Earth, 2308. Multiple pandemic plagues have ravaged the earth beyond recognition. Working desperately, the Philadelphia National Archives uses a mysterious time machine to bring key members of the past into the future, to save humanity from destroying itself.Pulled from Renaissance Italy, former peasant Benedetta brings a friendship with master artist Leonardo da Vinci . . . and an unprecedented ability to change destiny, aided by her new partner, the Viking Ivar. But it is not easy to reconcile the past and the present, and the time refugees have their own plans for their new world.Weaving together time travel, quantum mechanics, Templars, and outlaws, acclaimed author Rebecca Ore delivers a powerful tale of intrigue and possibility, and the fight to be free.

Third book in trilogy (Becoming Human and Being Human are the first two).

Many people come to San Francisco seeking the freedom to be different, to live out their fantasies and explore the magic of life. Maude Fuller has come to the Bay Area seeking a different sort of freedom-the freedom to be ordinary.The exotic, bohemian culture of Berkeley seems refreshingly normal to Maude, compared to the dark oaths and satanic feuds of her Virginia home. For Maude is a witch-the only real witch in Berkeley-born into a sorcery-ridden family in a back-woods Appalachian town that sits on the fault line between modern science and ancient magic.All that’s behind Maude now. She’s finally getting it together, surviving on temp jobs and welfare. She’s even starting a new romance, with an engineer-a man who _knows_ that the universe has standardized laws.But if blood is thicker than water, the blood of witches is thickest of all. When Maude is called back to Bracken County by the one voice she can’t deny, she knows that all she’s been doing is running away—running from her family, and from her fears of what she could become. She must drive cross-country in a car held together by spells and STP, back to a Blue Ridge valley where magicked falcons and wizardry are as normal as high school football. Where computers and spell-casting work side by side and local law enforcement’s marijuana-spotting ’copters are powerless against the folk magic that radiates from Maude’s dying grandmother’s bed...and where Maude will discover how the world really works and just how far she will go to survive and protect those that she loves.SLOW FUNERAL is an unforgettable novel of a woman coming to terms with her heritage, in which modern choices and ancient obligations illuminate each other in a tapestry of love and magic.Rebecca Ore’s acclaimed _Alien_ trilogy earned nominations for almost every major award in science fiction and fantasy. She lives in Virginia, in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains.Praise for SLOW FUNERAL“In Bracken County, nothing is what it seems. A dying grandmother is not a helpless old woman. A computer is not (only) a technological marvel. Magic is ‘not a tool but a relationship.’ SLOW FUNERAL is a complex, subtle, beautifully written, and very funny exploration of real people in a real place doing things they don’t fully understand. Read it not only for Bracken County’s magic, but for its own.”-Nancy Kress, author of BEGGARS IN SPAIN“SLOW FUNERAL is gritty and clear-eyed, unique and vastly entertaining.”-Michael Swanwick, author of THE IRON DRAGON’S DAUGHTER“The story of a reluctant contemporary witch going home to do battle with relatives, dark forces, and the past. The voice of Rebecca Ore is unique and authentic. A wonderful book...one of the best fantasies I have read in years.”-Pamela Sargent, author of THE SHORE OF WOMEN“Rebecca Ore’s SLOW FUNERAL is an absolutely delightful book. She knows that the most essential truths of Southern life lie in its folklore—and in her vision she memorably conjures the magic of quilts, cockfighting and crazy old grandmothers, and the blessed redemption of a 30.06 shotgun. Read and enjoy.”-Jack Womack, author of ELVISSEY

The sequel to "Becoming Alien".

With Gaia’s Toys, Ore takes us on a riveting journey to a dark and brooding american future. It’s a wicked, dystopic disneyland:* Where gene restructuring is the norm and everyone’s plugged into their computers (which is where the authorities want them)* Where if you don’t have a job, your only option is to become a welfare drone, your head in the military cyberspace... and your memory a thing of the past* Where saving endangered species in micro-eco bubbles has become a fad with intellectuals and the wealthy, but children go hungry in the streets.And where a group of eco-terrorists have banded together to stop the creation of an insidious new genetic mutation—a weapon that the government will use to rob Americans of their last scrap of freedomGaia’s Toys is a knife-edged trip twenty minutes into the future, a fast-paced science fiction thriller as possible as tomorrow s headlines.“Rebecca ore is one of those rare talents who can combine brilliantly innovative scientific thinking with evocative, soul-searching fiction. She belongs among those top dozen practitioners of today’s science fiction.”—Ben BovaA finalist for the John W. Campbell award, Rebecca Ore consistently earns high praise for her novels:“Becoming Alien is an intelligent, realistic, gritty, adult novel.”—Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine“The Illegal Rebirth Of Billy The Kid is a stunning fable for tough times.”—The Washington Post Book World“Alien Bootlegger has jealousy, conniving, intrigue. And death, and the aliens as foils to illuminate very human foibles... Ore’s portrayals ring true.”—Analog

16-year old boy finds an alien crash-landed on a farm and ends up being recruited to join the Federation of Sapients - and adventuring out among the stars.First book of a trilogy, although ends in a way that does not require continuation to the other books. Sequels are "Being Human" and "Human to Human". Finalist for the 1989 Philip K. Dick Award. Nominated for the John W. Campbell Award. Nominated for the 1988 Locus Awards.