
Michael a. Bolinger

The Wormwood Variant
Q&A WITH MICHAEL A. BOLINGER
The main theme is “dangers of the unknown” as it applies to manned space exploration. In the novel, there’s a BSL-4 laboratory on the moon but the NASA Astrobiology Institute makes a unilateral decision to bring alien bacteria back to earth for study and the consequences are disastrous. From a biosafety perspective, we as a species are inadequately prepared for our first extraterrestrial encounter. We’re hearing about the Artemis program in the news. It has a shorter-term goal of re-establishing a human presence on the Moon and a longer-term goal of facilitating human missions to Mars. If we’re serious about colonizing other worlds and studying any extraterrestrial life forms we may encounter, we need the capability to conduct thorough lab studies in space without introducing potentially deadly microbes into Earth’s fragile ecosphere.
I like Johnny Churchill the most for a couple of reasons. First, because he’s a gifted, action-packed superhero. And secondly, because he tends to give me a lot more feedback about the storyline than the other fictional characters. But ours isn’t always a harmonious relationship. He’s very opinionated when it comes to the narrative arc. If he likes where the story is headed then all is well in the universe, but if he doesn’t like the direction it’s taking then he becomes quite vocal about it.
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