Unlike semiconductors which facilitate the coherent propagation of electrons, photonic band gap (PBG) materials execute their novel functions through the coherent localization of photons. I review and discuss our recent synthesis of a large scale three-dimensional silicon photonic crystal with a complete photonic band gap near 1.5 microns. When a PBG material is doped with impurity atoms which have an electronic transition that lies within the gap, spontaneous emission of light from the atom is inhibited. Inside the gap, the photon forms a bound state to the atom. Outside the gap, radiative dynamics in the colored vacuum is highly non-Markovian. I discuss the influence of these memory effects on laser action. When spontaneous emission is absent, the next order radiative effect (resonance dipole-dipole interaction between atoms) must be incorporated, leading to anomalous nonlinear optical effects which occur at a much lower threshold than in ordinary vacuum. I describe the collective switching of two-level atoms near a photonic band edge, by external laser field, from a passive state to one exhibiting population inversion. This effect is forbidden in ordinary vacuum. Finally, I discuss the prospects for a phase sensitive, single (3-level) atom quantum memory device, onto which information may be written by an external laser pulse.