Immortality
Pub 2007 – Techno-thriller
Kirkus review: “There is enough power in the premise to leave readers reeling.”
Publisher’s Weekly STARRED review: “Bohacz’s vision of a humanity that faces the need to evolve profoundly or face certain destruction is as timely as today’s news and as chilling a doomsday scenario as any ecological catastrophe can suggest…”
Immortality is a #1 bestselling epic speculative techno-thriller. It is a prescient two-book story about transhumanism, human evolution, the environment, climate change, the human psyche, and the possibility of immortality.
What if God is only a ghost in a cosmic machine?…
Without warning, something has gone terribly awry in our environment. In the remote and unnoticed places of the world, small pockets of death begin occurring. As the initially isolated extinctions spread, the world’s eyes focus on this unimaginable horror and chaos. Out of the ecological imbalance, something new and extraordinary is evolving and surviving to fill the voids left by these extinctions. Evolution is operating in ways no one could have expected, and environmental damage may be the catalyst. Once discovered, this knowledge changes everything.
Immortality and its sequel, Ghost of the Gods, form a prescient two-book dystopian story about transhuman evolution, the environment, climate change, AI, immortality, and how what we are doing is setting us on a path to pandemics and disaster. Both books can be read standalone, but (hint) please, don’t read Ghost of the Gods before Immortality.
Publisher’s Weekly declares that Kevin Bohacz is one of the “Writers Who Rocked Self-Publishing“ and reports how his books “exploded” on Amazon (their words).
Sci-Fi Reader – S.J. Higbee: “This book manages to do what all the best sci-fi does – provide a thought-provoking, alternative viewpoint on the business of existence. I recommend you give it a go.”
“Speaking as an evolved Transhuman, I applaud this very entertaining, intelligent, and thought-provoking journey to the edges of humanity.” Danny Rubin, author and screenwriter of Groundhog Day.
“Immortality is a fine, tense, scientific mystery adventure that puts mankind in a challenge of survival with a short time limit. This is the way the world could end.” Piers Anthony, author of 21 New York Times best-selling novels.
Immortality, the #1 best science fiction book of 2008 by W Thomas Payne No. 1 – “Immortality” by Kevin Bohacz capitalizes on the theme of impending environmental collapse and the rapid extinction of species that we read about daily in the national news. Following in the wake of the Hugo-award-winning novel “Darwin’s Radio” (Greg Bear), Bohacz keeps the reader riveted with a tale of how the rules of evolution when being crushed by environmental factors could create new species that are “hidden” amongst us – including fellow members of the human race.
Full Publisher’s Weekly STARRED review (quoted above): When human extinctions occur in South America and spread worldwide, paleobiologist and genetic researcher Mark Freedman senses a connection to the Chromatium Omri bacteria, the oldest known life form on Earth linked to previous extinctions. The growing virulence in the “kill zones” spurs Freedman to join forces with Kathy Morrison, expert on viral and bacterial pathogens with the Centers for Disease Control.
Despite personal losses, Freedman and Morrison find romance and make discoveries about the devastation and what lies behind it. Other colorful characters include dedicated policewoman Sarah Mayfair, whose horrific dreams and improbable survival enable contact with the forces behind the outbreaks; cynical Gen. James McKafferty, committed to preserving the U.S. at whatever cost; and Artie Hartman, goaded by his wife’s death to wage war on gangs and government forces indiscriminately.
The seemingly random attacks and emergence of chaos allow Bohacz to explore such themes as whether humanity deserves to survive, the meaning of being human, and the cost of perfect health and immortality. The originality of Bohacz’s ideas is nearly equaled by detailed descriptions of a decontamination lab, the frenzied search for answers, and the aftermath of destruction.
His vision of a humanity that faces the need to evolve profoundly or face certain destruction is as timely as today’s news and as chilling a doomsday scenario as any ecological catastrophe can suggest.
Midwest Book Review, D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer: Extinction events are nothing new in the sci-fi milieu, but Immortality tackles the subject from a different perspective, injecting thriller action into the scenario of a South American bacteria’s rising threat and the efforts of researcher Mark Freedman to stop it.
Survival efforts begin with a perception of biological evolutionary processes, morphing into the special interests, intentions, and manipulations of human beings.
Imagine the entwined lives of two researchers who fall in love in what is perhaps bad timing, a policewoman whose nightmares portend something more sinister than a force of nature alone, and a series of random attacks that call into question whether humanity is even worth saving.
The power in Immortality lies in the many questions Mark tackles in the course of his research. These move beyond problem-solving and into moral and ethical quandaries. Its second strength (of many) lies in the methodical approach Mark employs to connect the dots of probability to arrive at novel realizations:
It was still a logical assumption that people were drinking this water after it was contaminated and then became infected themselves or was it a logical assumption? The water could have been infected at the same time and from the same source as the people. There were hundreds of documented cases where a spouse or roommate had left town just before the event and had survived. In some cases, moments of air travel time separated survival and death.
The complexity of events that surround his efforts makes for an important distinction between the usual sci-fi focus on science and the intersecting special interests of a thriller. This promises to attract both audiences as the plot moves beyond survival tactics and extinction-level events to probe the underlying influences of nature, humans, and political concerns.
Libraries and readers interested in a story of ecological disaster that evolves into a tale of human strategic failures and success will find Immortality unusually vivid, wide-ranging in its presumptions and shifting directions, and filled with topics that will lend nicely to book club discussions.
Replete with high-octane action, lower-key methodical progressive discoveries, and insights into god-machines, manipulation, and the emergence of kill zones, Immortality takes a doomsday scenario and turns it on end for a powerful reflection about what it means and takes to be a survivor.
It’s highly recommended for readers seeking the thrills of a suspense story, the survival challenges in a doomsday threat, and the personal insights of a cast of characters who harbor different perceptions of what it takes and means to be human.
“Every science fiction movie I have ever seen, any one that’s worth its weight in celluloid, warns us about things that ultimately come true.” — Steven Spielberg.
The storyline for Immortality and Ghost of the Gods was completed in 2003 and published in 2007. In the story, the Colorado River and other great rivers are drying up, forests and farms are dying, massive super-wildfires are burning out of control, and mass animal extinction events are occurring. These environmental problems trigger a pandemic called COBIC-3.7.
Twenty years after Immortality was written, in the real world, the Colorado River and the Mississippi River are drying up, forests and farms are dying, super-wildfires are burning out of control, mass animal extinction events are occurring, and a pandemic called COVID-19 has swept the land partially as a result of climate change forcing wild animals into closer proximity with people.
These novels proved to be prescient in many large and small details, including small things such as calling the pandemic COBIC-3.7, which is eerily similar in spelling to COVID-19. Isn’t it odd how life sometimes imitates fiction?
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