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In Mira Grant's Parasite, genetically engineered tapeworms are a magic cure-all and a terrible danger. Sure, they keep their hosts healthy — but as it turns out, that's not all they do. Reviewer Genevieve Valentine says Parasite has interesting things to say about medical ethics, but reads too much like groundwork for a series.

Food porn and pirate adventure are two great tastes that taste great together in Eli Brown's Cinnamon and Gunpowder. When a pirate kidnaps a chef to serve her own gustatory pleasures, his creativity is taxed as he prepares feasts — like a Regency-era Iron Chef — using only shipboard supplies.

Reviewer Susan Jane Gilman wasn't impressed by the title of Someone, but she says Alice McDermott's novel is nowhere near as generic as its name. Nothing extraordinary happens to the Irish-American protagonist, but with spare poetry and deep compassion, McDermott makes familiar territory seem new.

Steven T. Seagle's new graphic novel, Genius, follows once-golden physicist Ted as he grapples with family troubles and malaise at work. Reviewer Glen Weldon says Genius is an "achingly felt portrait of man coming to terms with the role chance plays in human lives."

The sudden death last week of 27-year-old rapper Mohbad has led to an outpouring of grief and anger across Nigeria, and put the treatment of musicians by powerful labels into sharper focus.

Legendary food writer Ruth Reichl stumbles on her first foray into fiction, with a novel about food, love and redemption that critic Heller McAlpin calls "as predictably sweet as packaged cakes."

Earlier this week, international negotiators agreed on a deal to curb the Iranian nuclear program temporarily. Author Ariel Dorfman offers context to the reactions that have followed. He suggests a book of poetry by the Sufi master Rumi, a fascinating glimpse into the lives and ideas that shape Persian identity.

The New Zealand-born author Adam Christopher has a fascination for America — his latest, Hang Wire, is a decade-jumping, character-crisscrossing urban fantasy set in San Francisco. Reviewer Jason Heller says that with Hang Wire, his fourth novel, Christopher has mastered "geek-centric weirdness and galloping, whiz-bang pace."

Accounts of the escapades of Narayan Dutt Tiwari, a former governor of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, have stunned that nation. He resigned in December, citing health concerns.

Many leaders in the Middle East are urging calm as a war breaks out in Israel, but there are street protests in parts of the Muslim world.