Buzz McCord takes us to a still-hopeful world of bioluminescent hairdos and augmented human intelligence.
Born out of a raging pandemic, Buzz McCord's new techno-thriller wrestles with artificial intelligence, surveillance and sex crime. "A Final Reminder," moves energetically between upbeat and malevolent. Its author wrote it to simultaneously entertain and enrage.
"A Final Reminder" walks the line between literary fiction and international intrigue. It transports readers to a near-future world where Dr. Dirk Samuelson, a San Francisco entrepreneur and founder of tech-conglomerate, Arctan International, has invented software that can stop any pandemic by tracking every person's movement and behaviors. He controls global data with formidable technical and economic barriers including 64-Qubit computers, space-based data-banking and lofty politicians.
McCord takes us to a still-hopeful world of bioluminescent hairdos and augmented human intelligence. Its scarred by recurring pandemics and burdened with ubiquitous ultraviolet sterilization and government-mandated instant pathogen detector machines.
"If history has taught us anything, it's that there will be another deadly global pandemic," said Bill Gates in his Shattuck Lecture, Boston, April 2018.
McCord adds, "Science has warned that viral scourges will repeat and get worse. We should be deeply alarmed, maybe systemically fearful."
In real life, Samuelson's software, Exoculation, is being studied by Shin Bet and MIT. Apple and Google recently announced that cellphones are already used to trace individual personal contacts.
Big Brother is here. So, what's next? McCord takes a stab at interpreting a picture of what's to come.
"I wanted to capture amazing technologies as well as an optimistic near-future, where talented people will be the empowered 'international currency,'" he says. "In my novel, society reacts to the catastrophic death tolls of recurring pandemics with what I call the 'Roaring Twenty-Twenties.' And, women in 'A Final Reminder' are supremely confident in their professional abilities - business, neurobiology, assassination - as well as their sexual selves."
Further threats arise from nearly a half billion "excess" human males.
McCord says, "The good guys in 'A Final Reminder' are forced to deal with this, but the solution is very ugly."
"A Final Reminder" describes a future coming soon to a reality near you.
About the Author
Buzz McCord is a tech-preneur and professor. "A Final Reminder" grew out of his career in international science, invention and teaching. A lifetime traveler, he prepped two years for the book in Albania, Norway, Korea, Tokyo and Kamchatka. He was chased in 2020 by the freshly emerging SARS-CoV-2 from Hong Kong through Cambodia into Vietnam. He's an award-winning documentary filmmaker.
McCord lives with his wife in Southern California. His favorite place to write is the lifeguard tower RJ near the river jetty on cold and windy days.
For more information about the author and novel visit: https://www.buzzmccord.com
For more information about the book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NZ3NW3Q
"A Final Reminder is available on Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble and through other independents.
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