"The Claus Effect" is a continuation of "The Toy Mill," the 1993 Aurora-Award-winning story about a malevolent, post-industrial-revolution Santa Claus and Emily, the little girl whose wish to be a Christmas Elf nearly destroys the world. The Claus Effect takes up eights years later, when events propel teen-aged Emily and West Point cadet Neil Nyman on a breakneck journey through suburban shopping malls, Ontario cottage country, and the frigid northern wastes of the former Soviet Union - battling displaced Cossacks, blue-blooded cottagers and homicidal, down-sized elves along the way. Finally, they must face down the terrifying truth: about Christmas, the New World Order - and the Claus Effect.