Ill Wind

Book excerpt: An environmental disaster leads to global chaos in this science fiction thriller by the authors of Assemblers of Infinity. It is the largest oil spill in history: a supertanker crashes into the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay. Desperate to avert environmental damage (as well as a PR disaster), the multinational oil company releases an untested designer oil-eating microbe to break up the spill. What the company didn’t realize is that their microbe propagates through the air…and it mutates to consumer anything made of polycarbons: oil, gasoline, synthetic fabrics, plastics of all kinds. And when every piece of plastic begins to dissolve, it’s too late . . . Praise for Ill Wind “A high-action, best-seller-caliber disaster novel grounded in unsettlingly accurate science. . . . Using the standard disaster novel format of multiple characters and plot lines, Beason and Anderson maintain a suspenseful, breakneck pace that carries us to a thrilling finish.” —Booklist “A big, near-future disaster novel straddling the border between science fiction and technothriller, likely to appeal to fans of both.” —Kirkus Reviews “A real winner . . . [the authors’] grasp of the science, the technology, and the political scene is unique.” —Dr. D. Allan Bromley, former assistant to the president for science and technology