FICTION

A "dazzling debut" is how Publisher's Weekly described the first novel by Alumni Distinguished Professor of English Lucinda Roy. The book, Lady Moses, is the story of Jacinta, the daughter of a white English woman and a black African man, whose London home is full of love, friends, and stories of Africa. When her father dies, five-year-old Jacinta struggles to reconstruct her relationship with her mother, who now refers to her as a "coloured" child. Jacinta later marries a white American and bears a handicapped child. The child tests her marriage; but on the young family's trip to Africa, Jacinta experiences unexpected love.

The book is published by HarperFlamingo, 10 East 53rd St., New York, NY 10022-5299, (212) 207-7045.

Mississippi Blues is the sequel to Queen City Jazz, the acclaimed first novel by science fiction writer Kathleen Ann Goonan (English '75). As Verity's journey across a computer-altered America continues, she constructs a technologically sophisticated riverboat to transport herself, her friend Blaze, and the freed citizens of Cincinnati to New Orleans. Verity's world is menaced by nanotechnology--flesh and microscopic computers have become one. Governments create nano-plagues; people possess nano-sensors in their bodies to glean information. Blues and jazz references are interwoven throughout the story.

The book is published by Tom Doherty Associates Inc., 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010, (212) 388-0100.

GEOGRAPHY

Economy and Environment in the Caribbean: Barbados and the Windwards in the 1800s, by geography professor Bonham C. Richardson, studies the effect of the late-1880s economic depression in the British Caribbean when sugar prices fell and natural catastrophes--the hurricane of 1898 and St. Vincent's eruption in 1902--devastated the region. Richardson argues the islands' differing physical environments had a profound influence on plans for economic recovery. The book contains some previously unpublished photographs depicting work life and the aftermath of the disasters on the islands.

The book is published simultaneously by the University Press of the West Indies and the University Press of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, (800) 226-3822.

HISTORY

Benjamin H. Trask (social sciences '78; M.A. history) has edited and provided insightful footnotes for a new edition of W.C. Corsan's Two Months in the Confederate States: An Englishman's Travels through the South Corsan, an English merchant who toured the south during the Civil War, depicts the optimism and fervor of the Confederacy in its fight for secession--particularly on the part of its women. The Englishman's perceptions led him to predict eventual victory for the South. James I. Robertson has judged this edition of Corsan's memoirs "a splendid commentary on wartime society and economy."

The book is published by Louisiana State University Press, P.O. Box 25053, Baton Rouge, LA 70894-5053, (504) 388-8271.

TECH HISTORY

The Bugle's Echo: A Chronology of Cadet Life at the Military College at Blacksburg, Virginia, Volume II (1900-1912) by Col. Harry Temple (industrial engineering '34) is a 1,500-plus page book, the second in an intended six-volume series detailing the cadet experience at Virginia Tech. Temple unapologetically catalogs details such as textbook titles, event schedules, and Glee Club songs. Abundant photographs show daily life in the corps, including glimpses into barracks rooms. The book costs $100; a limited number of copies are available.

The book is published by the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets Alumni, Inc., V.T.C.C.A.--The Bugle's Echo, 143 Brodie Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, (540) 231-7431.

If you are an alum, faculty member, or staff member and have written or edited a book that you would like to have considered for review in the Virginia Tech magazine, send an e-mail to vtmag@vt.edu. Please include your name, the book title and publisher, and let us know how we can obtain a copy (include name and phone number of person who can get us a review copy.)