Jeri sent me a book, "The Geographer's Library" by Jon Fasman for Christmas. This novel is so good, so packed with great writing it's like a piece of rich dense cake that you enjoy a little at a time--I have to force myself to put it down--(however my eyes only hold out for a few pages every day anyway, so it's a moot point.) I'm only halfway through but already hate the thought of it ending.

This is an intertwined story about the past and the present.
Here goes: Paul Tomm is a young college grad working as a reporter-at-large for a small town newspaper. A college professor in a nearby town is murdered under mysterious circumstances. Paul's editor sends him out to gather up enough info to write an obituary. Paul is unaware his enquiries are causing dangerous ripples that will unleash deadly force against him.

He doesn't know that the professor is somehow involved in a very strange quest>>>>A 12th century burglar snatched a sack of artifacts from a Merlin-like alchemist and cartographer (the court geographer's) library. These tools of "transmutation" were scattered all over the world. Nine hundred years later Paul Tomm discovers that someone high up in the Russian government is collecting them again, and is ruthless in his pursuit.

Here is a description of one of the artifacts called "The Kaghan's Cage" located in Turkey, by the spy Albufaz: "The clay pot was as wide a man's palm and twice as tall. It looked like it had been made by a child and left to dry in the sun. It had the power to gather, emit, preserve and intensify light. The woman holding it lifted the lid, struck a match and dropped it into the pot. The pot's clay walls warmed and glowed like a lantern. The light bounced off Albufaz's glasses...the light of a tiny sun..The woman said "A single spark will last until deliberately extinguished. You can carry this anywhere, through any weather. No one knows how it works."

As with all the recovered artifacts, as soon as Albufaz had it in hand, the woman and the men in attendance were slaughtered. OOOOh this is such a great read! What a book--what a great author!

susil