Synthesis Other Virtual Realities Author:Mary Rosenblum Deserts, oceans, Antarctic wastelands -- the locales in Rosenblum's first short-story collection tend to be extreme. Her characters, not surprisingly, live on the edge. Farmers struggle to survive in a drought-stricken future America. Sailors work to bring a captured iceberg to port. Virtual-reality artists throw everything into their work. ... more »Several of the nine stories are set in the arid universe of Rosenblum's widely praised first novel, Drylands. "Water Bringer," for instance, concerns a disabled child who can work small miracles but who finds his talent rejected by his embittered father until a stranger brings temporary hope to their parched farming community. Moving from the desert to the ocean, "Flood Tide" concerns a father and son who argue bitterly over the son's decision to leave Earth for Tau Ceti. Also noteworthy is "Synthesis," which involves a virtual-reality artist torn between his art and his loyalty to an aging, tyrannical father.