PLAGUE YEAR

by Jeff Carlson

ACCLAIMED NEW THRILLER NOVEL SHOWS THE PROMISE AND THE DANGER OF NANOTECH

“Frightening, plausible, and action-packed” says renowned scientist and New York Times bestselling author David Brin of Jeff Carlson’s new thriller novel Plague Year. Based on very real advances in microscopic technologies, Plague Year posits a new medical prototype designed to fight cancer. Instead, it causes a global extinction event.

“An epic of apocalyptic fiction: harrowing, heartfelt, and rock-hard realistic. Not to be missed.”

— James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author of The Judas Strain.

During an act of industrial espionage, the prototype gets loose and swiftly replicates into a machine plague. It devours all warm-blooded life forms, killing nearly five billion people and changing life on Earth forever.

The nanotech has just one weakness: It self-destructs at altitudes above 10,000 feet. Those few who’ve managed to escape the plague struggle to stay alive on the highest mountains, but time is running out. There is famine and war, and the environment is crashing worldwide.

Leadville, Colorado, is now the U.S. capital—but America stands divided, driven to civil war over the food, fuel, medicine, and tools to be scavenged below 10,000 feet. Elsewhere on the planet, the situation is even more dire. All of Europe is crammed into the Alps, and India and China fight a vicious battle for the Himalayas.

“Part Michael Crichton, part George Romero… full of high-altitude chills.”

— E. E. Knight, national bestselling author of Valentine’s Exile

“One of the best debut novels in years. Riveting storytelling with a lot of fresh ideas.”

— David Brin, New York Times bestselling author of Kiln People

Humanity's last hope lies with a top young nanotech researcher aboard the International Space Station—and with a small group of survivors in California who risk a daring journey below the death line.

“A grim and fascinating new twist on the post-holocaust story, unlike anything I’ve read before.”

— Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times bestselling co-author of Hunters of Dune

BACKGROUND:

This book was inspired by the rapid progress being made in nanotechnology today. In fact, it has become clear that microscopic robots have the capacity to police the human body of all disease and pollutants. The potential exists to overcome age itself, scouring away plaques and fatty deposits, rebuilding bones depleted by osteoporosis, replenishing the tissues of the heart, liver, and stomach.

The U.S. government will have spent $5 billion on nanotechnology between the years 2004 and 2008. By 2015, nanotech will become a $1 trillion dollar industry, requiring more than two million nanotech workers. But perhaps more importantly, there are individual researchers pursuing their own work at thousands of universities and corporations worldwide… and in hundreds of private labs… unmonitored and unguarded…

Plague Year (Ace/Penguin, August 2007) is Jeff Carlson’s first novel, to be followed by a sequel in Summer 2008. He is also a scriptwriter, and a first-place winner in the international Writers of the Future short fiction contest.

“Jeff Carlson is a terrific writer and Plague Year is a marvelous book, full of memorable characters, white-knuckle scenes, and big ideas. Get in on the ground floor with this exciting new author."

— Robert J. Sawyer, national bestselling author of Rollback

An easily downloaded publication-quality file of the book cover is available at www.jverse.com along with author photo files, biography, and other information.

PLAGUE YEAR

by Jeff Carlson

Release Date: July 31, 2007

Ace Books/Penguin Group

$7.99 U.S./$10.99 CAN

ISBN 978-0-441-01514-6