I’m currently working on the third draft of my novel, Mortals As They Walk. This is a soft-SF story with some literary and contemporary fiction elements. From the publisher’s description:
A novel set in the near future when biotechnology is stretching the limits of ethics and legality. Three people: a man, a woman, and a young child, are caught up in a heavily-funded project based on the theories of the brilliant geneticist, Vladimir Androvich, which involve gene-editing, bio-engineering, and selective breeding. While the geneticist is only interested in the benefits to humanity, bio-research firms, Big Pharm, militaries organizations, governments, and black marketeers see the project as a way to become fabulously wealthy and powerful.
The three subjects begin to become suspicious that they are not being told everything about the Project. When the results are successful, their lives are torn apart as the various groups vie for the technology and the child.
In the midst of kidnappings, payoffs, political intrigue, underground mayhem, and murder, the test subjects and project staff must wrestle with the ethical and legal dilemmas they have unleashed upon the world, decide what to do with the data and the the lives that have been destroyed—and find a way to save the child.
This is the most ambitious novel I have written to date. The storyline spans 32 years with scenes taking place from 2006 to 2038. There are 24 locations, including New York, Paris, London, Vienna, Florence, Berlin, and Edinburgh. There are over 100 total characters (including incidental), four are primary in some manner, though one serves as a protagonist with two others as secondary protagonists.
I’ve played around with the timeline a bit, in order to bring some mystery to the unraveling of the plot, placing some scenes next to others in order to illuminate the plot and reveal character.
I spent months researching genetic engineering and related fields. While the novel is not heavy into the details, I needed to know them in order to write the story. It is a fascinating subject, and I was stunned at how far our abilities and technologies have advanced in a short time. Be prepared to hear some amazing work in the next few years.
Here is an excerpt from an early scene:
The little girl opened her eyes and then squinted in the bright antiseptic light. It hurts. So much—
A motion to the side caught her attention. “Gramma? Why are you here?”
“Hello, Eris, my dear.” Her face was pinched and worried; she looked like she had not slept. But Gramma lived in Dallas. What was she doing here—
Eris jerked upright. Mommy. Daddy—
“Eris, dear, I have some bad news.”
“Where are mommy and daddy?!” Tears formed in her eyes.
The old woman took the girl’s hand and shook her head slowly. Matching tears appear in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, little sweet one. They did not…survive. They did not suffer—“
Eris screamed and tried to get out of the bed. Two nurses appeared to hold her down, while a third inserted medication in the tube which led to her arm.
“Eris, Eris, please,” croaked her grandmother, “let them help you.” She stopped to take a breath. “It is terrible, terrible, I know. But we will be okay. You’ll come with me to live.”
Eris did not agree that it would be okay. They couldn’t be gone—they couldn’t! She squirmed under three nurses’ firm grips.
“Now, now, Eris,” one nurses said in an irritating soothing tone. “We’re just giving you something to calm down. Relax, honey.”
It couldn’t be. It couldn’t be.
Her grandmother was speaking, but she couldn’t understand the words. A rushing sound filled her ears, and she felt like she was going blind.
As she began to drift off, she heard her gramma tell the nurses, “We have no other family. The poor little thing.”
In the near future, when biotechnology is stretching the limits of ethics and legality, a man, a woman, and a young child are caught up in a heavily funded project based on the work of a brilliant geneticist. But bio-research firms, Big Pharm, governments, and black marketeers see a way to become wealthy and powerful. Kidnappings, payoffs, political intrigue, and murder follow the test subjects, who must decide what to do with the data and the lives that have been destroyed—and find a way to save the child.
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