Thursday, September 20, 2018

New Release: Mosquito Song: Dreams in Old San Juan by J.J. Brown


On the last day of summer, a molecular biologist living in New York City faces two mysteries in my new novella, Mosquito Song: Dreams in Old San Juan. The first mystery, she attempts to solve with the tools of science: Which disease killed an unborn baby in Puerto Rico? But the answer to the second proves elusive, and is blocked from her memory: Who took her home after drunken reveling the night before?
The scientist, Antonia, gets a five AM call beckoning her to Old San Juan, where a frozen fetal sample awaits analysis. She responds at once, excited by the opportunity. Antonia is a risk taker. The most likely suspects are diseases carried by mosquitoes: Malaria, dengue, chikungunya, West Nile, and Zika virus. The DNA for each disease is distinct, and she takes on the challenge of identifying which caused the fetal death.
She scrambles to prepare for her flight while getting over a massive hangover. At the same time, she looks for clues to trigger her memory of the prior evening. Once in Puerto Rico, she finds a mystical and confusing world and a singing mosquito haunts her dreams.                                                             
Her journey is one of courage as she searches for the disease-causing pathogen responsible for this new case. When the next day unfolds, the facts she discovers about the medical case and about herself astonish her.


The story for my new novella began when I was working as an editor, researching news stories about Zika virus two years ago. I was also writing about pandemics of the past, like malaria. During that time I was reading about mosquitoes as vectors of disease, and became fascinated with their life story and how it has been linked to ours throughout history.
I completed the story just after I read an August 2018 report on Zika from the National Association of County and City Health Officials. It covered a new Vital Signs publication from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, that found babies born to women with Zika virus developed health problems not apparent at birth. About one in seven of these babies were having birth defects. But they also were having vision and hearing problems, seizures, or developmental delay. The news brought this mosquito-borne disease into focus again, as an ongoing public health concern for pregnant women, new mothers, and their babies in the U.S. territories including Puerto Rico.
A scientist myself, I bring my experience with DNA studies into this new story. I hope you will agree after reading Mosquito Song, the job of virus hunting can be exciting!
Mosquito Song: Dreams in Old San Juan is available for Kindle readers and at Goodreads.
About J.J. Brown
Author J.J.Brown was born in the Catskill Mountains of New York and lives in New York City. She completed a PhD in genetics and worked as a research scientist for 20 years before turning to writing.
Connect with J.J. Brown

2 comments:

  1. Thank you Sharon for having me as a guest on your blog. It's great to share the inspiration behind the story.

    ReplyDelete