### Review "Good story over all. Fresh take on the zombie genre anway." --Tedward, 10th March 2011 on goodreads.com ### From the Author The inspiration for Extinction Theory came from an online encyclopedia article I read about Cordyceps (Parasitic Fungi). Cordyceps infect insects and alter their behaviour for their own gains. Once the fungi has matured it then flowers from the insect to spread its spores for the next generation. In concept I think its quite gruesome and creepy. Personally I found it quite disturbing. Taking the idea further I thought about if a similar fungus could infect a human being? Altering their state of mind to spread the next generation of the parasitic fungus? The idea was intriguing and led me on to the thought of what a situation of this nature would be like. The closest thing I could think of would be a zombie outbreak. With their minds altered and bodies ravaged by an invasive fungus they would single-mindedly attack and spread the fungus as far as they could. The idea of opening the book at sea was one of many openings I visualised. Originally I started the book off in the forests of the Amazon but changed this as I altered where the outbreak originated. Also it was a little to similar to the film arachnophobia. Extinction Theory as it stands is the third time I have written the book but the first time I have fully finished it. Previously I have half written the book twice which have both been quite different to the finished product. The main character (Sydney Trent) was based on a former tutor of mine. He was geeky but kind of cool in a geeky (for want of a better word) way. For the General I wanted him to appear as stereotypical of an American General as he could be. Although he most likely does not fit the grain of a real General, in my eyes this is how they appear to be. In low budget films at least anyway... With the above inspiration the book turned out to be a zombie outbreak horror type creation but with a twist of a different cause of infection and reanimation of the dead which makes for quite an interesting and entertaining read. Who can resist a good zombie novel these days anyway?

In this exquisite debut novel, Mary Emerick takes readers into the watery landscape of southeast Alaska and the depths of a family in crisis.An abusive father and a broken home forces a teenage Winnie to seek the safety of a neighboring bay and a pair of unlikely father figures. Years later her mother goes missing, and Winnie returns to the hunting and fishing lodge she grew up in to find the world she knew gone. Her once-powerful father disfigured by a bear attack. Her childhood hero revealed as merely human. And her mother's story rewritten by a stray note.As Winnie uses the help of friends to sort out the details of her mother's final exodus, she finds herself pulled into a murky swirl of family secrets and devastating revelations. As the search heads higher into the mountains, Winnie must learn to depend on her own strength in order to reach the one she loves.