Reading this collection in mid-2023 is a total freakout; published in 2014, the book yet feels like the product, not of a throwback to England's mid-17th century Great Plague, but to Coronavirus, which commenced toward the end of 2019 and shook up civilization globally (and which is still affecting life and economy).

JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR collects three stories set during "the Cull," the tremendous pandemic that nearly wipes out humanity and definitely ends "the world as we know it."

"Orbital Decay": Isolation is a recognized psychological factor for the crew of the International Space Station. Worse occurs when all contact with Ground Control is lost, no one can check up on loved ones nor know when a resupply is scheduled. Even worse than that is paranoia and conspiracy and suspicion run rampant: who can be trusted? Then the deaths mount up...

"Dead Kelly": imagine a Mad Max scenario cranked to the max: when civilization collapses, only the soulless will rule.

"Bloody Deluge": And when civilization is gone and survival is all, yet there will be some determined to victimize according to their own skewed views. Why attempt to rebuild civilization when anarchy and murder are so much more exciting?

JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR is an entry in THE AFTERBLIGHT CHRONICLES Series.