No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Not all villains succeed at being evil. Not all diseases deserve the word plague. Fate can be ironic indeed. The chilling short story, The Giving Plague, follows microbiologist Forry, a self-proclaimed cynic, jealous of his “boy wonder” colleague who discovers a unique virus that could change humanity. Transmitted by blood donations, the virus manipulates humans toward altruism and charity. Forry decides that he will do anything to take credit for this discovery…until a more deadly alien virus infects the human race, forcing him to wrestle with his own inner demons.

The Giving Plague by David Brin is a sci-fi horror story about a non-violent virus outbreak which has deadly consequences years later. The science is fascinating, the fiction is horrifying, and, as any sci-fi fan will tell you, stories like this one have a way of predicting the future. How could forced altruism be a bad thing? Read on and see for yourselves...

As always,
AstraDaemon

P.S. This is one of those rare times I highly recommend reading the author's note at the end of the story.