how a genocidal pandemic could affect real people and real nations, real families and real children—just like their own. I hope that they take note and urge our representatives in Washington to begin research now to limit the damage should something like the virus described in this book be released into the world.
At the risk of appearing gauche, I would also like to state that some of the despicable attitudes and beliefs described in this book are most emphatically not my own and I trust that any offence I may have caused is outweighed by the need to alert the country to one of the many dangers lurking in the future.
The near future, I might add.
I might also mention here that I took some liberties with the layout and organization of the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta and its nearby environs. It was rather ironic in a way. I asked the CDC for a map or a description of their outside building (or buildings) and was refused. Perhaps they thought I was a terrorist! At any rate, as the potential for biological terrorism increases, the CDC might very well come to resemble the description in this novel.
I also took a few liberties with the White House, but not many.
Acknowledgments
I would like to extend my thanks to the following people for their help in getting this book into your hands. First and always, my wife Betty. She is a very astute judge of what’s right and what may be wrong with a particular book and she has saved me from making a number of grievous errors in the past. She also has a talent for getting to the very heart of controversial subject matter. While I won’t say she is always 100% right, it turns out that she is right very nearly all the time. Personally, I think our government could benefit from her advice in a number of areas if they would just ask.
As usual, Jamie Jones reviewed my flying sequence and saved my mechanically and aeronautically untalented self from making any number of errors. He and his family are really good friends even though we’ve never met other than over the internet.
I would also like to extend my thanks to Lida Quillen for her belief in my ability as a writer and the potential of this book to reach a large audience. Twilight Times Books is still a small publishing company and she risked a large amount of capital to bring this book to market.
Thanks are also due to Leslie Holman-Anderson, for her fine editing. Working with her is always a pleasure. I also appreciate her altering her schedule to coincide with mine for this particular book.
And finally, thanks to all my readers, especially those from the electronic book world. They are the ones who are really responsible for what success I have achieved as a writer. They have purchased my books, given me a following, written me letters with many very good suggestions and propelled my name to the very top ranks of authors whose books are released in electronic versions as well as print. Every time I see my name and books listed with such notables as King, Niven, Bear, Weber, Chrichton and other nationally known authors on the e-book best seller lists, I think of my readers and wish there was some way of letting them all know individually how much I appreciate their support. I suppose there isn’t, but thanks folks, from the bottom of my heart, and I wish you all happy reading for many more years to come.
Author Bio
Darrell is the author of about two dozen books, in many genres, running the gamut from humor to mystery and science fiction to non-fiction and a few humorous works which are sort of fictional non-fiction, if that makes any sense. He has even written for children. For the last several years he has concentrated on humor and science fiction, both short fiction, non-fiction (sort of) and novels. He is currently writing the fourth novel in the series begun with “Medics Wild.”
Darrell served thirteen years in the military and his two stints in Vietnam formed the basis for his first published novel, “Medics Wild.” Darrell has been writing off and on all his life but really got serious about it only after the advent of computers. He purchased his first one in 1989 and has been writing furiously ever since.
While Darrell was working as a lab manager at a hospital in Texas, he met his wife Betty. He trapped her under a mistletoe sprig and they were married a year later. Darrell and Betty own and operate a Christmas tree farm in East Texas which has become the subject and backdrop for many of his humorous stories and books.
Visit Darrell’s web site: www.darrellbain.com
Visit www.twilighttimesbooks.com for information on additional titles by this and other authors.
Copyright
Twilight Times Books
Copyright ©2005 by Darrell Bain
Published by Twilight Times Books, July 2005
NOTICE: This work is copyrighted. It is licensed only for use by the original purchaser. Making copies of this work or distributing it to any unauthorized person by any means, including without limit email, floppy disk, file transfer, paper print out, or any other method constitutes a violation of International copyright law and subjects the violator to severe fines or imprisonment.
All rights reserved. Except for very brief quotes in reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form.
Published in the United States of America.
Twilight Times Books
PO Box 3340
Kingsport TN 37664
Cover artwork—Kurt Ozinga
Managing Editor—Ardy M. Scott
PUBLISHER—Lida E. Quillen
