NOTES
I have a fascination for epidemiology and pathology, the study of diseases, where they start, and how they’re spread. The scariest book I’ve ever read is a non-fiction called The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston, about the ebola virus. Movies like Outbreak are right up my alley.
The idea for this book was spawned when I read Maryn McKenna’s captivating book, Beating Back The Devil: On The Front Lines With The Disease Detectives of The Epidemic Intelligence Service. She includes a chapter about how the villages along the Ganges were the last holdouts against the World Health Organization’s assault on Smallpox, due to the influence of Shitala Mata, goddess of the disease.
I had my setting. I did some more research, developed my characters and motivations, filled in the story gaps, and v
