The Universal Vaccine
by Nancy Smith
After Normal - Book One
Near-future Science Fiction
Re-Published 2021
I
ISBN: 978-1-7326642-4-1
Short Description: This story is set in Austin, Texas set primarily in the year 2025.
University of Texas at Austin art student, Isa Vedkka, comes home to find police on her doorstep. They tell her that her microbiologist mother and engineer father as well as all of her parents co-workers are dead. Isa wants to understand what happened, so she enlists the assistance of investigative journalist, Rory Burke, to help her find answers. The pair have no idea where their search will take them.
If it's not available at your local library or bookseller, please request it.
Author Comment: A universal vaccine is one that does not need to be recreated every year for different variants. This book was written before Covid-19. When I began writing in 2016, I had no idea how much the world would change. Edition 2 addresses the world we live in now.
Reviewer Quote: "Smith deftly reveals Frank's sense of disconnection, exacerbated by the privileged lives that people live in the dome. As the story intercuts between Frank and Alex's turmoils, there is plenty of timely social commentary, but it avoids ever feeling preachy." Kirkus Reviews
Writer Quote: "Austin, Texas is the setting for this timely drama that explores some very dark truths about the motivations behind a brutal attack on a research lab and the future of a universal vaccine - and whether those left in charge intend to use the vaccine for good or their own selfish desires.y." Sara Stiffler