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S.M. Stirling. What if. In this case, what if electricity and explosives suddenly ceased to work. That part’s never explained (there’s a blinding white flash that everyone sees)–space aliens? military experiment gone bad? magic? the gods? (One of the major groups in the novel are wiccans.) Lots of gore and fighting, a fair amount of [...]

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Margaret Elphinstone. A great Quaker historical novel set in the War of 1812. She’s a British author, not a Friend, I think. It’s always exciting to see someone you know in the acknowledgments. In this case, Elaine Bishop of Prairie Meeting.

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James Alan Gardner. Buddhist science fiction, complete with Sanskrit chapter headings. And a good story, to boot.

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Elizabeth Kerner. No, not a serious religious topic. Final installment of an enjoyable fantasy series. Dragons! Female blacksmiths and assasins! Mystical healers! The Balance of the Universe!

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Kavita Daswani. Chick lit meets Bollywood. Like the Rabbi of 84th Street, a short, jaunty book that touches much more serious themes.

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Warren Kozak. It’s a brief read, but it’s not light. Besser, a Hasidic rabbi born in Poland who escaped before the Nazi onslaught to Palestine and later moved to New York, is a mover and shaker. Not only are his early life circumstances not light, but the book is written so sympathetically that I only [...]

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Rosemary Kirstein. Actually a reissue of two earlier books, The Steerswoman and The Outskirter’s Secret. This could be thought of as the beginning of a mystery story. There are certainly tantalizing hints that the characters are descendants of people from Earth. Why do the wizards, the steerswomen, and the outskirters have such fragmentary understandings of [...]

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On the off chance that someone who reads this hasn’t otherwise heard: Bruce Springsteen steps into partisan politics with this Opinion > Op-Ed Contributor: Chords for Change” href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/05/opinion/05bruce.html”>New York Times Op-Ed piece: Chords for Change.

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Patrick O’Brian. I don’t know how anyone could not call it a cliffhanger! I guess I’ll just have to race on to the next one.

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