“The Orchestrators” by Donald Hricik has been released worldwide. This 327-page work of science fiction brings readers into a distant future, where planet Earth has been destroyed by global warming and “Race Wars,” driving the dwindling human population to undertake a dangerous mission to Jupiter in hopes of finding one of its moons inhabitable. Under the control of a group of global elites known as the Orchestrators, people are losing emotions and memories as a result of mind-altering drugs that purportedly make them more suitable for long-distance space travel.
The novel follows Dr. Henry Shannon, who has been groomed to become the next of the Orchestrators, as he leads an unsuccessful mission to Jupiter, loses his wife in a catastrophic asteroid collision, and returns to Earth to find shocking changes in nature and a thriving society of surviving humans once known as Tunnel People.
As the twisting events of the novel unfold, the nefarious histories of both groups come to light, and Henry must face difficult choices that affect the future of the human race.
With a background in medical science and numerous academic writing credits, Hricik adds meticulous detail to this rich and complex world, including the intentional use of drugs to eliminate memory and minimize aging, the physical toll of long-distance space travel, and efforts to use genetic engineering to prepare humans for their interplanetary mission.
The novel explores themes of immortality, social and governmental control, cloning, memory, and artificial intelligence, weaving each of these futuristic elements into a compelling, urgent narrative that continues to reveal surprising truths about human nature.
A provocative, thrilling story that uses imaginative science fiction to show the gray areas between good and evil, the lengths humans will go to for survival, and the secrets people will keep to maintain power, Donald Hricik’s fifth novel builds a society at the brink of catastrophe and raises important questions about how the world fell apart.
The Orchestrators (ISBN: 9781966074595) can be purchased through retailers worldwide, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The paperback retails for $15.99, and the ebook retails for $2.99. Review copies and interviews with the author are available upon request.
Learn more at: https://www.donaldhricik.com/
From the back cover:
The year is 2360. A select group of a half million humans, the only survivors of global warming and the “Race Wars,” are living a Spartan lifestyle and exhibiting loss of memory and emotions resulting from the mind-altering drugs created by world leaders known as the Orchestrators. The drugs markedly slowed metabolism and aging, making them ideal for prolonging the lives of humans requiring long periods of travel in space. Henry Shannin is being groomed as the next Orchestrator who will lead a mission to Jupiter, hoping to find an inhabitable moon that can accommodate the humans remaining on Earth. After discovering that the moons of Jupiter are uninhabitable, Henry reluctantly agrees to return to Earth, ultimately bolstered by news that global warming somehow has given way to global cooling. During the return trip home, his wife is killed when an asteroid collides with their spaceship. Depressed and increasingly concerned about survival of the human race, Henry presses on and successfully lands his group back on Earth, which bears little resemblance to the planet they remembered. The returning passengers encounter strange new animal species and are stunned to find that Earth has been repopulated by a group of humans previously known as Tunnel People because of their subterranean lifestyle. Their Supreme Leader, Lillian Goodman, a long-time opponent of the Orchestrators, somehow alters the Tunnel People who now have advanced technologies, an above-ground life of opulence, and apparent immortality. As Henry unravels the nefarious means employed by the Supreme Leader to create this Utopian state, he discovers why these new humans remain desperately dependent on his passengers for maintaining their immortal status, and must decide whether to cooperate or resist and face his own mortality.
About the author:
Donald Hricik is a retired physician who lives and works in northeast Ohio. He has authored or edited more than two hundred medical manuscripts, textbooks, or book chapters, mostly dealing with clinical aspects of solid organ transplantation. All of his previous novels are thrillers with medical themes.
About Manhattan Book Group:
Manhattan Book Group (“MBG”), located on Broadway in New York City, is a registered trade name of Mindstir Media LLC. MBG is widely known as a premier hybrid book publisher. We have combined the best of traditional publishing with the best of self- publishing to provide authors with the “best of both worlds” in a sense.
To learn more about MBG, visit https://www.manhattanbookgroup.com/
Media Contact
Company Name: Manhattan Book Group
Contact Person: Jen McNabney
Email: Send Email
Phone: 212-634-7677
Address:447 Broadway 2nd Floor #354
City: New York
State: New York
Country: United States
Website: https://www.manhattanbookgroup.com/
