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Let’s be honest. Deadrise is the perfect name for a zombie-esque apocalyptic novel. Now in The Tide the dead aren’t being reanimated like your typical Zed fest. Still it’s a damn cool name, and I love it, but there’s something more to the name than a simple reference to reanimated corpses.

As some of you know, I spent the better part of five years living and working in Maryland a short drive away from the Chesapeake Bay. The Bay is a wonderful ecological and historical part of the United States. I’ve visited Fort McHenry which played a famous role in the Battle of Baltimore. Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star Spangled Banner” about the flag whipping in the wind over the Chesapeak Bay fort.The bay itself connects over a hundred rivers and streams, and it contains a host of wildlife that rely on the habitats within it and surrounding it. I love driving over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge going from Annapolis toward the Eastern Shore of Maryland and passing over Kent Island. You’ve no doubt gotten a taste of these places in The Tide. So what does this have to do with Deadrise?

A significant portion of the story takes place in and around the bay, of course. And Deadrise is a sort of homage to the Chesapeake Bay deadrise, which is a fishing boat historically used in the Bay. Fishermen used (and still use) the crafts for everything from fishing to crabbing and oystering (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_Bay_deadrise). You can read more about the boats on the Wikipedia page, along with a brief explanation of the nautical denotation of “deadrise.”

So there you have it. A name layered like an onion, fitting for The Tide. Multiple significant meanings related to The Tide. Most importantly, though, is the question: Will the Hunters rise from the dead and take what is rightfully theirs?

Christoph Fischer

Covering topics ranging from civil war in Finland to Alzheimer’s, if there is a common thread in Chrisoph Fischer’s contemporary and historical books, it’s the personal journeys and battles his characters face. They might be confronted by an epic world-changing event (like World War 2) or an event that disrupts their personal world (like a pancreatic cancer diagnosis). So while these seemingly insurmountable odds might at first seem rather grim, Fischer does a fine job of painting people’s discovery of love, life, happiness, and, dare I say it, a little magic in their worlds. Since I’m biomedical guy, I focused on one of Christoph’s latest books, The Healer. It follows an advertising exec faced with her mortality when she’s diagnosed with pancreatic cancers. She’s ready to try everything and ventures out into the world of medicine, both Western and alternative, in search of a new chance at life. Powerful story, great characters, and wonderful  writing, I highly recommend it. On a side note, one of Christoph’s other books, The Luck of the Weissensteiners will be available in a multi-author book bundle called At Odds with Destiny. Definitely worth the admission price of $0.99. If you’re interested in checking out any of his other titles or want to know more about Christoph, check out his personal website: http://www.christophfischerbooks.com/

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Who wouldn’t want an artificial organ that keeps cancer at bay, helps prevent illnesses like the flu, cures genetic diseases, and best of all, prevents wrinkles? I can’t imagine many of us would turn our nose up at that offer–I’d have a hard time declining.

A similar question was first posed to me by a professor back when I was attending the University of Iowa. This professor hosted an outstanding class examining the implications of the Technological Singularity. The idea of a technological singularity spawned from the persistent acceleration of technology. Experts like Vernor Vinge and Ray Kurzweil propose that artificial intelligence will at some point, due to our scientific innovation, become self-aware. At that time, this superintelligence will take on a life of its own that cannot be restrained by the mere intelligence of human beings.

In the biotech world, such a monumental event would take place when we unlock the keys to anti-aging, self-preservation, and, essentially, biological immortality. But who would have access to such technologies? Who could afford it? Even it was just a device or set of treatments that kept your heart thumping for another couple hundred years, how would that alter the economy if people choose not to–or cannot–retire? What about family life? Great-great-great grandma and grandpa might keep having babies if they look and feel like they’re still in their thirties.

The God Organ isn’t an attempt to answer these questions but it was inspired by thinking about these predicaments. I wanted to explore the lives of a few characters living on the brink of this biotechnological revolution and how they’re interacting with a world that’s on the edge of drastic change. This book has been in the making for a two and a half years. I’m proud to announce it’s finally out in the world.

You can pick a copy of The God Organ up here on Amazon. Thanks!