Slightly Parallel

If you're a Kim Harrison fan, as I am, then you've probably read her books set in the Hollows. The last one I read was, "For A Few Demons More" which is moving her main characters along in fantastic fashion. The picture on the left is the cover of the first book in the series, "Dead Witch Walking".

One of the things about the Hollows series is how the Hollows came to be. In this version of Cincinnati there are fairies, elves, trolls, werewolves, and vampires all living out in the regular world. See, they had to come out of hiding when most of the human population was killed off. Now they live side by side, although in somewhat segregated neighborhoods (a.k.a. the Hollows), and they have their own police force competing with the human one for investigative rights on cases that involve both humans and magical beings.

What killed most of the humans you ask? Well, that's what's interesting...and sort of eerie recently. It was a virus.....in tomatoes. Now nobody in their right minds eats tomatoes in her books. Sounds familiar doesn't it? While I don't believe in parallels between real life and fiction being portents of the future, stranger things have probably happened. And I can't quite kick the similarities out of my head. So today, when I read or hear that 17 states have been taken off the "safe to eat" producers of tomatoes list, it gets kind of "They're here"-ish. What fun! I wonder if Harrison's sales will rise because of this odd similarity. I know Harrison is hoping it will. She's accepting photos of signs about the tomato ban for her website with promises to post them. Guess that means I need to put her latest, "The Outlaw Demon Wails", which is still in hard back on my books to purchase list. Wonder if I can use on of the new Borders coupons I acquired this week. (G)

Postscript to the books and tomato subject:
Paschal reminded me of the nightshades tag that tomatoes have. When I went researching the origin of the label I discovered a fascinating article published in New Life Journal in 2003 titled, "All About Nightshades". It's a fascinating read into the origin of the label, what else is in the nightshade family, and how these plants affect our bodies. Hope you can make time to read it.