A Harvest of Thorns

About the Book

Several centuries in the future, corruption dominates the governments of Earth as well as its food and pharmaceutical industries. The public takes a back seat to a mad scramble for profits at any cost. Hundreds of years earlier, human beings discovered a way to accomplish interstellar travel—a method that, though expensive and dangerous, allowed Earth to colonize a planet in another part of the galaxy. Aquario Prime serves as a new home for humankind, led by a government that had learned to avoid many of the pitfalls that had plagued Earth over its long history. It has strict laws regulating what can and cannot be included in food and drugs. But soon humanity finds itself facing a devastating virus that could drive the species to extinction. People of both planets will have to work together to find a solution. Meanwhile, a yet deadlier threat emerges, one that could throw the twin worlds into a dark age of war and anarchy from which there may be no recovery. Can a better system be found before the mad exercise of power by those at the top ruin humans’ hope for the future? In this science fiction novel, the populations of two planets facing total annihilation must find a way to embrace an economic system that works for justice and prosperity.

About the Author

Mario Carini is a retired citizen who makes his home in Ontario, Canada. He has worked as an electronic technician, a manager at a woodstove business, and a night security guard. He is also the author of several nonfiction articles published online; this is his first work of fiction.