Mishima's Legacyby Ian McKinley 
| No. words: 101000 Ebook Price: $3.99 
| Genres: Science fiction, General Published: 2 / 2022 Available Formats to Download: MOBI EPUB PDF 
| | STORY DESCRIPTION The word pandemic tends to cause fear, based mainly on experience with COVID - a highly transmissive but relatively mild disease compared to others such as Ebola and Black Plague. Although further natural pandemics will certainly emerge in the future, the impacts of tailored diseases produced by genetic engineering could be very much worse and, if that is their aim, these have the potential to depopulate much of the planet and could cause the collapse of civilisation as we know it.
In the middle of this century, the impacts of uncontrolled climate change have turned the few countries with the resources to weather them into virtual fortresses, with barricaded frontiers guarded to avoid being swamped by those escaping from less fortunate lands. Switzerland, in particular, has become a refuge for the mega-rich, many of whom can be accused of contributing to the global warming catastrophe. It is thus under constant attack by terrorists who are offended by this blatant injustice.
A perfect storm emerges when, under such conditions, a plot to create a population-control pandemic emerges. When this plot is serendipitously uncovered by a small Swiss counter-terrorist unit, they must find a way to combat it alone, neutralising threats in Europe and Asia, while keeping their actions secret to avoiding the inevitable global panic that would result if such a threat became known.
Presented from the perspective of the unit leader, the challenges of following a trail of evidence around the world and avoiding the deadly traps set for them are complicated by developing emotional relationships with his team members. Although social acceptance of such physical relationships is not a problem in the mid-21st century, controlling them to avoid risks to the operation is tricky, especially when it transpires that the vector that provides immunity to the pandemic is an engineered sexually-transmitted virus.
| Keywords related to this title - click on a keyword to find more, related stories Science Fiction Action Thriller Near-future Dystopia Pandemic Global Warming Bio-warfare Author information: Ian McKinley is a Scot, living in Switzerland and spending much of his time in Japan. A professional scientist and fan of all forms of science fiction in books, comics and movies, he decided at the turn of the century to extend from writing text books and technical papers to the new challenges of fiction. Writing occurs mainly during long vacations spent diving, skiing and exploring exotic locations, which provide inspiration and settings for his books.
He writes novels set in the middle of this century, major social and environmental changes along with rapidly developing technology forming the backdrop for action thrillers written for a mature audience. The characters play a central role, tacitly establishing the cultural changes resulting from increasing sexual permissiveness and growth in the power of mega-corporations at the expense of national governments. As Ian has a wide overview of the most recent developments in science and technology, the future worlds described are credible and, given their generally dystopic nature, maybe worryingly so. |
