Other Realms: Fantasy & Science Fiction Book Club

November 2009 Selection: Set in 1878, this is a haunting novel about two rival stage magicians. A masterpiece of illusion and storytelling magic, this fiercely compelling tale reads like The Alienist interpreted by Robertson Davies.

September 2009 Selection: From the celebrated short-story writer Jack Pendarvis, a wholly original novel in which whales, giants, and robots abound. A giant strides this land. A giant who builds robots, sweats mescaline, and kisses like a dream. From the rocky coast of New England to the golden hay fields of Stockton, California, he searches for America's greatest treasures. You might recognize him by the twinkle in his eye or the lustrous derby hat perched on top of his boulder-sized head. But for a dude who has it all, he sure seems sad a lot of the time -- what's up with that? And what exactly does he plan to do with all of those wonderful treasures, besides cart them around the country in his enormous red wagon? Is there someone, a beautiful lady named Glorious Jones, perhaps, who has asked him to gather the bounty of America in order to prove his love for her? There's no way to know, unless you buy Jack Pendarvis's awesome new novel and read it. Or have someone read it to you. Either way, laughter, wisdom, and good times are sure to follow...

July 2009 Selection: Alongside William Gibson and Neal Stephenson, Bruce Sterling stands at the forefront of a select group of writers whose pitch-perfect grasp of the cultural and scientific zeitgeist endows their works of speculative near-future fiction with uncanny verisimilitude. To read a novel by Sterling is to receive a dispatch from a time traveler. Now, with The Caryatids, Sterling has written a stunning testament of faith in the power of human intellect, creativity, and spirit to overcome any obstacle-even the obstacles we carry inside ourselves. The world of 2060 is divided into three spheres of influence, each fighting with the others over the resources of fallen nations and an environment degraded almost to the point of no return. There is the Dispensation, centered in Los Angeles, where entertainment and capitalism have fused with the highest of high-tech. There is the Acquis, a Green-centered collective that uses invasive neurological technology to create a networked utopia. And there is China, the sole surviving nation-state, a dinosaur that has prospered only by pitilessly pruning its own population. Products of this monstrous world, the daughters of a monstrous mother, and-according to some-monsters themselves, are the Caryatids: the four surviving female clones of a mad Balkan genius and wanted war criminal now ensconced, safely beyond extradition, on an orbiting space station. Radmila is a Dispensation star determined to forget her past by building a glittering, impregnable future. Vera is an Acquis functionary dedicated to reclaiming their home, the Croatian island of Mljet, from catastrophic pollution. Sonja is a medical specialist in China renowned for selflessly risking herself to help others. And Biserka is a one-woman terrorist network. The four "sisters" are united only by their hatred for their "mother"-and for one another. When evidence surfaces of a coming environmental cataclysm, the Dispensation sends its greatest statesman-or salesman-John Montgomery Montalban, husband of Radmila, and lover of Vera and Sonja, to gather the Caryatids together in an audacious plan to save the world.

February 2009 Selection: The fourth novel of the Asteroid Wars saga continues the story of Victor Zacharius, who flees his ore carrier "Syracuse" to draw an attacker's attention away from his family.

November 2008 Selection: Set in modern day Moscow, an ancient race of humans with supernatural powers swear allegiance to either the Dark or the Light. When a young boy with extraordinary powers emerges, will the forces of the Light be able to keep the Dark from corrupting the boy and destroying the world?