From the Bookshelf of Apocalypse Whenever…

[close] Galveston is set, like a number of Stewart's novels, in an alternate, near-future America in which magic -- real magic -- has invaded the world, with devastating results. According to the novel's overarching premise, magic began "leaking" into the atmosphere during the latter half of the 20th century. In 2004, it reached critical mass and exploded across the planet. The result was a radically restructured world in which technology lost its hold, ghosts walked, and a transformed host of monsters, mutants, minotaurs, and angels proliferated. On the island of Galveston, they called this moment of magical transformation "the Flood."