Date Published: 3/26/21
Publisher: Acorn Publishing
Following a global pandemic, which has either killed or weakened most of the male population, women now dominate all aspects of life.
Dr. Morgan Digby, married to a man rendered bedbound from his bout with manflu a decade prior, is working tirelessly on a vaccine, yet obstacles keep springing up in her path.
When she meets a handsome neighbor who has never been exposed to the deadly virus, things become…complicated. There’s something between them, but he can’t leave his home.
Morgan’s struggle to remain faithful to her ailing husband isn’t her only battle. Someone has been one step ahead of her, countering her every move. Will she find a vaccine before it’s too late to protect those she loves?
Excerpt:
Morgan Digby woke up groggy from her usual nap as her
self-driving, electric car pulled into the driveway of her small suburban
house. She had dreamt that her husband Jonas
was walking toward her on a crowded sidewalk, cradling a baby in his
arms. If only any small part of that dream had the remotest possibility of
coming true, Morgan could be happy.
She stretched and brushed her black bangs out of her eyes,
feeling the hollow spaces beneath them with her fingertips. Tired from a busy
day working at the lab on the manflu vaccine, the nap prepared her for the long
evening of caretaking that lay ahead. Her husband
Jonas was mostly bedridden after his bout with the pandemic ten years
ago. His body no longer actively fought an infection, but he would never be the
same.
Morgan was about to
enter her house when she saw her neighbor put down her garden rake and
cross the street to chat. Sarah, like many women nowadays, no longer bothered
with a bra. Her full, bouncing breasts, barely covered by a thin, V-neck
t-shirt, drew the eye. An image quickly flashed through Morgan’s mind of a time
years before when Sarah had pressed those breasts against her and leaned over
to kiss her on the lips. Morgan quickly shook her head to clear the thought.
“Morgan, big news!” said Sarah when she was within gossip
range. “Beth’s nephew came to stay with her. He’s a Vulny. I got a glimpse of
him through the curtains, and he is a hunk and a half. Pale, obviously. About 5'10"
with black, curly hair and surprisingly muscular. He must spend a lot of time
lifting weights. I’m charging my vibro3000 as we speak.”
Wow, a Vulny! Morgan had never seen one before. Vulnies
were the men who had never gotten manflu and were therefore still vulnerable to
it. These men could not go out in public for fear of being infected, thus the
pale skin. Women could be infected as well as transmit the virus to others;
however, they experienced very mild cold-like symptoms and quickly recovered.
Both men and women who had previously been infected could not contract the
virus again; however, men with post-manflu viral syndrome were immunocompromised
and at high risk of contracting other infections.
Morgan immediately thought of the vaccine she was working
on, and she wondered if this man could be a test subject for it when it was
completed. She wanted to rush over to Beth’s house right away to meet him and
find out more, but she couldn’t. Jonas waited inside for her to make his
dinner, bathe him, and keep him company. She was accustomed to putting aside
her own desires to care for her husband, but she still felt a sting of
disappointment each time.
About the Author
Simone de Muñoz writes dystopian, or perhaps utopian, fiction, depending on your perspective, where women drive the story and sometimes even run the world. She holds a master’s degree in public policy from UC Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree in economics from MIT, which she uses in her day job as a data analyst at a nonprofit. Based in Silicon Valley, she lives with her patient husband, their two young sons, and a grumpy dog named Fish. Manflu is her debut novel.
Contact Links
Purchase Links
No comments:
Post a Comment