Science Fiction: "Gateway"

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Shinn, Sharon. Gateway. New York: Viking, 2009.

Chinese American, Daiyu, is drawn into another world, an alternate version of the city she is from. As she passes through the Arch in St. Louis she finds herself at the center of a swirling mix of mystery, adventure, and romance.

When Daiyu leaves behind the city of St. Louis she finds herself in another version of the Gateway to the West. In this version almost everyone is Chinese like herself. She has been recruited to help stop a dangerous politician who threatens the very fabric of Shenglang. Daiyu must first get close to Chenglei which means she must attend the annual Presentation Ball. Thrown into a crash course of manners and dress and formal dances, Daiyu also finds herself in a crash course of love. As she partners with Kalen to learn the patterns of the traditional tiaowu dance she finds herself in a dizzying spin of emotions. When they are separated so that she can go to live with the woman convinced to take her in as her "niece", Daiyu finds ways to go behind Xiang's back and meet Kalen at the aviary where he works. As she draws close to Kalen she finds her old life may be slipping away. In a playful moment, Kalen laughed as he ask her to stay in Shenglang with him.

"There's a thought! You could stay in Shenglang. Then you wouldn't have to worry about me being lonely after all.

"Daiyu laughed. "I like the idea of staying in Shenglang with you, but I don't think I could stand to keep living with Xiang," she said. Belatedly she added, "Besides I couldn't leave my parents like that! They'd be so worried about me and I'd miss them too much."

As she said the words, it occurred to her with a sort of buried horror that she hadn't missed her parents at all in the last couple of days...She had been warned that her mind would not be able to retain memories of Shenglang once she returned to her own time and place. Maybe she could not retain memories of St. Louis if she was in Shenglang too long. The thought was terrifying."

In Diayu's story we learn learn about trust and power and the price a young girl must pay when she steps through a Gateway Arch into a world of intrigue and intense romance.

Science Fiction: "Mind of My Mind"

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Butler, Octavia E. Mind of My Mind. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1977.

Second in the patternist series, this book features the struggle between an immortal and his creations.

Octavia Butler's chronicle of a 4000 year old Nubian and his chosen disciple will take you into a world where flesh is fleeting but the mind is for the millennia. A world where force and compassion, and caprice and justice collide. The world of Mary who will fight her father/lover/master for control of a people whose very existence may depend on her.

"She was like a living creature of fire. Not human. No more human than he was. He had lied to her about that once- lied to calm her when she was a child. And her major weakness, her vulnerable, irreplaceable human body, had made the lie seem true. But that body, like his own series of bodies, was only a mask, a shell. He saw her now as she really was, and she might have been his twin. But, no, she was not his twin. She was a smaller, much younger being. A complete version of him. A mistake that he would not make again."

As Mary learns her true power will she be able to bring others into her pattern of minds to form a unified whole? Or will Doro manage to separate the threads, unraveling their plans and securing his place? A place he's held for 4000 years. Read Mind of My Mind to see who finds freedom in this unfree world.