Alien Plague

 

 

Alien Plague

by Chris Koehler

GENRE: Science Fiction

Dr Avery Hutton lives in good times. All of humanity now lives under the Global republic, a democratic government that works hard to protect the rights of their citizens, expand orbital infrastructure and explore space. The last of which is helped by the relatively new Warp Drive, allowing probes to travel to and from the nearest stars over the course of a few years.

This is part of Avery’s job, helping organize the missions form the ground, his specialty being the analysis of microorganism form other star systems. But this most recent mission will change everything. For while every return mission previously had gone well, and few issues were observed, this time one of the returning samples is a bit… nastier than any previous sample. This time something has returned that could wipe out all life on Earth.

Excerpt:

“It can’t be that dangerous,” said Anna. “Diseases were something that killed our ancestors, not something we deal with today.”

Dr. Foster sighed, “If we could fight it, we could have saved Nicole. Don’t you think we would have done that if we could?” 

“Are you saying you’re incompetent?”

“No, I‘m saying that these pathogens can’t be dealt with by modern medicine, and we have no more ways of stopping a Beta Strain infection today, than we did when Nicole got infected.”

But I felt like a dead man in here, like this was my tomb, where I had been taken to die. That if I did not escape, I would die. I knew that was not true, that if I escaped I would either die or live with my location not mattering at all… How did Elia, the man who died on me, and so many of the others keep so calm? How did they face death so well? I wish I could be half as calm as they were… I think I understood the people who rioted… #$%$ this sucks. 

About the Author:

I am a new author and this is my first book. I started working on this story around 2016 and have been refining it ever since. 

I first got interested in writing years ago, I took part in a junior writing fare, and wrote as a volunteer from a teenage perspective at a local newspaper. My parents loved Science Fiction and Fantasy and passed on that love to me. 

While this is my first book, I hope it’s not my last, I hope you enjoy it!

 

Q&A With the Author

 

When did you first consider yourself to be a writer?

It was more gradual than anything else. If we want to go far back enough I have thought about writing for some time before actually doing it. I even considered writing a novella as a high school senior project. Though I think it only felt official when I published my first book.

 

What advice do you have for a new writer?

I have two pieces of advice. First, start writing today, it does not have to be good, it does not even have to be something you intend to show anyone. Just do something to get your eye in, you can come back to these ideas later, or just let them rest. But you must get something written, be it pen and paper, or on the computer, or anything in between. Second, find an author support group, I found one myself and they helped me get my first book published. Some of that came in advice, some in rewrites and criticism of my work, and some of it came in pushing me to just do it, but I don’t think it would have happened without them.

 

What is the easiest part of the writing process for you?

Difficult question, but I have to say the part after I have figured out where I want the story to go, and see the path ahead. That is when things get somewhat easy, I have a direction, and I see every word going onto the screen as progress (typing). It is much easier than looking over the whole thing for mistakes I made or trying to figure out where I need to go from where I was at.

 

What is your favorite part of this story?

It feels weird to have a favorite part of a story I wrote, but if I have to pick, it’s the middle towards the end. The part where they figure out what they need to do. 

 

Which character was the most fun to write about? Why?

All of them were fun to write about. Though I think I might go with a controversial favorite. The Disease, known in the story as Pathogen 6. I consider that an important character in its own right. I consider it the most fun… or rather the most interesting because it’s biology which I studied a lot in college. But also it is an interesting character that will wipe out everything in its way, without any thoughts on the process at all.

 

Which Character was the hardest to write about? Why?

Probably the first character to die. Without wanting to spoil too much, people do die in this book, writing those was always difficult. They had to be sympathetic enough that you felt sorry for them when I often had little space to flesh them out. I felt it necessary for the story for this character to die when they did, but it was still difficult to get it right. 

Book available here:

https://www.amazon.com/Alien-Plague-Christopher-Koehler-ebook/dp/B09ML694GW/ 

https://www.audible.com/pd/B0B4V82JZH/

You can find my Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/CKoehlerAuthor

GIVEAWAY

Chris Koehler will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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