On her last day of high school, Cassandra Devlin walked out of exams and into a forest. Surrounded by the wrong sort of trees, and animals never featured in any nature documentary, Cass is only sure of one thing; alone, she will be lucky to survive. The sprawl of abandoned blockish buildings Cass discovers offers her only more puzzles. Where are the people? What is the intoxicating mist which drifts off the buildings in the moonlight? And why does she feel like she’s being watched? Increasingly unnerved, Cass is overjoyed at the arrival of the formidable Setari. Whisked to a world as technologically advanced as the first was primitive, where nanotech computers are grown inside people’s skulls, and few have any interest in venturing outside the enormous whitestone cities, Cass finds herself processed as a stray, a refugee displaced by the gates torn between worlds. Struggling with an unfamiliar language and culture, she must adapt to virtual classrooms, friends who can teleport, and the ingrained attitude that strays are backward and slow. Can Cass ever find her way home? And after the people of her new world discover her unexpected value, will they be willing to let her leave?

What happens when the plot ends? A relentless barrage of weddings, babies, and planetary colonisation! Meandering through the two years following the conclusion of the Touchstone Trilogy, this self-indulgent collection of family reminiscence is more saccharine than dramatic, with the most action to be found in snowball fights. For those who truly just want to know what happens next, no matter how mundane, read on for the everyday, ordinary lives of psychic space ninjas playing house

One does not simply walk onto another planet. At least not without the help of a daughter who has developed unlikely powers, fought an intra-dimensional war, and then arranged for a family relocation to a futuristic clone of Earth. Laura Devlin would gladly have paid any price to have her daughter back, so living in a techno-paradise with spaceship views is merely an added bonus. And a dream come true. But Arcadian paradises do not come without complications. Laura’s include a plethora of psychic grandchildren. Interplanetary diplomacy. Her daughter’s immense fame. And KOTIS, the military watchdog that seems to consider Laura’s entire family government property. Forewarned by her daughter’s experiences, Laura had anticipated as many problems as she could, and didn’t doubt her ability to cope with the rest. But she had not planned on Gidds Selkie, a military officer chipped from flint and not at all the sort of man lifelong geek Laura had ever imagined would find her interesting. Burned in the past, Laura is surprised to find herself tempted. Is this a new start to go with a new world? Or a mismatch doomed to failure?

KOTIS recruits Oriel and Maxen just wanted to get their gaming guild together for Snow Day, but failed to factor jealousy into their plans. On a day that has come to celebrate families and friendship, it can be hard to be kinless. A turning of the year piece of Touchstone fluff (one for the fans, not recommended for new readers)