All of the mortals referred to in Kage Baker’s latest Company story (her first, “Noble Mold,” appeared in our March 1997 issue), actually lived and worked in the last century at Fort Ross—Russia’s failed colony just north of San Francisco. “A Vasilii Kalugin was, in fact, stationed at the fort during the time mentioned in this story. The orchard and the fortress are still there, and well worth a visit; the ghosts are pleasant and courteous, and the holy water still flows free.” Ms. Baker’s first novel, In the Garden of Iden, a Novel of the Company, will be out from Harcourt Brace in February