Livvy's prequel to the Longevity Law Enforcement trilogy....

Set in San Francisco five years before Livvy Hutchins joins Chris McGregor and Louie the enhanced-intelligence dog in D.C. Longevity Law Enforcement, Pretty Woman, Floating shows Livvy submerged in the toughest case of her Homicide Unit experience.  With her Longevity Laissez-Faire family's expectations dogging her and a failed romance with her Homicide partner forcing her to question her choices, Livvy confronts her personal demons while she fights a running battle against the deadly droid creations of a black market mercenary with brilliant technical skills.

Pretty Woman, Floating

The Third Curse, a prequel set in 2052, is the newest novel in the Longevity Law Enforcement series.  

Chris McGregor and Meg Dalton join forces to track down a mass murderer and find that 21st century politics have become an obstacle to justice. While Chris struggles to find a way to break through the barrier, Meg finds herself on a path that leads her to the third curse.
The Third Curse

Longevity (Book 1 of the Longevity Law Enforcement trilogy) 

The Burning Rivers (Book 2 of the Longevity Law Enforcement trilogy)

The Dog on the Moon (Book 3 of the Longevity Law Enforcement trilogy)

Longevity Law Enforcement Timeline

The stories in the Longevity Law Enforcement trilogy (set in 2107) are, in order: Longevity, The Burning Rivers, The Dog on the Moon. The Third Curse is a prequel set in 2052.

1966 Phillipe Guerout is born  (Canadian shipping magnate, The Burning Rivers)

1967 The Outer Space Treaty  The Treaty affirms that the Moon and other celestial bodies  are the common heritage of mankind, and states that they are “not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.”  The treaty also states that the exploration of outer space shall be done to benefit all countries and shall be free for exploration and use by all nations.  More specifically, it bars the nations that are Parties to the Treaty from using the Moon, other celestial bodies, and outer space for platforms for weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons.  As of 2012, the Treaty is still the basis for international space law.

2004   John Bedford is born.  (wealthy businessman, Longevity)

2006   Chris McGregor is born.

2008   Karen DeVoe is born.  (Chris’ wife)

2010   Senator Logan Albright is born.  (The Dog on the Moon)

2013   Bruno Morelli is born.  (D.C. Special Tactical Commander and Chris McGregor’s friend)

2026   The Chief is born.  (D.C. LLE office commander)

2028   Meg Dalton is born.  (D.C. LLE detective)

2030  Chris McGregor starts work in D.C. Enforcement.

2030s  Molecular biologists begin to make Enhancement protocols available.  People can choose to change their appearance or their brain chemistry.  Enhancements  prove to be quite profitable and popular.  Within a short period of time, “hotlabs” in which people with variable degrees of competence start offering discount procedures, appear in many cities.  Sometimes the procedures offered in these illegal labs have horrendous results.

2034  The Longevity process makes biological immortality and eternal youth available to the very rich.

2034-2046 During these years the Longevity process gradually becomes more affordable and widely available to the upper middle class, so that eventually almost 30% of the U.S. population has access.  It is also offered in government clinics as a job benefit for federal employees.  Enhancement protocols proliferate and become more widely available although they are still expensive.

Longevity and enhancement protocols remain unregulated other than the legal requirement that physicians supervise procedures, which are performed by molebiol practitioners, assisted by nurses, in doctor’s offices.  The AAMB (American Association of Molecular Biologists) and the AAMP (American Association of Medical Practitioners) are formed and are frequently antagonistic.

Within a few years of its development, the Longevity process is capable of duplication by people with a minimum of skills and the right combination of supplies, although not without hazards.  Facilities that aren’t licensed to perform Longevity are, like their enhancement equivalents, known as “hotlabs.”

Widespread and unrelenting protests arise as people who can’t afford Longevity and enhancements realize that they will soon be governed exclusively by people using the new technologies.  Few “naturals” have the resources to run for office, and those who are elected cannot resist taking advantage of their new opportunities.  One ‘natural’ who runs on a platform advocating banning Longevity is assassinated.  Far from calming down with curfews and other government crackdowns, the unrest escalates with time.

These years also see the rise of two loosely organized groups: the Children of Christ’s Sacrifice (CCS) and the Naturals Only, who are fanatically opposed to Longevity for religious and philosophical grounds, respectively.  The more energetic of these protesters favor domestic terrorism.  They also engage in outspoken recruitment.  The groups are widespread and appear to be growing as it becomes more and more obvious that biological immortality and enhancements are creating impenetrable class barriers.

The decade sees the downfall of some of the more precarious democracies of the world.  Anarchy is common.  Some nations survive as military dictatorships or oligarchies.  The United Nations ceases to exist.

2035  Richard Williams  is born  (LLE detective and Michael Agnew’s first partner in Longevity).

2045-2046 The Allotment Riots – Despite the imposition of martial law in every U.S. city, protests and demonstrations escalate into cycles of uncontrolled rioting.  Hate crimes are common.  Over a hundred thousand people die in two years.

2046 Time of Prologue to The Dog on the Moon (Longevity Law Enforcement Book 3)  Domestic terrorists blow up the Capitol and Washington Monument.

2046  The Longevity Laws are passed.  The surviving members of Congress realize that the U.S. cannot survive as a democracy, or possibly as a nation, unless they accept laws that limit the use of the new technologies.  Karen DeVoe, a bioethicist, previously suggested a framework of laws that rationally establishes limits.

Every person who can afford Longevity and chooses to use it is allotted resets until their 200^th birthday.  If they also choose to have children, for every child born they lose 50 years of their Longevity Allotment.  Regardless of what they can afford, if they choose to have 3 or more children they are obligated to start aging naturally from their 50^th birthday on.

2046  Dustin Meacher, Naturals Only candidate, wins election to the House of Representatives.

2047  Enhancement laws are passed, prohibiting enhancements that fail the Herrnstein Criterion: if an enhancement gives an individual an unfair advantage, it is prohibited.  The exception is enhancements for beauty, which no one wants to outlaw.  As one senator famously says, “I say when the government sets itself to regulate beauty, then what will it turn to next?  Truth?  Are we then to turn away from what we cherish most because it is not always attainable by everyone equally?  Are we to say that art violates the right to freedom of expression because not everyone can produce it or afford it?”

2046- Commercial flights to the Moon become common and some U.S. companies begin exploiting lunar resources.

2047 Paula Bedford, John Bedford’s estranged daughter, is born (Longevity).

2047-2050 Despite the general acceptance of the Longevity Laws, protests and rioting remain omnipresent at a low level.  However, every major case of abuse of the Laws leads to anti-Longevity and enhancement propaganda campaigns by the more mainstream Naturals Only and CCS members, which leads to an escalation in the violence with concomitant deaths and property damage.  Penalties for Longevity Law violations tend to be relatively minor compared to the potential rewards, and traditional Enforcement offices are overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task.

2050 Longevity Law Enforcement is created as a special independent national entity with offices in all major cities.  Chris McGregor is the first officer assigned to D. C. LLE after having worked in D.C. Major Crimes for a decade.

Detectives are generally drawn from existing Homicide or Major Crimes units, although they may be recruited straight from police academies.

2050  The first tourist shell is built on the Moon.

2051  Time of Prologue for Longevity (Longevity Law Enforcement, Book 1) Karen DeVoe, Chris McGregor’s wife, dies in a car accident.

2052  Dr. Milo Josephson conspires with Sara Torkelson’s parents to use biotech techniques to prolong her childhood.

2052  Right of Maturity Law is passed, prohibiting the administration of resets to anyone below the age of 21.  (Longevity)

2052  Time of The Third Curse, in which Chris McGregor and Meg Dalton pioneer the way that LLE solves cases.

2053  Pheromone Fiasco – Pheromone enhancements prove to have unsuspected and often undesirable effects.  (Longevity)

2056  Joshua Bedford, John Bedford’s son, is born.  (Longevity)

2060 Livvy (Olivia Hutchins) is born to wealthy parents in San Francisco.  (D.C. LLE detective)

2068 The Chief takes his role as head of D.C. LLE after Chris McGregor declines the appointment.

2074  After almost 25 years during which LLE struggles to keep up with an ever-growing variety of Longevity and enhancement related crimes, LLE is granted additional unusual powers.  Paramount is its unofficial mandate to keep major crimes out of the public eye.  LLE detectives have learned that they will be granted considerable latitude in how to accomplish this, although it is always recognized that their activities will be kept covert and officially unacknowledged.

2080  Michael Agnew is born.  (D.C. LLE detective)

2087  Jesse Bedford, John Bedford’s grandson, born.  (Longevity)

2100  Senator Joyce Bettleman, a senior Senator on the Moon Committee, dies in a car accident.  (The Dog on the Moon)

2102  Time of Pretty Woman, Floating (Livvy's prequel to the Longevity Law Enforcement trilogy)

2102  Time of Prologue for The Burning Rivers  (Longevity Law Enforcement Book 2)

2103  John Bedford’s last legal reset  (Longevity)

2104  Joshua Bedford, John Bedford’s son, die in a fire at age 48.  (Longevity)

2105  Louie, Chris McGregor’s and Livvy Hutchin’s canine partner, born?

2106  Bombing at the Potomac Falls Reset Institute destroys all of the local records of John Bedford’s resets.  (Longevity)

2107 March  Livvy Hutchins transfers to D.C. LLE from SF Homicide.

2107 March  Time of Longevity  

(Longevity Law Enforcement Book 1)

2107 April  Time of The Burning Rivers 

(Longevity Law Enforcement Book 2)

2107 June  Time of The Dog on the Moon 

(Longevity Law Enforcement Book 3)

Not done yet?

Chris and Livvy and Louie have been on my mind for a long time now, and while I am comfortable with where I left their relationships at the end of The Dog on the Moon, the final book of the Longevity Law Enforcement Trilogy, I am not sure I can let them go.  I find myself wondering about their earlier lives and how their precariously balanced society made them into the people they are.  That's almost always true about how we see other people, I think.  History matters, even in the future, I guess.  So there may be a few more stories coming, although probably prequels, which would mean Chris on his own and Livvy on her own. 

Book Review:  Whores: not intended to be a factual account of the gender war, by Nicolas Wilson

Say in the near future men's rights get a real foothold in the U.S. political arena and women's reproductive rights take a plunge. Not a controlled dive, but a hit-the-bottom-of-the-quarry, backbreaking dive. Would a lot of women fight back? With lethal force? In Nicholas Wilson's "Whores" we are treated to a dystopian near-future U.S. in which they do. As the gender war progresses, the reader gradually hears the chilling personal tales of the fanaticized women in one particularly active cell.

What I love about near-future speculative fiction is that it functions as a "what if...?" If it is well done it offers us a mirror for subtle commentary on contemporary society while at the same time offering an exciting story in which readers get some tantalizing glimpses of where science and technology might take us. `Whores' emphasizes sociology over hard sciences and technology to an unusual degree, as it successfully gives a number of freedom fighters unique voices in a society that has shut them out. Frankly, it was all pretty horrible, as it was meant to be, and that made `Whores' a surprisingly compelling read.

To the author's credit this is far from a one-sided story although it is hardly even-handed: there are good and bad men and women and likeable and unlikable police and terrorists. On the whole it seemed well balanced, although it would have been nice to hear something from someone functioning in society but not part of the actual warring parties.

There is a lot of crude language and violence, including sexual violence, in `Whores.' That's my warning, because otherwise I strongly recommend `Whores' to anyone who wants to take an enlightening trip into what I hope is an alternative future we'll never reach.

Whores, a fascinating work of near-future speculative fiction, is available at:

http://www.amazon.com/Whores-intended-factual-account-ebook/dp/B009FLCJ18

Sherrie Cronin

z²

      What if you could do far more than you realize? What if you could do things that others would consider impossible? The collection of books called 46. Ascending asks this as five very different members of a family each discover that they respond to danger by developing skills that appear to defy logic. The third novel in this collection, z², has just been released at Amazon.com.

     An injury ended Alex Zeitman’s hopeful basketball career decades ago and today he coaches, teaches physics, and parents three talented quirky children alongside his rather odd wife Lola. His country school has a long history with organized hate groups and a sad tradition of bigotry, and the recent influx of Latino immigrants has brought out new intolerance. But when the administration itself looks like it wants to turn the clock backwards to an era of white supremacy, Alex can no longer sit idle.

     An old friend from his own high school days reappears along with an ancient Maya mystery that Alex is uniquely qualified to help solve, and suddenly Alex has his hands full. The past and present intertwine as both sets of issues force Alex to come to terms with the tempo altering talents that he thought that he left behind years ago on a basketball court.

    As he and his family find themselves in danger, it becomes obvious that Alex has to accept that his empathic wife has become a telepath and that his quiet genius son has taught himself how to alter his own appearance. Alex struggles with his definition of reality as he recognizes that he must also learn to control his special temporal abilities before legacies from long ago harm those he loves, and before his own era loses a rare opportunity to bridge the past and the future.

Visit the new blog for z² at http://zsquaredblog.org/ to learn more.

z2 is available at  http://www.amazon.com/z2-ebook/dp/B00B6LCV54

About Sherrie Cronin

Sherrie Roth grew up in Western Kansas thinking that there was no place in the universe more fascinating than outer space. After her mother vetoed astronaut as a career ambition, she went on to study journalism and physics in hopes of becoming a science writer.

She published her first science fiction short story in 1979 and then waited a lot of tables while she looked for inspiration for the next story. When it finally came,  it declared to her that it had to be whole book, nothing less. One night, while digesting this disturbing piece of news, she drank way too many shots of ouzo with her boyfriend. She woke up thirty-one years later demanding to know what was going on.

The boyfriend, who she had apparently long since married, asked her to calm down and  explained that in a fit of practicality she had gone back to school and gotten a degree in geophysics and had spent the last 28 years interpreting seismic data in the oil industry. The good news, according to Mr. Cronin, was that she had found it at least mildly entertaining and ridiculously well-paying  The bad news was that the two of them had still managed to spend almost all of the money.

Apparently she was now Mrs. Cronin, and the further good news was that they had produced three wonderful children whom they loved dearly, even though to be honest that is where a lot of the money had gone. Even better news was that Mr. Cronin  turned out to be a warm-hearted, encouraging sort who was happy to see her awake and ready to write. "It's about time," were his exact words.

Sherrie Cronin discovered that over the ensuing decades Sally Ride had already managed to become the first woman in space and apparently had done a fine job of it. No one, however, had written the book that had been in Sherrie's head for decades. The only problem was, the book informed her sternly that it had now grown into a six book series. Sherrie decided that she better start writing it before it got any longer. She's been wide awake ever since, and writing away.

Other books by Sherrie Cronin

x⁰:  x⁰ is an ancient organization that prefers to stay hidden. Yet, when a young Nigerian seeking her captive sister draws upon her telepathic powers to forge a link with an unwilling Texan geophysicist, x0 reconsiders. The two women are both far more powerful than they realize, and the sister has become a strategic pawn in a conspiracy that threatens to alter the course of a nation.  http://www.amazon.com/x0-Sherrie-Cronin/dp/0985156104

y¹:  y¹ tells of a young man with an uncanny ability to morph his appearance who finds that not everyone who works at his pharmaceutical company wants him to knows the mysteries that the company has worked so hard to keep hidden.  As a child, Zane swore to protect all of the odd people in the world.  As an adult, he is fast discovering that everyone is odd. Can he help them all? Now that he has been charged with murder, can he even help himself?

http://www.amazon.com/y1-Sherrie-Cronin/dp/0985156112