Red Genesis

By Kailin Gow and Kira G.

If you like Stranger Things, James Patterson's middle grade books, and Chronicles of Narnia; you will love Kailin Gow and Kira G.'s fantasy middle grade/young adult STEM book series like this one. From USA Today Bestselling and ALA YALSA Award-winning Authors Kailin Gow and Kira G. comes a Science Fiction Post-Apocalypse Thriller.

If you liked Bird Box and The Quiet Place, you will enjoy RED GENESIS.Evie was born on a new Earth that had no oxygen. When she was only 13 years old, her mother had to step outside of their underground shelter for an errand. She had been missing ever since. But with her mother's careful instructions and training, Evie has been able to survive for the last 5 years.She knows there are dangerous creatures outside of the underground shelter who travel with the wind and feeds on people's fear. They have killed many humans on the surface when they first appeared. Did her mother meet the same demise? Now at 18 years old with the shelter deteriorating and in need of fresh supplies, Evie is about to embark on the same errand and face the deadly creatures above. What will she find and can she survive?

This is a STEM/ELA Literary Book for Age 14 and Up and includes STEM and ELA Literary Discussion Questions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sparklesoup Inc.
• Release date: Apr 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9781597482189

Kailin Gow

It's official! Read about Kailin and her books being adapted into films and tv series here: https://filmdaily.co/obsessions/kailin-gow-loving-summer/ FIND OUT MORE ABOUT KAILIN GOW AT: https://linktr.ee/KailinGow including how to get a free book from her! Kailin Gow is a million-selling international and USA Today Bestselling author of over 680 published books! She writes in many genres under her name and other pen names. She has been an invited speaker on Book Expo America, appeared on CBS News about writing books with social issues, and the Top 15 National radio regularly on women's issues, women in film and Hollywood, and leadership. She holds a Masters in Management from USC and degrees in Social Ecology, Criminology, and Filmmaking. She is an author influencer on Instagram, owns a podcast network with multiple channels, is a multi-award-winning filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, actress, and host. Her books have been made into games, animated short films, and series. Currently, a number of her book series have been optioned, are in development, or pre-production, including her YA Fantasy Sci Fi Thriller FADE (which has been optioned) and Red Genesis (also optioned) by Netflix producers. Kailin Gow is a regular guest in radio and television on women in Hollywood and filmmaking, naming the top Women Execs to Watch. She is a judge in film festivals, writing contests, and is also a voting member in the Academy Awards. AWARD-WINNING INTERNATIONAL MILLION-SELLING AUTHOR, PRODUCER, AND TV PERSONALITY Kailin Gow is an internationally-recognized multi-award-winning multi-genres USA bestselling Asian American author and woman director/filmmaker who has written and published over 400 books under Kailin Gow and her pen names. She is both traditionally-published as well as indie. Considered a digital publishing pioneer, her books have been downloaded over 10 Million times around the world. She is known as one of the most prolific authors internationally who not only writes novels but screenplays fast, but of world-class quality they win prestigious awards like the ALA YALSA Awards and Los Angeles Film Awards. Besides having gone to law school, she holds a Masters Degree in Communications Management from USC and Drama/Film and Social Ecology Degrees from UC Irvine. She has also been a longtime member of TED Talks. She is the first Asian American author to have sold over 1 million books and to be featured on Amazon.com's homepage as an indie Author Success Story. Her success as an Indie Author and advocate for Indie authors during the early Kindle days has inspired many to take a plunge to become authors. The first Asian American woman who is independently published to appear on Amazon's homepage as an Author Success Story, she also represented Amazon as an author spokesperson during Amazon's Kindle Family Launch press conference in Santa Monica and at Book Expo America where she was an invited speaker. A digital publishing pioneer, she was one of the first authors and publisher to publish digitally back in 2001. Prior to becoming a full-time author and filmmaker, she worked as an Exec in Legal and Production at Walt Disney Company, a writer/producer for Cable Television, an Exec at high tech start ups, and Exec at Fortune 100 Hotel and Travel Corporations where she has managed and trained hundreds of employees on world-class service and operations. She has also been a professional model, a tour director, journalist, re-organization consultant, a secret mystery shopper/consultant for top brands, and professional speaker who has been an invited speaker at Book Expo America, Girl Scouts, Asian America Heritage Week, and more! FUTURIST AND SOCIAL INFLUENCER A social influencer, she has over millions of views on her YouTube channel and her Vimeo channel with over 1.5 million views on her Bitter Frost trailer and award-winning animated short film alone. She is a judge on writing contests for writing incubator social sites, has been a member of TED Talks, and is one of the most quoted modern living authors today. She has also been regularly published as a contributor on Fast Company magazine on articles about publishing, leadership, business, and social issues. https://www.fastcompany.com/1800256/social-media-and-future-publishing-industry

Book preview

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

~ Genesis 1:1

Red Genesis is dedicated to Mom and my Grandmother as well as all mothers.

ONE

"Jana! Run! To the Shelter!"

His handsome face, that reminded me of matinee idols on Vintage Earth, as Mom has called the Earth before the 22nd century, was contorted into horror as he stared into the camera, facing the person filming him.

The person behind the camera asked, But what about you? It was Mom’s voice. She sounded younger, more vulnerable than I’ve ever heard her, and...scared.

Thomas? She asked.  Where are you going?

Thomas, the handsome matinee idol-looking man in his late twenties or early thirties, looked torn, anxiety filling his face as he looked back towards the camera and Mom. 

"I’ll meet you back at the Shelter.  When you get to the Shelter, activate all the systems.  That will hold them

off, keep them away. The barriers will hold them off.  Jana, listen.  Run now.  We can’t risk losing you.  We can’t let them get our technology.  We can’t let them into the Shelter.  Guard it and protect it.  It is the only hope for humankind.  Go now!"

Thomas! Jana yelled.  I can’t do this alone.  I need you!

Jana, Thomas came up to the camera, blocking it with his body as he hugged Mom while the camera filmed.  Document everything.  We need a record of everything that happens here and before here...for the future generation.  New Earth.  We are the first.  Do everything to protect that. There was a sound of sobbing and some kissing.  I love you so much, Jana.  I want to see our child grow up.  I want to grow old with you.  But now, I need to join the fight.  I’m the Second in Command of Red Genesis.  I have to return to the Landing.

I understand, Mom said.  I love you Thomas.

I love you, Jana, and our child with all my heart. May my eternal love of you give you strength. May your pending motherhood give you strength.  You are stronger than you think.  I know that. I wouldn’t have fallen hard for you if you weren’t.

I know, Mom said tearfully.  She took a deep breath and said, Now go! Don’t worry about me and our child.  We will survive. Go and kick those Monsters’ butts!

Thomas laughed, and said, That’s my girl!

Then he left.

*****

I must have watched that video at least a thousand times. 

Mostly by myself.  Once with Mom.

The only time I watched the video with Mom was back when I was 5 years old and I had asked about Dad, when we were reading about the pairing of animals on Noah’s Ark.  The animals were paired up as mates so they can re-populate Earth again after the floods. 

Since animals and people have parents, don’t I have a father? I asked.

Yes, Mom said, combing my long dark hair, parting them at the center of my head, and making two side ponytails with them.  You had a father.  Babies are made when the sperm of a male human fertilizes the eggs of a female human.  Mom had always explained things to me without sugarcoating things...like the engineer that she was...clinically and scientifically.

So... my logical brain went to work, you and a male human somehow made me when the eggs and sperm met?

Other girls would be blushing and giggling through this discussion...what Vintage Earth parents and teachers would call discussion the ‘birds and the bees’. But I wasn’t a typical girl.

What I want to know, is who?  How did he look like? What kind of a person was he?  I had read a digital textbook in the Shelter’s library about biology.  Now I was reading one on genes and chromosomes."  I looked a lot like Mom with her pretty large almond-shaped brown eyes and shiny thick long dark hair.  I have her high cheekbones, her full lips, her healthy glowing skin tone, and even her high-bridge nose, which some romance novels would describe as, aristocratic.  But my eyes were a shade lighter with almost green and gold specks.  And even at 5 years old, I was tall.  According to the books I read on genetics, and the calculations to estimate my height at adulthood, I would be at least a head taller than my mother.

Mom smiled slowly before she said, Evie, you surprise me sometimes.  I forget you’re just 5 years old when you ask these type of questions. 

What type of questions? I asked.

The ones that require long explanations, Mom said, tapping my nose. Which is sometimes better explained with a video.

She walked over to our control panels and uploaded a file from the necklace she was wearing. 

A picture is worth a thousand words? I asked, quoting a phrase I read from one of the Vintage Earth’s textbooks. 

Mom laughed.  Your father...his name was Thomas...he said to record everything. Seeing is believing. Mom said, as she took a remote to control the video we were about to see. 

Another Vintage Earth’s sayings, I said, joking along with my mother.  

Yes, she said. She turned to me and said, This was the last time I saw your father.

She turned on the video, and I was mesmerized.  By the strong and noble-faced man on camera looking agonizingly at the camera as he told the woman he loved to run.  By the sheer urgency in his voice that could shake anyone up.  By the strength of his conviction for him to go back and fight the Monsters that were killing everyone.  Mom’s trembling wailing voice as she asked him to come to the Shelter brought tears to my eyes.  Then when she told him to go and not to worry about her and the baby... made me proud.  Mom and this Thomas would have made the most beautiful couple. Their love for each other was so strong.

I turned to Mom and noticed the tears running down her face.  It was the first time I saw her cry in 5 years.  It was the only time I saw her cry after that to the last time I saw her when I was 13 years old.  She must have loved my father so much.

TWO

The New Earth

––––––––

My food and water, the absolute bare nitty gritty necessity of survival, had run out.

It had been 5 years since Mom set out Above Ground to go look for food and supplies outside the Shelter. 

She never came back.  Now I was 18.

Back then when I was 13 years old, Mother and I went through the rows of food containers and supplies to see how much we had left. 

How many full containers do we have of flour? Mom asked, taking notes.

I went down the aisle with the flour and other dry goods.  I lifted the neatly-labeled containers and looked inside.  Mom, we have 5 full containers of flour, I said.  I lifted the other containers along the shelves.  And we have 4 full containers of dry vegetables.  And here we have dry soup.  2 containers of split pea.  2 containers of chicken noodles soup. About 10 small packages of ramen noodles, too.

Good, Mom said.  We have some small bags of dry mangoes, persimmons, apples, pears, and bananas.

Mom, here are some bags of rice, I said. 

Good job, Evie! Mom said coming over.  That’ll last about a year.

Here are some dry potato flakes, I said. Not much left though.

The dry potatoes are good for making mashed potatoes, Mom said.  We have enough fresh potatoes from our garden to last a while, though.  Somehow potatoes grow well on New Earth.  But, it will be just our luck if gravy came with the dry potato flakes.

I held up a bag.  Gravy powder.

Mom laughed. And we have soy. She pointed at the bags in the corner.

That night, we sat at our dining table.  Mom had decorated the table with some vegetables and edible flowers we grew in our hydroponic garden in one part of the Shelter. 

While I waited, she brought out a large silver platter with a lid. Ta Da! Mom said, laughing, whipping open the lid.

I clapped my hands as we came close to smell the wonderful aroma of roasted vegetables from the garden, mashed potatoes with gravy, and something covered in gravy.

I know this is the 13th time we’ve celebrated this holiday since you were born, Evie, Mom said, but I still couldn’t get this right.  Hopefully it’ll tastes as it’s supposed to.  We have to make do, though, since we don’t have access to what this is supposed to be.

I peered down and saw that at least it had legs.  Drumsticks.  Mom, it does look like a turkey this time.