The Just City
Jo Walton
Tom Doherty Associates
<p><I>"Here in the Just City you will become your best selves. You will learn and grow and strive to be excellent." <BR></I><BR>Created as an experiment by the time-traveling goddess Pallas Athene, the Just City is a planned community, populated by over ten thousand children and a few hundred adult teachers from all eras of history, along with some handy robots from the far human future&#8212;all set down together on a Mediterranean island in the distant past.<BR>The student Simmea, born an Egyptian farmer's daughter sometime between 500 and 1000 A.D, is a brilliant child, eager for knowledge, ready to strive to be her best self. The teacher Maia was once Ethel, a young Victorian lady of much learning and few prospects, who prayed to Pallas Athene in an ungaurded moment during a trip to Rome&#8212;and, in an instant, found herself in the Just City with grey-eyed Athene standing unmistakably before her.<BR>Meanwhile, Apollo&#8212;stunned by the realization that there are things...</BR></BR></BR></BR></p>