Cirrus@Austlit

'"...an eclectic blend of science fiction, fantasy and steampunk" (Elizabeth Foster, author).

'In Karen Bayly's novel, New Londinium, the capital of the United Republic of Britannia, is the birthplace of the 'clean steam' era and a haven for free-thinkers, progressives, and intellectuals. Its government relies solely on the advice of the Council of Danaeus, a collective of the world's pre-eminent scientists and inventors, to formulate the policies that make this city the most celebrated in the world. Yet something sinister is invading New Londinium - an immortality cult whose machinations to enslave all but a chosen few threaten to transform the city from a beacon of hope to a flagship of misery...'

(Source: publisher's blurb)

'BookCrossing, a real online bookclub, is in many ways a parallel universe. It is a place where someone in the US may buy a book for a BookCrosser in Australia, without the two of them ever meeting. It is about finding books on the end of a pier, at Paddington Station, at your favourite park and unless you are on the site you don't know these books are there. People walk past them oblivious; some pick them up briefly but then leave them behind. BookCrossers know to catch these books to find out where they have been, read them and then release them. At BookCrossing, books are registered and released with an individual tracking number. A good many drop off the radar and then turn up years later at the strangest of places. In Crossing Paths, the main character Jane disappears - for the other characters who are worried about her the clues to where she might be are on her BookCrossing bookshelf. Russell Dark, a book store owner and Jonathan Fairlight, a new age writer, begin to track her through the books she leaves behind. Within these pages eight people who cross paths with Jane Townsend will have their lives changed forever.'(Publication summary)