YA Sci Fi
Date Published: 6/4/2013
New novel The Borealis Genome addresses the issue of increased moral ambiguity as scientific technology advances and removes our sense of individuality. The married authors throw engaged characters Tim and Nora into a scientific nightmare where mind-uploading and a weaponized virus allow the minds of the few to control those of the masses. As the population starts turning into mental zombies can Tim and Nora find the source of this mayhem? And can their love persevere through these harrowing times?
The Borealis Genome was recently awarded as Finalist in the 2013 Best Book Awards , and Honorable Mention in the 2013 Hollywood Book Festival .
Excerpt :
It’s Coming
“I think it’s coming,” Stephen said excited to be the
first to announce the possible arrival. Stephen looked up at his mom to see if
she had noticed that he knew the trolley was on the way, “It’s coming mom,” he
announced again touching her arm and smiling with his big dark brown eyes. His
light brown hair, bleached by long summer days in the sun, hung in his eyes.
“Honey,” he heard his mom’s response, ignoring his
excitement, as she pushed the hair from his brow, “Will dropped his cup by the
stairs. Back there,” she said pointing to the entrance at the bottom of the
staircase. “See it?
A frown formed as he followed Mom’s gesture. “Will,” he
groused, had tossed the cup as she had opened the stroller at the bottom of the
staircase where they entered the trolley tunnel.
“Please?” she asked again.
“Why does she assume I’m not going to do it?” he grumped,
and sulked away. “You get,” he muttered to himself disappointed his
announcement was ignored, and at being the errand boy for the little darling
sitting in the stroller watching as he fetched the Sippy-cup, and just as the
trolley was coming. “That’s what I shoulda said!” he muttered. “Get your own
sippy.”
A man sneered, “Stinkin drunk,” as he watched for the
trolley.
Stan stumbled along the subway platform as his ankle
rolled with each step and his back twisted to the left as his body tried to
stabilize against the spasm in the left lattisimus dorsi. A long bruise crossed
his left eyebrow where he had landed against the door, and blood trickled down
his chin where he had bitten off the tip of his tongue when he landed on his
tailbone. Stan could feel the rush of air as the underground trolley approached
the bend up ahead. Little else could penetrate the fog in his head. There were
shapes in front of him. He could just make out ". . .competition. . .for
his favorite seat," through his blurred vision.
As he tried to pick up the pace to make the trolley,
“gonna be late,” kept coming through the fog. Stan shoved past the first person
as he approached the man from behind, and pushed hard with his shoulder to get
past. The man turned, leading with his elbow as he came around to face the
aggressor in the dim light, angry at being shoved. An elbow in the rib caused
Stan to trip and fall to his knees as he over compensated to keep his balance.
Stan’s eyes never left the grimy platform. It was steady and solid. He could
see the dark concrete, stained by a hundred years of dirty feet and smoke,
beneath his hands as he shoved himself up to get his right foot underneath him.
Stan's bladder let go of its contents when his knees were
bloodied as they cracked against the concrete. Still on his left knee he shoved
hard to get his right foot under him. Stan lurched hard to his left as the foot
collapsed under his weight. Falling! He grabbed and hugged the concrete
pillar.
His eyes were round, propped open by fear; seeing shadows
and shapes. He aimed for a large shape and pushed from the pillar stumbling
toward a tall man like a large, grotesque baby on his first solo. Stan, unable
to judge distance or trajectory slammed hard with his shoulder, hitting the
shape square in the back driving him to the trolley tracks below, rebounded
into a woman. She screamed as she pin wheeled frantically with her arms and
dropped to her knees to keep from falling from the platform. The man to her
left lunged toward the screaming woman in an attempt to grab her flailing left
arm before she slipped.
Adrenaline jolts pounded Stan’s unguided reflexes. He
retracted from the contact, jammed a shoulder against the man’s back sending
them both rolling from the platform in a screaming heap.
Shock stopped the crowd.
Stephen spun at the scream to see the man and women drop
off the side of the platform. He watched as the bloody creature lurched toward
his mom and Will, and still no
one moved.
Motion to his right drew his attention as an officer
stepped off the staircase and took in the scene as if trying to get his
bearings in the sparse light before moving onto the platform.
“Zombie,” Stephen screamed as he ran toward Will, “Mom.”
Stephen’s mother turned when she heard his scream. He could see the panic
register on her face as adrenaline hit her heart. She grabbed for Will sitting
wide eyed and staring toward the bruised and bloodied face.
Hearing Stephen’s terrified scream the officer pulled his
service pistol from his belt. Stephen saw him survey the platform in one quick
sweep from behind the steel prison like bars separating the stair case from the
platform, and moved to a position to confront Stan as he grabbed at Will's
stroller to steady himself against the rushing air pushed forward by the
trolley’s approach, “freeze.”
Several onlookers screamed as they realized there were
people on the tracks. “Help them,” he heard an elderly man yell as he rushed across
the officer’s view.
“Don’t move,” he heard the officer bellow pushing through
the cage like turnstile as he tried to get a clear view while taking in the
panic.
“Zombies,” people began to shout as they frantically
shoved toward the exits running past Stephen and obstructing the officer’s line
of sight.
Stephen watched as the officer hollered again, “Don’t
move,” followed with an angry, growled command, “don’t move.”
Stephen could see the zombie now had a grip on Will’s
stroller handles as he fought to keep his balance. Stumbling toward the
platform edge he lifted the stroller attempting to catch himself and slammed it
back to the ground stunning Will and causing Stephen’s mom to belt out a
screech of panic.
Stephen lunged toward Stan launching himself into Stan’s
chest as the officer fired.
“Stephen,” his mother’s scream echoed in his ears. Terrified?
He landed against Stan’s chest. Weak.
The first bullet struck Stephen between the shoulder
blades driving him into Stan as his legs let go. Stan grabbed Stephen dropping
his hold on the stroller, and lurched backward toward the edge of the platform.
The officer fired again slamming the lead into Stan's forehead and driving him
backward another step.
“Can’t let go,” Stephen thought. What happened?
Stan’s legs collapsed as he fell backward pulling Stephen
along with him and dropped from the platform beneath the trolley rumbling
around the corner. The sound of screeching steel upon steel filled the tunnel
as the driver applied the brakes attempting to avoid slamming into the injured
people scrambling to escape.
Thomas and Nancy come from very different backgrounds. Thomas was raised in a military family and lived through the separations of war and the challenges that a family faces when coming back together. Challenges such as injuries and the frailty of the body and shifts in the personality that war bring to a family can force everyone to redefine how they see the themselves and the world around them. Nancy was raised in a family challenged by severe injuries. Her father was paralyzed and could no longer work causing the family to reform around a new breadwinner when their mother had to take over.
We chose to write a book shaped around these realities and the challenges that new technologies will force societies all over the world to deal with very soon. Mind uploading, neural networks, and human gene manipulation combined with new medical discoveries may become a new reality that we must all understand and learn what it means to our lives. These are realities today that were only science fiction just a few years ago that will soon have a real and direct affect on our lives.
Tom earned his Ph.D. in Organization and Management in 2012 and has other books including “Trust in Virtual Teams,” and “Agile Readiness.”
We chose to write a book shaped around these realities and the challenges that new technologies will force societies all over the world to deal with very soon. Mind uploading, neural networks, and human gene manipulation combined with new medical discoveries may become a new reality that we must all understand and learn what it means to our lives. These are realities today that were only science fiction just a few years ago that will soon have a real and direct affect on our lives.
Tom earned his Ph.D. in Organization and Management in 2012 and has other books including “Trust in Virtual Teams,” and “Agile Readiness.”
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BorealisGenome
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