The contact has begun

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Gregory Benford

From the back cover: Onboard an ancient starship, Killeen and the Bishop tribe escape the mech-ruled world of Snowglade. Seeking refuge on a faraway planet, they discover vast wonders -- an organic life-form as large as a world, a planet-coring cosmic string, a community of humans ruled by a brutal tyrant, and ultimately an alien race more awesome than any they have encountered. As they battle for survival against those myriad dangers, Killeen and his crew will gain an unforeseen ally -- one that may determine humanity's true destiny.

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[story and art by] Saki Hiwatari

While unconscious for a week, Rin has been reliving his tormented former life as Shion. How will he deal with waking up on Earth as Rin once again? How will he react toward the others whose previous lives he has just revisited as well?

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David Rieff

In this book, the author looks at L.A., that incarnation of the American dream, and finds the place and the fantasy radically transformed by the new immigrants from Asia and Latin America, who have been arriving in the millions, both legally and illegally, over the past twenty years. What is happening right now in Los Angeles is nothing less than the most visible manifestation of the greatests story of the late twentieth century, the author notes, the movement of the colored peoples of the world into the white world, and in the U.S., the transformation of the country from an anthology of Europe to an anthology of the peoples of the entire planet.

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Lynne Reid Banks

**What could be better than a magic cupboard that turns small toys into living creatures?** Omri's big brother has no birthday present for him, so he gives Omri an old medicine cabinet he's found. Although their mother supplies a key, the cabinet still doesn't seem like much of a present. But when an exhausted Omri dumps a plastic toy Indian into the cabinet just before falling asleep, the magic begins. Turn the key once and the toy comes alive; turn it a second time and it's an action figure again. *The Indian in the Cupboard* is one of those rare books that is equally appealing to children and adults. The story of Omri and the Indian, Little Bear, is replete with subtle reminders of the responsibilities that accompany friendship and love. For kids, it's a great yarn; for most parents, it's also a reminder that Omri's wrenching decision to send his toy back to its own world is not so different from the recognition of their children's emerging independence.