Jim Lynch

How did the universe and life begin and what are the threats to people and the environment in a pandemic? This book is for anybody with interest in protecting life on the planet. Studies on the origin of life and scientific contributions to safeguarding the planet are examined in light of current thinking on climate change. A major focus is the spread of microbes, put in the context of environmental assessment and management, including descriptions of microbiomes and a consideration of the risks of genetic modifications. Professor Lynch shows how failure to control disease can lead to the collapse of any biotic population. To avoid this, the ethics of management of disease by biological control and by vaccination are discussed, at the practical level and in a moral theological context.

How did the universe and life begin and what are the threats to people and the environment in a pandemic? This book is for anybody with interest in protecting life on the planet. Studies on the origin of life and scientific contributions to safeguarding the planet are examined in light of current thinking on climate change. A major focus is the spread of microbes, put in the context of environmental assessment and management, including descriptions of microbiomes and a consideration of the risks of genetic modifications. Professor Lynch shows how failure to control disease can lead to the collapse of any biotic population. To avoid this, the ethics of management of disease by biological control and by vaccination are discussed, at the practical level and in a moral theological context.

Communists, Capitalists & CokeheadsThe second novel in The Generations Series is entitled: Communists, Capitalists & Cokeheads: The Connected Generation. It picks up where the first novel Boomers, Bastards & Boneheads left off and covers the period of the 1980's. It introduces the next generation of Babcocks and Johnsons, while dealing with residual issues of infidelity, sexual torment and manslaughter, which the previous generation had left unresolved. Once again Shenandoah High School, baseball, politics, spirituality and music provide a structural context. Fox Babcock and his half-sister Maureen "Mo" Babcock play prominent roles. Vietnam War hero Mickey Johnson remarries (his first wife died in the earlier novel, BB&B.) and his new wife Sydney (A/K/A 'Syd') delivers three children into their family. Syd Johnson has an Italian father and an African American mother. The plot deals with a new premeditated murder and an intensifying family animosity between the Babcocks and the Johnsons. It also details Simone's 18 month sabbatical in the squalor of Calcutta on the Indian subcontinent. Simone attempts to discover her own spirituality while working with Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa's charity. Meanwhile 13 year old Maureen Babcock runs away from one of America's wealthiest family households and the consequences are tragic. Fox Babcock finally becomes aware of his authentic pedigree and wrestles with this truth during his high school days at Shenandoah; through his college years at Harvard and onto his first year at Johns Hopkins Medical School. Major social issues of the 80's also punctuate the plot. AIDS; cocaine addiction; racial tensions and gender (in)equality are central to the plot. Also the progression of the nascent personal computer industry foretells the insidious influence of these machines on the global future as well as on the lives of the Babcocks and the Johnsons. Likewise, the earliest cell phones emerge and begin to impact the lives and livelihoods of the two families. Racially polarizing events such as the Bernhard Goetz Subway Shootings and the Central Park Jogger case cause developing disharmony between multiracial members of the Johnson family. Meanwhile Mickey Johnson's career has brought him a new prosperity, even while his outlook on life becomes more rigidly rooted in working class values. The Johnsons and the Babcocks continue to deal with their ever-escalating hostility. In addition, parts of each family have moved to California to participate in the stimulating atmosphere of Silicon Valley. Simone rejoins this capitalistic development after she returns from India. This second novel climaxes in 1989 with the main characters assembled in an attempted rapprochement at the home of the woman who has been a part of both families. However, the Loma Prieta earthquake intervenes and alters the intentions of Simone Muirchant. The near-death experiences of the primary members of the Babcock/Johnson Feud provide for some relief in the rancor. However it offers no real closure to the conflict. As the USSR and the USA begin to wind down their Cold War, a frigid wall is erected for the next generation of the Babcocks and the Johnsons. This section of that saga ends on the doorstep on the Internet Age. Book three of the Generation Series, Techies, Trials & Terrorists: The Transient Generation (scheduled for release in April 2020) will take the Johnsons and the Babcocks through that doorway.

The Johannssens are a sailing family: adventurous, fanatical, and, for now, a complete and total mess. Ruby, a prodigiously talented skipper, has taken off for Africa. Bernard is god-knows-where at sea. And at thirty-one years old, Josh Johannssen, the middle child, is fixing up an old family boat and trying to figure out where it all went wrong. When Josh's father coaxes his children home for one last yacht race, the Johannssens find themselves reunited under thrilling circumstances that will change the course of their lives. Before the Wind is a funny, tender, and big-hearted novel about a gifted, volatile family whose love for the sea rivals their love for each other.-

Which of her three lovers will beautiful twenty-three year old Simone Muirchant chose? Will it be her wealthy blue-blooded fianc ? Could she choose the high school senior who is her passionate secret lover? Will she succumb to the earthy insensitivity of the mysterious third man in her love life? Or will she simply sustain all three lovers? The above encapsulation is the central anchoring plot dilemma for Boomers Bastards & Boneheads: The Wasted Generation, the first of four novels in a fictional quartet entitled The Generations Series. This first book is set on Long Island during the years of 1965 through 1980. The chapters of Boomers Bastards & Boneheads unfold during some of more intriguing events of the period including the Vietnam War; the Moon Landings; Chappaquiddick; Woodstock; Watergate and even the long lines at gas stations during the 1973 Oil Embargo.**********Collectively the four novels that comprise The Generations Series depict the sequential story of two Long Island families throughout multiple generations of intriguing characters. The Babcocks and the Johnsons share more than just a persistent hatred of one another. The ongoing plotline revolves around a carnal reality that there had been a blending of the families back in 1965. That was when the beautiful but enigmatic Simone Muirchant managed to become part of both families. The hatred and hostility between the Babcocks and the Johnsons leads to misogamy, mislaid blame, murder and mayhem. **********One early reader has described the milieu of the 4 volume epic as "Jay Gatsby versus Forrest Gump." Set on Long Island in suburban New York, the epic saga is illuminated by the evolution of thoughts, behaviors and mores in the United States from 1965 through 2016. The fictional all-male Catholic high school - Shenandoah - also plays an essential role in centering the progression of changes that take place for the principal characters over a fifty year period. The bitter hatred between the Babcocks and the Johnsons transcends the timeworn topics of War; Spirituality; Morality and Politics. It also utilizes a fifty year chronology to depict the development of Music; Baseball; Drug Abuse; Sexual Liberation; Political Evolution; Racial Unrest; Feminism and Information Technology across five decades of change in the United States and on Long Island. By the end of the fourth novel the reader will have relived a half century of Americana that may very well serve as a gateway to the exciting future ahead.**********

Flunking Chemistry Class is a parody of the steroid era in Major League Baseball. The novel lampoons the sport as it chronicles some of MLB's absurd attempts to abort the PEDs abuse scandal, which made a mockery of the national pastime over the last 20 years. The author creates a mythical MBL or Multinational Baseball League that includes domestic franchises such as the Bronx Bloomers, the Hollywood Hedgers and the Metropolitan Mutts. It also introduces some international franchises such as the Sydney Kangaroos and the Seoul Searchers and a global commissioner, Buzz Selout. None of the known cheaters get spared in the book. From Corky Samuels, (the "so so outfielder" for the Chicago Gumballers, ) and Popeye Maloney (the crybaby of the St Louis Scarlets) to A Dork, the sleazy third baseman of the Bronx Bloomers and Barney Bombs the massive leftfielder of the Bay City Mammoths, the characters all have a familiar feel to the avid baseball fan. The author follows the logic that the cover-up is as bad as the crime and ensures that the baseball establishment is appropriately satirized (sodomized?) as well. Bass Sledgehammer the owner of the Bloomers and Buzz Selout the MBL commissioner are the face of that establishment and they take their lumps along with the "floats" who do their work on the diamond. **********Three separate plot lines weave together in this baseball tapestry. The most sympathetic plot line follows the hilarious travails of pitcher Sam Crockett, a five tool prospect from Texas as he winds his way through the minor league systems of several MBL teams. Crockett spends the better part of ten years trying to make it to The Show, with stop offs in towns such as Moose Butt, Montana and Beaufort North Carolina. He even does a gig in the backwater towns of Japan. Along the way his progress is frequently blocked by players who get ahead by cheating through the use of performance enhancing drugs. This plot line also details the "26th man," multi-billion dollar class action law suit, which threatens the antitrust exemption of the Multinational Baseball League and eventually reinvigorates Crockett's career. A parallel plot line follows the misadventures of Lester Postal, a sportswriter for the tabloid paper The New York Roast, as he looks to expose the soft underbelly of the conspiracy between the MBL and the players association, the MBLPA. Postal generates tabloid worthy headline stories as he embarks on a mission to ensure that steroid cheaters (a/k/a Floats) never make it to the Corridor of Conceit. He takes on all comers in his relentless attack on steroid abuse and eventually helps his fifth wife - lawyer, Georgette Postal - as she prepares an eleven figure anti-trust suit. The third storyline covers the activities of the many Floats in the MBL during a twenty year period between 1998 and 2018 as they pass through events such as the Earth Series; congressional hearings; The Witchell-Hunt Report and an absurd talk-radio interview, which follows an arbitration hearing. This storyline loosely follows an historical perspective on the game of baseball and the players who do their work on the diamond. Every year seems to bring about a new scandal that exposes still more players to the scrutiny of the fans who want an honest game. The parallel plot lines finally intersect in a surprising ending that allows the reader to speculate about the future of chemistry in the game of baseball.

It is 1962, and the city of Seattle is about to be famous. Roger Morgan, an audacious young promoter, wants to pull off the ultimate coup de théâtre: the World's Fair. Roger dazzles everyone he meets, and is still a backstage power forty years later when, at the age of seventy, he makes a bid for mayor. Journalist Helen Gulanos is new in town and keen to make her mark, she resolves to uncover the real Roger from behind the glossy receptions - because even Seattle's golden boy must have something to hide. Woven into in this city of dreams is a cat-and-mouse-tale of back-room deals, idealism and pragmatism, the best and worst ambitions, and the aspirations that shape our communities and our lives. Truth Like the Sun is hard-nosed yet profoundly humane.

A classic and hugely entertaining political novel, the cat-and-mouse story of urban intrigue in Seattle both in 1962, when Seattle hosted the World's Fair, and in 2001, after its transformation in the Microsoft gold rush. Larger than life, Roger Morgan was the mastermind behind the fair that made the city famous and is still a backstage power forty years later, when at the age of seventy he runs for mayor in hopes of restoring all of Seattle's former glory. Helen Gulanos, a reporter every bit as eager to make her mark, sees her assignment to investigate the events of 1962 become front-page news with Morgan's candidacy, and resolves to find out who he really is and where his power comes from: in 1962, a brash and excitable young promoter, greeting everyone from Elvis Presley to Lyndon Johnson, smooth-talking himself out of difficult situations, dipping in and out of secret card games; now, a beloved public figure with, it turns out, still-plentiful secrets. Wonderfully interwoven into this tale of the city of dreams are backroom deals, idealism and pragmatism, the best and worst ambitions, and all the aspirations that shape our communities and our lives.

A sexy fast-moving cult novel, "The 2020 Players" was written in 2010 but amazingly it accurately predicts numerous future events. These include the rise of an Islamic caliphate; electronic interference in a Presidential election; a female Presidential candidate in 2016; a gay candidate in 2020; terrorism in France; extraterrestrial ambiguities; a crisis on the Mexican border; a new trade cooperative with China, the renegotiation of NAFTA, Media Madness, a Celebrity Presidency several more absolutely prescient predictions. Even with a few wild guesses thrown in, the author is astoundingly clairvoyant. The fast-moving plot presents many colorful characters including Presidential candidate Josh Struben and his wife, singer/activist Gina Struben; Chinese industrialist, Sun Feng; CIA Operative, Catherine Cauley; Islamic terrorist, Faraq Hussein; and Kenneth Brady, the bi-sexual host of the network news talk show, "The Brady Focus." Other vibrant supporting characters invigorate the plot that covers the 12 months of January through December 2020. There is also a rich back-story that deals credibly with the intervening years between 2011 and 2020. The Twenty-Twenty Players are the characters who each undergo a major personal transformation during the title year. Not only do these four-dimensional characters jump out of the text to illuminate the storyline, but they also permit thoughtful access to their individual spirituality as they cope with conflict or accept opportunity. The final 6 months of 2020 are fast paced, and unpredictable. However when the story ends on New Years' Eve, 2020, the reader feels hopeful and invigorated about the stretch of years yet to unfold. The Twenty-Twenty Players has appeal to anyone who has ever felt, love, sorrow, fear, regret, lust, hatred, or hope. But there are several more specific audiences who will find additional meaning as the plot unfolds. Political junkies will sink their teeth into debates about Globalism, American Exceptionalism and the ongoing erosion of the middle class. Questions are asked and answers are proffered. Some of these questions include: Will there be a female president anytime soon? Is the US ready for its first gay president since James Buchanan? Will Dictator Dominoes lead to theocratic unification and sovereignty? When will the USA become energy independent? Can a third-party candidate have a fair shot at becoming President? Will Puerto Rico become the 51st State? How will the Hispanic Vote impact the 2020 election? When, if ever, will Americans be able to cast their vote via the Internet? How will the USA/China relationship evolve? Does the media's role in the political process expand or contract? What is the role of the US military in the Twenty First Century? What is the USA's new Manifest Destiny? What impact will space exploration have on globalization? Embodied in the back-story of the novel are assumptions about what transpired between 2011 and 2020. Some specifics include another US based terrorist attack which takes place in 2017; the US military occupation of northern Mexico in 2015; the passing of the 29th Amendment to the US Constitution that has a fascinating and positive impact on the American political process. There are many more surprises, but all of them are plausible; some might even seem probable. However, first and foremost, The Twenty-Twenty Players is a novel about people. What keeps the reader turning the pages at an enjoyable pace is the primitive curiosity at how the lives of the characters will unfold. Will sexy pop icon Gina Alvarez-Struben help or hurt her husband's chances at election? Why doesn't incumbent President Elder want to run for a second term? What impact will political pundit Kenneth Brady and "The Brady Focus" have on the election? Who will cause the most chaos in 2020, American terrorist, Robert Day or Islamic terrorist Zafar bin Zahid? And finally, what difference can 12 months make on history

A sexy fast-moving cult novel, "The 2020 Players" was written in 2010 but amazingly it accurately predicts numerous future events. These include the rise of an Islamic caliphate; electronic interference in a Presidential election; a female Presidential candidate in 2016; a gay candidate in 2020; terrorism in France; extraterrestrial ambiguities; a crisis on the Mexican border; a new trade cooperative with China, the renegotiation of NAFTA, Media Madness, a Celebrity Presidency several more absolutely prescient predictions. Even with a few wild guesses thrown in, the author is astoundingly clairvoyant. The fast-moving plot presents many colorful characters including Presidential candidate Josh Struben and his wife, singer/activist Gina Struben; Chinese industrialist, Sun Feng; CIA Operative, Catherine Cauley; Islamic terrorist, Faraq Hussein; and Kenneth Brady, the bi-sexual host of the network news talk show, "The Brady Focus." Other vibrant supporting characters invigorate the plot that covers the 12 months of January through December 2020. There is also a rich back-story that deals credibly with the intervening years between 2011 and 2020. The Twenty-Twenty Players are the characters who each undergo a major personal transformation during the title year. Not only do these four-dimensional characters jump out of the text to illuminate the storyline, but they also permit thoughtful access to their individual spirituality as they cope with conflict or accept opportunity. The final 6 months of 2020 are fast paced, and unpredictable. However when the story ends on New Years' Eve, 2020, the reader feels hopeful and invigorated about the stretch of years yet to unfold. The Twenty-Twenty Players has appeal to anyone who has ever felt, love, sorrow, fear, regret, lust, hatred, or hope. But there are several more specific audiences who will find additional meaning as the plot unfolds. Political junkies will sink their teeth into debates about Globalism, American Exceptionalism and the ongoing erosion of the middle class. Questions are asked and answers are proffered. Some of these questions include: Will there be a female president anytime soon? Is the US ready for its first gay president since James Buchanan? Will Dictator Dominoes lead to theocratic unification and sovereignty? When will the USA become energy independent? Can a third-party candidate have a fair shot at becoming President? Will Puerto Rico become the 51st State? How will the Hispanic Vote impact the 2020 election? When, if ever, will Americans be able to cast their vote via the Internet? How will the USA/China relationship evolve? Does the media's role in the political process expand or contract? What is the role of the US military in the Twenty First Century? What is the USA's new Manifest Destiny? What impact will space exploration have on globalization? Embodied in the back-story of the novel are assumptions about what transpired between 2011 and 2020. Some specifics include another US based terrorist attack which takes place in 2017; the US military occupation of northern Mexico in 2015; the passing of the 29th Amendment to the US Constitution that has a fascinating and positive impact on the American political process. There are many more surprises, but all of them are plausible; some might even seem probable. However, first and foremost, The Twenty-Twenty Players is a novel about people. What keeps the reader turning the pages at an enjoyable pace is the primitive curiosity at how the lives of the characters will unfold. Will sexy pop icon Gina Alvarez-Struben help or hurt her husband's chances at election? Why doesn't incumbent President Elder want to run for a second term? What impact will political pundit Kenneth Brady and "The Brady Focus" have on the election? Who will cause the most chaos in 2020, American terrorist, Robert Day or Islamic terrorist Zafar bin Zahid? And finally, what difference can 12 months make on history

"Sprelsk og vittig (...) et overflødighetshorn av en bok", skrev VG om Grensesang, og deres anmelder gav boken terningkast seks. I de vestlige grensetraktene mellom Canada og USA består delelinjen stort sett av en grøftekant mellom landlige naboeiendommer. Brandon Vanderkool er en elskelig brande som trives best ute i skogen der han studerer og katalogiserer fugler. Når han får jobb som grensevakt, sørger det skarpe blikket hans snart for at det oppdages og arresteres marihuanasmuglere og illegale innvandrere i et antall som skaper panikk i et land som ennå ikke har kommet seg etter 11. september. Men uavhengig av kampen mot terror, narkotika og menneskesmugling går livet sin gang på begge sider av grøftekanten. Bokens uforglemmelige persongalleri trumfer hver på sin måte igjennom sin menneskelighet på tross av grensene rundt dem og i dem.

The Rhapsody players is a captivating story about how a fascinating group of characters create a springboard to longevity. The story examines the choices they make with respect to their own health, wellness, sexuality and spirituality, even as they build a business that provides these choices to others. The novel is rich with vibrant characters whom you quickly learn to love or to despise. All of this is achieved in a global setting, replete with the issues that face the world during the years 2008 through 2012.

The Rhapsody players is a captivating story about how a fascinating group of characters create a springboard to longevity. The story examines the choices they make with respect to their own health, wellness, sexuality and spirituality, even as they build a business that provides these choices to others. The novel is rich with vibrant characters whom you quickly learn to love or to despise. All of this is achieved in a global setting, replete with the issues that face the world during the years 2008 through 2012.

Brandon Vanderkool thinks in pictures; he used to think everyone did. Six-foot-eight and dyslexic, he is not an obvious candidate for the Border Patrol, which polices the frontier between the United States and Canada, but somehow, as he ambles round the forest bird-watching, he seems to stumble upon every illegal immigrant and drug trafficker in the area. Meanwhile, his father is dealing with diseased dairy cows, his mother battles encroaching dementia, and their neighbour's daughter Madeline flirts with the cannabis underworld..." Border Songs" is an extraordinary love story and a gently satirical celebration of the coincidental and the miraculous.

Set in the previously sleepy hinterlands straddling Washington state and British Columbia, Border Songs is the story of Brandon Vanderkool, six foot eight, frequently tongue-tied, severely dyslexic, and romantically inept. Passionate about bird-watching, Brandon has a hard time mustering enthusiasm for his new job as a Border Patrol agent guarding thirty miles of largely invisible boundary. But to everyone's surprise, he excels at catching illegal immigrants, and as drug runners, politicians, surveillance cameras, and a potential sweetheart flock to this scrap of land, Brandon is suddenly at the center of something much bigger than himself. A magnificent novel of birding, smuggling, farming and extraordinary love, Border Songs welcomes us to a changing community populated with some of the most memorable characters in recent fiction.