The Leaves in Winter

LEAVES IN WINTER is a techno-thriller torn from near-future headlines, a cautionary tale on the converging forces of biotech, global governance, and the hard choices of survival for a human civilization teetering beyond its tipping points.

Never before has a society faced a greater dilemma between what is right and what is necessary. So much is possible and yet options narrow. Sustainability looms as the benchmark of the century. Who can we rely on to do what's necessary? Who will we trust to do what's right? More importantly, who will decide one from the other for all of us?

A planet in peril. Humanity on the brink.

On the current path, the future is untenable, civilization unsustainable.

Someone must make the hard choices. Someone has to see it through.

The unthinkable must be done. The alternative is horrific.

The choice is clear.

Six billion people must die -- or we all die.

The situation is ripe for unintended consequences.

Powerful forces are at work.

The determined elite can wait no longer.

Some will be given extended life. Some will enjoy new world harmony.

Many will be sacrificed.

But no one ever expected it would be about the children.

You'll know when the time comes. Wait for the sign.

The go-code. Triple-Green.

A few know the truth. Even less want it known.

But only one risks everything trying to save us all.

THE LEAVES IN WINTER is about possibilities and peril, hope and the horrific. In a time when human society is expanding in so many ways, the specter of instability looms. Is human civilization sustainable? How long do we have before compounding issues of ecology, resource management, politics, and population converge upon a final crisis?

World institutions and think tanks call for a new kind of global governance, a universal economic framework to ensure social justice, and rigid regulatory authority to prevent the ravages of climate change. Given the choice between allowing civilization to collapse and the planet to be decimated by abuse -- or acting decisively in the long-term interest of the human species, what will the global power elite do?

We live in a time when incredible what-ifs are possible -- for good and bad.

Will biotech unlock the secrets of life extension?

Will designer viruses become a sociopolitical tool?

Is there a compromise between doing nothing and accepting the horrific?

The facts are too sobering to look at. It has become easier to look away.

If our options for the future were clear, if the choices were easy, someone would have already made them. Regardless, all indicators point to one of two possible outcomes. Either we find a solution to the human problem or nature will do it for us.

THE LEAVES IN WINTER is a terror ride through one winter in the life of a species. How we face the dilemma of survival in a time of great confusion and ethical ambiguity will determine much more than what kind of society we have in the future. It will decide if we exist at all.