The urban landscape depicted by Paul Theroux in his classic 1986 novel O-Zone, where the rich live in artificial "green" enclaves protected by private corporate armies from the environmentally devastated areas surrounding them that are populated by the rest, will soon move from fiction to fact.

BBC: NEWS | In Depth | Viewpoints: The urban world in 2050

The first time I interviewed writer Lev Grossman I had just finished reading his excellent fantasy novel, The Magicians, the story of a group of teenage students at Brakebills, an elite private school for magicians.

FORBES: Lev Grossman on 'The Magician King' and the Science of Magic