The Immortal
  • Reads 113
  • Votes 10
  • Parts 9
  • Time 57m
  • Reads 113
  • Votes 10
  • Parts 9
  • Time 57m
Ongoing, First published May 01, 2016
At TechCrunch's 2015 "Disrupt NY" conference, Bill Maris, managing partner at Google ventures, spoke about his quest to extend human lifespan through Google Ventures' investments in longevity technology.   Maris wanted to fund start-ups that would make living to 500 and beyond a reality.  "Part of it," he told Bloomberg's Katrina Brooker, "is that it is better to live than to die." 

Is it? I asked myself.  My science fiction writer's imagination couldn't let that assumption go by unquestioned.  Don't get me wrong.  I want to live a long time.  But for 500-plus years?  I don't know.  Longevity technology raises some interesting, and unaddressed, questions.  Will everyone benefit from the technology, rich and poor?  And if all do, what do we do with all the people on an already overcrowded planet?  What would still interest a person after a few centuries of life?  Can human love last for centuries?  How would the young feel about having so many super-centennials around?  Is human nature built to last for 500 years? 

Set a century from now, The Immortal looks at these questions through the story of a love triangle loosely based on the tale Cyrano de Bergerac.  In it, human longevity technology plays against human evolution, two ways of beating death.  One man-made, the other nature's way.  

About the Cover:  The image of the red-headed woman was created by Jun'ichiro Seyama using Average Face for iPhone.  It is an "average" of 12 red-headed women and represents a kind of everywoman. The photo of the Australopithecus afarensis skull is from the Museum of Natural History, Basel (Switzerland).  Both are used under the Creative Commons licenses.
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Slide 1 of 9
Exile: The Book of Ever cover
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Lunar Virus ✔️ cover
REINCARNATION: The story of us cover
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THE ENHANCED cover

Exile: The Book of Ever

30 parts Complete

Centuries after the Fall, the United States has been wiped away. The crumbling remains of the great American empire are home now only to savage, lawless tribes and packs of ravening Damned-the twisted children of the apocalypse. Most of those few who survived humanity's destruction spend their short lives in a violent struggle for survival. But some light still flickers in the darkness: the Blessed of Bountiful live in seclusion, relying on walls both physical and spiritual to protect them from the Desolation that their world has become. Among them are the Saints, those few men and women born with superhuman abilities that the Blessed see as gifts from God. The violent apostate tribes of the Northeast Kingdom have always been a danger, but up until recently its small size and the vigilance of its people have made Bountiful an unappealing target. As attacks on the community grow harsher and more frequent, however, even the steadfast Blessed are forced to start preparing for the worst. With her home's very existence threatened, seventeen year old Ever Oaks, a Saint with the power to heal, is forced to make a difficult choice, one that may come to define her people's future... Exile was a semi-finalist in Mark Lawrence's Great Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (#SPFBO). Fantasy Faction said it was "extremely cool," and Bookish Lifestyle called it "more than just a story, a journey and an experience." When I'm asked about it, I often describe it as "X-Men meets The Walking Dead." In addition to reading it here for free, you can buy Exile in e-book or paperback on Amazon.com.