In 2006, I released a novel about a global zombie plague that drives humanity to the brink of extinction. While the zombies may have been fake, I tried to anchor the human response (political, military, economic, cultural) in reality.

I studied the history of pandemics, natural disasters and industrialized warfare. I interviewed doctors, soldiers, journalists and someone who "has never gotten a check from the CIA" in an attempt to illustrate the fragile global systems that shield our species from the abyss.

As a result, I've been repeatedly asked if the current outbreak of Ebola is the real-life incarnation of my novel. As much as any author would love to crow about how "I predicted this!" this time, I'm happy to say, my fictional plague could not be more different from the truth.