Photo: Andrew Schaer

A local author has published his second book on Amazon Books, a narrative he says is both a “cautionary tale” and a “damning indictment" of today's world.

Andrew Schaer, a Kamloops writer with a masters in business administration, said his new book, The Singularity of a Species, is a futuristic, politically driven science fiction, romantic comedy and action thriller.

“That's a lot to take in, but it works out that way,” Schaer said.

“When we think of most films, for example, Independence Day, had the same kind of multi-genre placement.”

Schaer said the plot follows a Russian paleoclimatologist who unknowingly unleashes another pandemic on the world, leaving politicians and global superpowers jockeying for power.

“The thought came to me last fall, and I just started sitting down and, as usual, it was a lot of word vomit — it just came out really fast,” said Schaer.

“Then I just put the brakes on it and thought, I’m gonna think this through. So it's 100 per cent plausible and 100 per cent based in science.”

Schaer said he was “outraged” at what he said he saw during the COVID-19 pandemic, and sought to lampoon politicians and reactions during an existential crisis within his narrative.

“What better way to convey the importance of vaccination, and the importance of understanding science and the importance of government understanding risk management, than to take the same situation but put a dent to it,” said Schaer.

“It's both a cautionary tale and indictment of what happened.”

Schaer said he has been testing his new book on a focus group of avid readers in Kamloops.

The self-published book was released on Sept. 24 and, according to Schaer, reached No. 29 on the Amazon Kindle Store’s best sellers rank in capitalism, and No. 229 in humorous science fiction.

Schaer said he’s been a writer all his life, having written and produced music in the past.

“Writing a book was not that much different, because you're basically still telling a story,” Schaer said.

The Singularity of a Species is available on Amazon’s Kindle eBooks.