The Lukewarm Dead: A Novella

It's 1986 and a fungal extract developed by unconventional, mask-wearing Alfie Soda promises immortality. Ralph Makki is looking for a meaningful way to invest the inheritance from his father, a formidable if unwholesome business magnate. Among Makki senior's paperwork is an unsent letter expressing interest in the extract. Makki invests in the drug, despite its obscure origins, believing it could be a boon to humankind.

Plus, he's already addicted to the stuff.

So when Soda absconds from the research station in Papua New Guinea, taking Makki's money plus everything needed to synthesize the extract, Makki is forced into a global search for Soda and a source of the extract. Soda's trail leads Makki into a series of humanitarian disasters. But what is Soda's obsession with hotspots of misery and genocide? And is Makki the hunter or the hunted?