Self-Published High-Tech Thriller Features Gay Character in “Jason Bourne” role.
June 27, 2012, Lake Forest, CA — Paul McElligott, of Lake Forest, California, has published his first novel, Human X, a futuristic thriller about a man who has lived thirty-five years unaware that he was the product of an illicit military genetic engineering project. He is publishing the book electronically on the Amazon Kindle™, the Barnes & Noble Nook™, and as a trade paperback edition.
Colin Jeffries is a fast-rising Beltway lawyer and the son of a powerful maverick senator who is almost certain to run for President in the upcoming 2040 election. He appears blessed with an almost effortless excellence at everything he does, but when tragedy strikes Colin’s life, he learns that he may have been the target of a misfired kidnapping plot, and the reasons go back to a secret military project from the turn of the 21st century. Forced to use his exceptional abilities to find the people behind the plot, Colin leaves behind almost everyone he knows and loves.
“This novel has been percolating in my brain since the mid-nineties,” McElligott said, “but I finally buckled down and wrote it late in 2011. It took many tries to get this story off the ground but I hit on something last fall that helped get my creative brain out of neutral.”
McElligott also added, “I believe self-publishing gives authors the tools they need to reach exactly the right audience for their work. It does place more demands on the author, who is now responsible for both the design of the book and business aspects of publishing. I also have to tackle the marketing myself, but that’s also true with a traditionally published book.”
As a high tech thriller, Human X is also unique is one respect. In addition to being highly capable and brave, as heroes are supposed to be in this type of novel, the hero, Colin Jeffries, is openly gay. “The decision to center the novel on a gay character happened early in my processes,” McElligott said. “This was back when the genetic origin of sexual orientation was first gaining traction with the public. The idea of the physically perfect man, the classic hero, who just happens to be gay, appealed to me as a writer for multiple reasons.”
“Beyond the challenge of exploring unknown territory, so to speak,” McElligott continued, “I think that, in the near future this sort of mainstream fiction with an incidentally gay hero or heroine will be common enough to be unremarkable. It’s satisfying to be slightly ahead of that cultural curve, even if it’s only temporary.”
Paul McElligott lives in Lake Forest, CA, and publishes under the banner of Castle Island Books. For more information, contact Paul via www.paulmcelligott.com.
Press Release: Lake Forest Author’s First Novel Pushes Back Boundaries (PDF version)