She Still Lives: A Novel of Tibet [Paperback]

She Still Lives: A Novel of Tibet is an action-love story set in a fictional Tibet of the future. The beginning of the next century is a pivotal time for the Land of Snows. A nascent freedom movement has been crushed by the Communists. Tara Gyatso, beloved Dalai Lama, and her adviser, Mila Lakpa, have been imprisoned. Many years later, Mila Lakpa emerges from jail. He is an aged remnant of his former self, but he rallies for a final act of rebellion. Outwardly he may appear to have forgotten the Dalai Lama, but inwardly, a secret plan is taking shape. The path to success is a razor's edge: on the one side, the Dalai Lama's freedom; on the other, a life sentence and the annihilation of his hopes. The Chinese believe he poses no danger to the State. For all Mila knows, they may be right. She Still Lives is a welcome supplement—a sweetmeat, perhaps—to the regular diet of serious Buddhist books from Snow Lion. Tibetan Studies scholar Bill Magee's short, readable work of speculative fiction imagines twenty-second-century Tibet. While the cultural and physical landscape are familiar (the story follows the protagonist Mila Lakpa, a rebel who supports his religious leader in the struggle against Chinese Communist rule), Magee throws in a few twists that make the imaginative exercise worthwhile, including a female Dalai Lama. She Still Lives has a little bit for every reader: adventure, sex, body-swapping—even genetically enhanced dogs. And those who like a little bit of Buddhism with their fiction will appreciate the characters' discussions of karma and nonviolence. —Shambhala Sun

Dr. Magee has written an original and compelling book about a future female Dalai Lama and a man whose love for her is inspiring and transcendent. The action is suspenseful and the characters are intensely human. She Still Lives is both a gripl“@