It's the undetermined but near future. America's population is plunging, beset by a mysterious plague that robs individuals of their mental faculties before causing catastrophic respiratory failure. One by one, the institutions of society are also failing. Electric power, media, and law enforcement have become nearly nonexistent. Only a small force, of military origin but exhibiting strange behavior and superhuman abilities, seems to be functioning.
Amid this dark and disturbing world, former soldier Alan Moss, who remains unaffected by the disease, struggles to survive the roving bands of murderous thugs??"of both sexes??"who are preying on the dead and dying. As he undertakes a thousand-mile drive from his home in Orlando to his mother's farm in western Pennsylvania, the highways become concrete battlefields that expose him to horrors he had not encountered even during his difficult military service. Along the way he hooks up with Reed McCallum, an ex-schoolteacher and recent victim of a mugging; and Brooke Fields, a nurse who has left the disintegrating medical system at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Together, the trio faces danger at every turn.
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Influenced by the works of Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Harlan Ellison, and Theodore Sturgeon, he began writing in his early teens. He's also a James Bond fanatic and has read every Ian Fleming novel. As a boy, he was inspired by "The Twilight Zone," and focused on horror and sci-fi as well as suspense. He also loves humor, frequently including it in his stories, as evidenced in his DEMON CHASER series of five novels. His novels, WAGON DRIVER, AND DARKNESS FELL, and AFTER DARKNESS FELL, all focus on futuristic dystopian societies. APPRENTICE and STEPPING OUT OF MY GRAVE deal with death, and are both spiced with humor. His FUNNY DETECTIVE series is another example of his humorous take on death. His novel, IN ANOTHER REALM, deals with a world only our subconscious could be aware of. A RIPPLE IN TIME, AWAKENED, and YESTERDAY'S JOURNEY are tales dealing with illusion and the imagination. COLORS, FATAL INNOCENCE, ESCAPE CLAUSE, BEYOND RECOGNITION, BEYOND GUILT, and REDEMPTION are all suspense stories. Many of his stories take place in Orlando, Florida, where he lived and worked for more than twenty years.
