Taco Del & The Fabled Tree of Destiny — Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff

Visit a future San Francisco in which Golden Gate Park and the Presidio are thriving farms, luxury hotels are the palaces of neighborhood kings and book shops are treasuries of wisdom. This is the world of Taco Del, Merlin to His Majesty, King of Embarcadero. In this world, the young wizard must unravel a great mystery to save his besieged kingdom. King Elvis wants to steal its secrets, mysterious outsiders want to expel its citizens, an ancient and sinister Force threatens spiritual domination. Salvation rests on the slender shoulders of Taco Del and his unlikely allies -- a red-haired Chinese girl, a ghostly tribe of Mission Indians and a small fir tree named Doug.

A brief review by Vonda N. McIntyre: “The book charmed me. I fell in love with Taco and Firescape -- and Doug. Bohnhoff's prose is inventive, yet transparent: a dialect comprehensible to contemporary readers but also perfectly evolved for its near-future setting. It can also be very, very funny. When I had to put the story down, I looked forward to picking it up again. After I finished it, I kept expecting to be able to go back to it, because the characters' lives extended beyond ‘The End.' I hope I get to read those adventures, too.” -- Vonda N. McIntyre