates. Stan "The Circumstance" Green is a young man obsessed with the opposite sex. He lies to no end in attaining his goal. His other rommate is Malik Strong, a brilliant man who is slowly and surely withdrawing from society. Memo's love interest is Isla Song, the very personification of beauty, brains, and brawn. Memo lives the life of a poor man. He wears the same clothes from high school and often eats the cheapest thing he can find. His furniture is from thrift shops. He walks everywhere and avoids transportation in order to save money. He is a simple man with simple interests. However, deep within lies the heart of a warrior. Often times, his art reflects the power developed by the many years of ridicule from supposed "cool people". This all reinforces the theme of the story : Nerds posses an internal strength that shines in times of crisis." (Author's description)

Your powers of logic will enable you to perceive that if I have not time to write to one, I should have still less to write to all. Indeed you must be content to consider my letters in the light of circulars by whjch no one can lose anything as I have only one set of things to tell. I find the better society here very easy, pleasant and unpretending; I have been to 3 balls which I find pretty much the same abomination as rather small crowded balls are in any capital, the ladies are dressed and the houses furnished in very close imitation of Paris; many of the first are very pretty and it is impossible to see anyone with more grace of countenance and manner than Angelina Uyingstone.

Forbáth still writes about atrocities committed against the Jews. The Soviet republic's leaders are executed. Jenő Lipocz becomes prime minister. Vilmos Hilbert recommends a census of the Jewish population. The Christian national parties come to power, led by Ottokár Prohászka.

At the time of his first entries, Imre Forbáth is still using his original last name of Fischer. He is twenty-five years old, fluent in Hungarian, German, and French, a recent graduate of the Technical Universities of Vienna, Zurich, and Berlin. Imre Forbáth records his opinions on the latest developments in literature, philosophy, and music. While employed as a civil engineer for the city of Magdeburg, he works on his doctoral dissertation. The young civil engineer falls in love with Trüdchen, a German Christian woman, but has to break up with her. He writes a sensitive reflection on the relationship between Christians and Jews at this time. Conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian army, he is sent to Croatia for military training. While there he records the solar eclipse of May 15, 1901. He wins third place in an international competition for city planning in Bergen. Mother sells her house.

In the nationalization trial, the Nitrogen Company of Diciosanmartin stands against the Romanian Ministry of Interior Affairs. The question in dispute is whether there is a successor to the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of War. Forbáth learns that the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of War still exists in Vienna as a liquidation authority; therefore, there is no successor. The defense bases its case on this fact. The trial takes much time and energy, but on the first degree, the court decides in Forbáth's favor. Manoilescu wants to get rid of all the Hungarian owners. The concerned parties begin to discuss the possibility of Romania buying out the Hungarians' shares in the company.