Xcrath!

About the Book

This is the story of the adventures of an interstellar ship and its crew, each of whom is required to provide three areas of expertise. MDs are mono-specialist, so there are no medical doctors on board.

Eventually they discover a perfect planet which is peculiar only in that its atmosphere contains three percent Xenon. xenon has no effect on humans at a level of three percent, but is an "ideal" anaesthetic at high concentration.

At first the planet seems devoid of sentient life; but soon the humans discover that it has already been colonized by the gigantic, insectform, aggressive and predatory, female-dominant Xcrath and their diminutive, apparently subjugate, mutant cousins, the Xcarianth.

Throughout most of the year, The Xcrath are tranquilized by a high ambient Xenon. However for one month during Winter, when Xenon freezes at the poles and its atmospheric concentration falls, their natural aggression comes to the fore.

It turns out that both Xcrath and Xcarianth are plagued by mutations of varying severity: The humans devise a simple surgical solution to the most debilitating of these, thus securing the loyalty of one group and incurring the enmity of another.

The fragile peace is interrupted by a surprising development, which threatens both human and native existence. Xcrath and human responses to this new situation are examined, as each group comes to grips with the new reality.

The plot is innovative, the narrative crisp. The author's surgical background adds an unusual element of medical intrigue and a dash of humour as the Xcraths' disabilities are explored. The tale is absorbing and the tempo quick. This is first-rate Science Fiction.

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About the Author

I am a typically undereducated medical doctor and as such, have had only limited exposure to 'the classics'. My only academic distinction was winning the Canadian Urological Association essay "essentially, a thesis) prize, as a Urology resident in 1972.

I was born in Jamaica on May third, 1939, to a medical family: my father was a surgeon and my mother, a nurse.

My brother is an MD psychotherapist in Toronto, and my sister is professor of special education at a major US University. I have three children from a first marriage and two with my wife, a Scots nurse-turned-Human Resources Person.

I obtained the MB, ChB medical degrees from the University of London "Eng.) via the University College of the West Indies, in Jamaica, in 1964 and worked in rural Jamaican hospitals for two years, following internship.

I returned to the U.Hospital in 1967, intending to study for a British surgical degree, but eventually decided to study in Canada. I moved to Toronto for surgical training in Dec., 1968.

The Canadian FRCS "Urology) was granted via the University of Toronto in 1974, following a five-year residency.

Career: consultant Urologist for Montego Bay, Jamaica, for two years beginning in July 1974, followed by practice in Toronto until 1997.

In 1997, when all three hospitals in which I worked were closed, I went to Saudi Arabia as consultant Urologist, for two-and-a-half years.

On my return to Toronto, I switched to family practice.

I enjoy words; I speak Spanish, Portugese and Italian tolerably well "fluently re. medical matters, haltingly in conversation) and a smattering of Arabic. I read French slowly but fairly accurately.

SciFi has always been a major interest; I particularly admire Larry Niven, O.S.Card, C.J.Cherryh and Frank Herbert. I cannot pretend to be a serious author; but would have attempted fun-writing SciFi before, had time permitted. In Saudi Arabia, time was easy to find; hence, 'XCRATH!'.

Two further plots, unrelated to XCRATH!, are simmering.

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