Vangie’s Ghosts

Di Filippo (the Steampunk Trilogy) delivers a witty novel of the multiverse and its abundant possibilities. Evangeline “Vangie” Everett, for most of the first decade of her life, presents to her loving foster siblings and the rest of the world as a nonspeaking, amorphously featured “lump.” In fact, Vangie is a silent savant absorbed into a rich and incredibly complex inner life where she regularly surfs the multiverse’s plenitude of timelines and the variety of avatars that populate them—what she thinks of as her “ghosts”—to select those that offer the best results for her and her loved ones. Vangie’s skill at achieving miraculous outcomes makes her a target of manipulative adults eager to capitalize on her wild talents—and also brings her to the attention of Durant Le Massif, aka “the Massive,” a megalomaniac with similar powers who chases her across time and space in his effort to “remake the multiverse in his own image.” Di Filippo gleefully pursues the imaginative range of his tale’s premise, recasting his key characters with new personas and aptitudes as Vangie puts them through shifting realities. Packed with winks and nods to the work of other science fiction writers, this will be a treat for genre fans. Agent: Richard Curtis, Richard Curtis Assoc. (Feb.)