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From the Author:
My Inspiration for the Mutation Z Series
I’ve been both fascinated and horrified by the Ebola virus ever since the 1990s when I first read The Hot Zone, Richard Preston’s nonfiction book about the simian form of this disease becoming airborne in a Reston, VA research lab. When the Ebola outbreak hit West Africa in 2014, my fascination and horror with this disease were renewed.
Several times a day, news reports came out of West Africa that were so horrifying, it sounded like the zombie apocalypse. For people who were living and dying there, I’m sure it felt like an actual apocalypse. Many accounts sounded like pure Hell.
When several people became symptomatic after hopping on planes to leave West Africa and travel to other countries, I fervently hoped along with the rest of the world that this wouldn’t be the time that Richard Preston’s warnings came true. He had warned way back in 1995 in The Hot Zone that Ebola could easily become a worldwide plague if infected people traveled by airplane from the place where they became infected to various other places around the globe and that Ebola could mutate into an airborne strain if enough infected people were concentrated in highly populated areas. When news stories began circulating about people becoming sick with Ebola in a crowded slum in Liberia and everyone there being quarantined by the government, concern grew that the disease would become airborne.
Eventually, bizarre and gruesome stories came out of West Africa. The disease itself is appalling. In its later stages which happen rather quickly, a person’s internal organs liquefy and leak out through every orifice and skin opening, even the tiny holes where intravenous needles were placed for treatment. In addition to that, the virus is extremely contagious. Any contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids, including a tiny droplet splashed into one’s eyes, is enough to spread the disease.
As medical personnel arrived in West Africa from other countries through the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders, some people in West Africa accused them of purposefully bringing the disease into their country. After all, the disease seemed to get worse after they arrived. Others didn’t believe that there was an Ebola outbreak, claiming that it was all a hoax. Acting on their superstitious beliefs, an angry mob broke into an Ebola clinic in a crowded slum of Liberia, taking blood-stained mattresses, bedding and medical equipment, and bringing a number of patients back home. Rumors became so outrageous that the medical personnel in Sierra Leone were accused of keeping patients inside the clinics in order to practice cannibalism on them.
In accordance with local African burial customs, many people who died of Ebola were buried, rather than burned, by their families. This set up the possibility that the Ebola virus would seep into the water supply. A gruesome news story reported that in some cases bodies hadn’t been buried far enough underground and dogs had dug them up and were eating them.
Reading one horrifying news story after another, I started to come up with ideas for a series of conspiracy theory science fiction/horror books in which the military designs a biological weapon that temporarily turns people into zombies in order to infect their enemies. The way in which government scientists would design the virus is by causing a mutation in the Ebola virus that would allow it to spread as quickly and be as devastating as Ebola, but with zombie symptoms. I researched the science in order to tell as realistic and plausible a story as possible.
Mutation Z: The Ebola Zombies is the first book in the Mutation Z series. The second book in the series, Mutation Z-2: Closing the Borders, will be released in early September 2015. The third book, Mutation Z-3: Protecting Our Own, will be released in early October 2015. The fourth book, Mutation Z-4: Drones Overhead, will be released in early November 2015. The fifth book is currently in the planning stages.
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Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoyed this first book in the Mutation Z series. Mutation Z: Closing the Borders, Book #2 in the Mutation Z series, can be found here:
https://www.amazon.com/Mutation-Closing-Borders-Marilyn-Peake-ebook/dp/B01547OY00/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1443581590&sr=1-2&keywords=mutation+z
When choosing books, people often make decisions based on the recommendations of others. If you enjoyed Mutation Z: The Ebola Zombies, and would consider leaving a review on Amazon or the site where you downloaded it, I would deeply appreciate it.
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All My Best,
Marilyn Peake
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