So, they're set around nowish, then?

No. They are set many hundreds of years in the future, after humanity has expanded into the galaxy by way of travel through stable wormholes. Dozens of planets have been settled long enough for them to evolve widely divergent societies, some of which are in conflict with one another.

Barrayar, the planet of our hero, was settled by Russian, Greek, and possibly French persons, and then something happened with the wormhole and they were completely isolated from galactic society for a couple hundred years. They developed into a fierce, strong, but rather xenophobic people, very conservative and frightened of strangers. This was compounded by the radiation levels on Barrayar, which often resulted in dangerous mutations in children and livestock.

When the wormhole finally reopened, the Barrayarans had long since lost the ability to travel in space, and thus were unprepared for the Cetagandan invasion. They fought the Cetagandans in a desperate and bloody war for many years, and eventually drove them off, but not before taking ferocious damage, including the nuking of the historic seat of the Vorkosigan family. (Vorkosigan Surleau is the summer home, traditionally.)

In response to the Cetagandan invasion, Barrayar industrialized as quickly as possible, built an army, and went out to secure its defense. The planet of Komarr is at the other end of the wormhole from Barrayar, and the Komarrans had let the Cetagandans through. So Barrayaran forces, led by Admiral Aral Vorkosigan, took Komarr as both punishment and protection. That's the situation shortly before the beginning of Shards of Honor, which tells the story of the Escobaran-Barrayaran war, and the involvement of Beta Colony.

Very nice summary, Consuela!

Can someone give me a summary of the short story Apt Pupil by Stephen King? Mainly I'm interested in how it differs from the movie.

Young boy becomes fascinated with elderly German neighbor man. Kid is the snoopy sort and begins doing some research and discovers neighbor was a Nazi (don't remember if he was a camp guard or not). Kid confronts neighbor and threatens to expose him if he doesn't tell stories about the war. Stories lead to actions as the boy takes the old man for a role model in various things, and the old man is pleased to have someone to teach. I don't remember the ending, and I didn't see the movie because the story is pretty grim and disturbing.

I read somewhere that the ending was copped out on for the movie -- the bits you describe are all pretty faithfully followed.

The ending was darker than I'd expected, but that's dark-for-movies, not dark-for-Stephen-King.

The Nazi is discovered, and now I'm suddenly blanking -- I think he's killed by the ex-internee in the hospital bed next to him. The guidance counsellor discovers the kid knew all along, but when he confronts him, the kid threatens to accuse him of pedophilia, and so gets away with it all.

The ending was pretty different, ita. I think the movie glosses it over a bit, while the story ends with the boy on an overpass picking people off with a sniper rifle, if I remember right.

Also, in the book I think he kills the guidance counselor.

That sounds about right for the kid's mentality--he knows the system and uses it ruthlessly. If I'm remembering hte story correctly, I think there are some murders and some unpleasant sex (the boy has the hots for a Jewish girl, and he asks Neighbor some nasty questions about Jews).

Whoo! Okay, yeah, that's way darker than the movie got.

Yep. I remember I'd read the story first, then saw the movie. That ending was chipper in comparison.

I love Different Seasons. The only story from it that hasn't been made into a movie is really gruesome, but its another one you'll remember.

"Breathing Lessons" would be damned tricky to make into a movie. Not the sort of upbeat story Hollywood is looking for.

edit: I was honestly surprised that they turned "Apt Pupil" into a movie.