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eBook Category: Science Fiction/Dark Fantasy
eBook Description: Pain. Pleasure. The sensation of touch. We feel everything through our skin, that delicate membrane separating "I" from "other," protecting the very essence of self. Until it breaks. Or changes. Or burns. What would you do if you were the one called on to save humanity, and the price you had to pay was becoming something other than human? Or if healing your body meant losing the only person you've ever loved? Wander through worlds where a woman craves even a poisonous touch, a man's deformities become a society's fashion, genetic regeneration keeps the fires of Hell away,and painted lovers risk everything to break the boundaries of their caste system down. Separate your mind from your flesh and come in. Welcome.

eBook Publisher: Apex Publications, LLC/Apex Publications, Published: 2008, 2008
Fictionwise Release Date: March 2008

12 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: eReader (PDB) [223 KB] , ePub (EPUB) [200 KB] , Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [209 KB] , Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [682 KB] , Palm Doc (PDB) [233 KB] , Microsoft Reader (LIT) [216 KB] , Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [260 KB] , hiebook (KML) [536 KB] , Sony Reader (LRF) [289 KB] , iSilo (PDB) [191 KB] , Mobipocket (PRC) [241 KB] , Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [276 KB] , OEBFF Format (IMP) [322 KB]
Words: 71091
Reading time: 203-284 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

For the Plague Thereof Was Exceeding Great

December 1, 2010: World AIDS Day

Kathleen Murphy gripped her can of Mace tightly as she rode the Red Line to work, hands sweating inside the latex of her surgical gloves. All around her, her fellow T riders were openly clutching Mace or pepper spray as well, all glancing around the car from behind safety goggles and surgical masks. Technically, it was still illegal to carry chemical sprays without a license, but no one enforced those laws anymore. It was safer not to.

The T pulled into Harvard Station, the end of the line, and she rose to get off the train. She remembered the days when people would crowd around the doors and bustle off in a mass of closely-packed bodies. No one touched anyone anymore. They wouldn't even come close. She never thought she'd miss that.

She made her way up the escalator, not touching the handrails, crossed Mass. Ave., and headed toward the gates of Harvard Yard. At least the university was still open, even though enrollment had been dropping precipitously over the past four years. No one wanted to send their children away to school anymore. Not unless they lived in a country with even higher infection rates than the U.S. The only schools that were still doing well were Harvard Medical School and the School of Public Health. They even offered scholarship money. That was unheard-of.

At the gates, she flashed her employee ID to the armed guards, waited for them to scan it, and was let in. Still, she remained vigilant as she dashed through the Yard. The crazies had gotten into plenty of secure areas, armed guards notwithstanding. She didn't feel safe until she'd sprinted up the stairs to Widener Library, flashed her ID again, and then heard the doors close behind her. She realized her safety was illusory, but she'd take it.