I’m writing a chapter on urban fantasy for a forthcoming Cambridge University Press book called Modern Literary Fantasy, edited by Farah Mendlesohn. The mandate is to cover a lot of ground in not very much room, and while I have my own ideas about which specific texts to deal with, I’m also curious: if you were writing this article, and could only deal with five books, what would they be?

In other news, hospitals are trying to study near-death experiences scientifically. O brave new can of worms! And crows are smarter than chimpanzees.