Allochthonby Ian McKinley 
| No. words: 114000 Ebook Price: $3.99 
| Genres: Science fiction, General Published: 6 / 2024 Available Formats to Download: MOBI EPUB PDF 
| | STORY DESCRIPTION Set in the near future, Allochthon follows a group who are in possession of a rejuvenation treatment that promises greatly increased longevity. Bruce is a member of the team that samples extremophile microbes to support this development work and is well aware of its potential to destabilise an overpopulated planet already suffering from the impacts of global warming. Despite its huge potential value to their pharmaceutical sponsors, his boss decides to keep their findings under wraps until they can find a way to ensure that it does more good than harm.
However, a cabal of aging plutocrats, led by a competing mega-corporation, have a continuous programme of industrial espionage aimed to take complete control of this resource. Bruce hopes to divert attention from the research group but, during a sampling trip, the cabal launch pre-emptive attacks to remove their competition, completely regardless of collateral damage on a huge scale.
By luck alone, Bruce and his partner Marion survive the initial attacks and learn that his boss is also alive even though Marion's girlfriend - his boss's daughter - is dead. They are now on a mission to eliminate those responsible and revenge fallen colleagues, despite still being in the cross-hairs of their opponents.
| Keywords related to this title - click on a keyword to find more, related stories Science Fiction Action Thriller Near future 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. |
