The Finest Mask
What if the Europeans who came to North America 300 years ago had been susceptible to epidemics, but the 500 Indigenous nations’ people were not? This is the alternate history world of The Finest Mask, where disease has disfigured nearly all of Europe’s population. Sometime in the future, the people have become accustomed to wearing masks to conceal their scars. Gene hunter, scientist Sir William Potter travels from London to New York City in search of an illusive gene for perfect skin, a gene to prevent the ravages of infections and the disfiguring scars. What he finds might protect his future and reawakens his heart.
Readers are saying
“At a time when there seems to be a growing willful ignorance of science and anti-intellectualism among a certain faction of the American population, J.J. Brown’s tale is both refreshing and hopeful. If we use our minds and our hearts, we might just find our way out of the messes we have created…”
“Speculative fiction, at least in the (writing) hands of J.J. Brown, is fascinating, fun, and provocative, to say the least. This story is so well-written it moves the reader along as fast as the train the main character is in for a while, moving us into a world we think we know so well, and yet, as the story progresses, realize we don’t know at all…”
“The Finest Mask is not a horror story – yet it can scare us as much as a Stephen King short story, because of the speculation of what ‘could be.’ Who knew that science combined with great fiction could entertain so wonderfully?”
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Mosquito Song: Dreams in Old San Juan
After an unborn baby’s mysterious death, a New York City molecular biologist travels to Puerto Rico to investigate. Fears of a new pandemic mosquito virus haunt her plans and nightmares. Her next DNA experiments reveal a personal stake in a future she is not ready to accept.
Readers are saying
“A superb balance of scientific expertise with artistic sensitivities along with genuine compassion with those impacted by her work…”
“The author is a scientist and writes scientific thrillers, short stories, and poetry. In this novella, she has once again woven a dark, magical story that pulls and twists the true thread of DNA research on deadly viruses into the fictional story of a flawed young geneticist named Antonia who, while recovering from a night of toxic drinking and promiscuous sex, flies to San Juan to pick up a fetal human brain sample to try to determine what killed an unborn baby…”
“There are few books with scientist protagonists, let alone female scientists. Even Michael Crichton had women scientists as only secondary characters. And, the character of Antonia in Mosquito Song is flawed, human. She drinks herself unconscious and has indiscriminate sex in the process. Ah, the scientist stereotype, another one gone…”
“What a great short story with a female character who is strong yet flawed, intelligent yet makes some bad choices while she follows her research job on DNA and viruses, particularly from insects like mosquitos…”
J.J.Brown Author 