Wick man a step ahead with first novel
A WICKER living down under has just had his debut novel published and, without forgetting his roots, promises to donate a copy to Wick library.
Ian MacDonald's A Step Ahead of the Fall is in the science-fiction genre and has a backdrop of the human race facing extinction from a deadly pathogen.
The novel deals with a future in which 90 per cent of all species are extinct. Yet humanity is asleep at the wheel, complacent in the belief that borders, governments and technology will prevent it from heading the way of the dodo.
"A select few, inside and outside of the halls of power, have known that it was only a matter of time before the instrument of our destruction would spawn from a breeding ground of our own creation. They prepared the best they could, and now have one chance to protect what is sacred to them from the ravages of the Z-Pathogen," says the synopsis.
Ian was born in 1975 and lived with his parents Glynis and David MacDonald in Tolbooth Lane before moving to Aberdeen where he met his now wife, Lynn.
He started working as a butcher’s boy at 14, a step up from doing odd-jobs for pensioners and collecting glass bottles for pennies. Leaving home at 17, Ian ventured out into the wider world, achieving an honours degree at Aberdeen. This, combined with his entrepreneurial spirit, saw him start a sales and marketing company while backpacking around Australia – the country he now proudly calls home.
The 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre profoundly changed Ian's perception of reality and a search for answers began. A decade-and-a-half deep dive into geopolitics, metaphysics, epistemology, psychology and ethics ensued.
The author is now ready to share with the world what he discovered, through a series of novels that make up the trilogy A Step Ahead of the Fall. The reader is taken on a journey of discovery as Ian attempts to illuminate the principles of freedom, free speech and individual rights – all through stirring and inspired storytelling.
The book is available at www.astepaheadofthefall.com where you will also finds Ian's blog – in which he talks about his upbringing in Wick including the joy of his Saturday job at George Mackay’s butcher shop.
Ian will donate a book to Wick library where the work will be free to access for the town's residents.