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New at Peter White Public Library

This year, the theme for the Summer Reading Program is A Universe of Stories. Sci-Fi fan or not, why not get with the program and try one of these new novels. Or consider coming to the Peter White Public Library’s book club, Klava Klub, which meets the third Wednesday of every month at 6:30 p.m. at The Crib at 401 N. Third St.

In “Lock In,” author John Scalzi introduces a virus that leaves patients trapped in their bodies, but not vegetables. New technologies such as the internet development of the Agora and robotic bodies, Threeps, allow those suffering from this disease, Hadens, to realized full lives. In Scalzi’s newest novel, Head On, one Haden, Chris Shane, former poster child for those with this disease, now works for the FBI. When a Haden athlete unexpectedly dies during a match, Shane and his partner, Vann, are called in to investigate his death, leading to an investigation of the nature and future of this sport.

Almost obliterated by war, the galaxy decides that it should resolve conflict another way, hence, the Metagalactic Grand Prix. Species determine which is the most dominant through a musical competition. New species are invited to the event in order to determine sentience. If they manage not to fall in last place, their species is accepted into the galactic family. If they come in last, they become extinct. Such is the premise in Catherynne M. Valente’s novel “Space Opera.”

In Thea Lim’s “An Ocean of Minute,” pandemic is threatening life on Earth, but Polly is only concerned about one person, Frank, her one true love. To save his life, she agrees to go to the future as a skilled worker for TimeRaisers, who agree to vaccinate him if she gives them so many years of her life. She and Frank make a plan to meet in Galveston in 12 years, but TimeRaiser sends her farther into the future. Can their love survive their separation over both space and time?

Reality meets virtual reality in “Restricted Fantasies.” Imagine if an Amish teen could experience Rumspringa in a virtual world rather than the real one. And how would the prison system change if prisoners served out their sentences virtually? They could spend perhaps a real month in a simulation that would appear to last decades so that in the end they could reenter society as rehabilitated young people. What happens when virtual reality becomes more appealing than the real thing? There are all possibilities in this collection of short stories by Kevin Kneupper.

Kaaro is a sensitive. His psychic skills allow him to read people. As a young man, he used those skills to steal, but after being caught, he in forced to work for S45, a Nigerian government agency that works to stop insurgents and understand the aliens located in a dome around which the city of Rosewater has developed. In a yearly ritual, the sick enter the dome to be healed, but are the aliens as altruistic as this ritual would indicate. As sensitives like himself begin to die, Kaaro searches for answers in Tade Thompson’s “Rosewater.”

The Settlers want to help the Natives, but are they people or animals? They do provide good labor and are suited to the hot, arid climate, but are they worth educating? Certainly there is no harm in beating any rebellious or independent thoughts out of them. Set in Australia, Claire G. Coleman’s “Terra Nullius” addresses these questions in a future setting which could also be historical.

By Carolyn McManis

Programming Coordinator

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