“I told you so…”
From Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain to Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, and in many other examples, sci-fi authors have written apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic tales about pandemics. Most can be considered warnings, and I doubt few are popular now. We’re fighting a real pandemic, after all.
Some of these tales are about the outbreak itself, like the first example; others about the aftermath; and still others consider both. The main villain is usually the contagion, although it might only lurk in the background like in the second novel. But human beings can play secondary roles as villains too, even if they’re just incompetent (so much incompetence has been and still is being revealed with COVID-19).
As an ex-scientist and a writer (the authors named above don’t possess that first advantage), I can perhaps examine these tales more objectively and less emotionally than most readers (of course, that might not save me from the virus). These stories invariably contain the ubiquitous thriller elements: the authors put the protagonist through hell on Earth, and they either survive or don’t. The aftermath stories follow that same formula, but they can be a blend of post-apocalyptic and dystopian.
Some of these stories are even examples of noir humor, sarcastic comments on human beings’ foibles. And others can even be uplifting. But all these stories are answers to the fundamental sociological question: What if a pandemic occurs?
Now we are living in times where real-life answers to that question must occur. In a sense, we can conclude that sci-fi authors’ warnings weren’t heeded. There’s a ready villain besides the virus in this case, because China, at the very least, hid the facts and didn’t close their borders until after the virus already escaped (remember Chinese New Year?). But let’s not consider what happened as a biological attack, though (if it was, it backfired big time on China!). Instead, we have to continue to answer that fundamental question.
We’re entering the post-apocalyptic story now (by the time you read this, that should be even more true). In my stories, More than Human: The Mensa Contagion (a novel that considers both pandemic periods mentioned in the first paragraph) and The Last Humans (post-apocalyptic, i.e. about the aftermath), the tales end on a positive note.
Let’s make sure the real-life one does too. Mitigation techniques are working—social distancing and staying at home if you can; and using masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer when you can’t—but we have to stay the course. We must do a careful balancing act walking that line between restarting our local, state, national, and global economies, and continuing those good practices.
Please stay the course…and do all you can to keep everyone safe so we can be victorious in this war against this very real menace we’re facing.
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Comments are always welcome.
More than Human: The Mensa Contagion. Another “evergreen book” from yours truly, that is, as current and relevant as the day it was published, and just maybe a story that might make you feel better during the pandemic (maybe COVID will force us to make some positive changes in our society?—it has certainly revealed some flaws!). An ET virus comes to Earth and creates Homo sapiens 2.0. What do the new humans do? They don’t go to Disney World after that big win—they colonize Mars! This is an epic sci-fi saga all in one novel. Available in .mobi (Kindle) ebook format at Amazon, and in all ebook formats at Smashwords and its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.) and lending and library services (Scribd, Overdrive, Baker & Taylor, Gardners, etc.).
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
