The Invisible War Series

The first Canadian journalist in China to record the beginning of the pandemic, now an international best-selling author, presents his diary of the pandemic's start as the author's preferred edition for the first time.   'A feverish fear… what began as a memoir and a goodbye, became a story of triumph against the virus, and a lighthouse in the storm.'   My name is Jorah Kai, and I am a bard. I toured festivals around the world, sharing whimsy and merriment for decades, until one day, I wandered into the misty mountains that shrouded the ancient Chinese city of Ba along the mighty Yangtze river. I married, and lived a quiet, happy life there for many years. Until one day, when everything changed.   On the first day of the year of the metal rat, 2020, a mysterious, novel virus ravaged China. Mathematical models predicted Chongqing would be quickly overwhelmed as the next epicenter after Wuhan. This is the story of the first 60 days of COVID-19 in China, day-by-day, and how Chongqing, the world's largest cyberpunk metropolis in Asia, stood tall when other cities fell. This is not how the story ends, only how it began.   "Jorah Kai is the canary in the coal mine. His notes from beyond the start of this pandemic should serve as a roadmap for how to survive what it looks like we are all, sadly, going to go through." - Andrew 'Myagi' Mavor   "A fantastic piece of writing. As a virus fanatic, (it's) a fascinating and horrifying breakdown...as gripping as the best mystery novel or apocalyptic sci-fi thriller. My curious hunger fueled by burning interest and chilling horror cannot stop reading every word, turning every page." - Rhett Morita "Although not a traditional authority of any kind, Kai proved to be an essential source of sanity and safety during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. He truly is a warrior poet." - Dylan Lane (aka ill.Gates)

CHINA, VIETNAM, CANADA, SAUDI ARABIA, ITALY, ARGENTINA, AMERICA, JAPAN, AUSTRALIA PHILIPPINES, NETHERLANDS, GUATEMALA, UGANDA, THE U.K., SINGAPORE, RUSSIA... THE YEAR OF THE METAL RAT, 2020, was a time of panic, uncertainty, and great division. As the pandemic spread, some wore masks and socially distanced to protect the vulnerable, while others protested all public health measures as a form of tyranny and caused loud and obnoxious mass disruptions to critical infrastructure in a jarring display of 'personal freedom.'   Fake news and echo chambers enabled 'alternative facts,' while unhinged narratives and cartoonish conspiracies ran rampant, often trumping coverage of legitimate and existential converging catastrophes.   In YEAR OF THE RAT, the sequel to the international best-seller 'The Invisible War' (Kai's Diary), Jorah Kai documents the world's largest 'Zero Covid bubble' while the outside world handles the pandemic uniquely. Reaching out to friends across the globe, he weaves their stories together.   Thirty-six writers from 33 cities in 16 countries share their daily struggles, hopes, and fears for the YEAR OF THE RAT as the SARSCOV2 virus spreads catastrophe to every corner of the globe.   "It's... the metaphor of the yin and the yang. I'd say right now, we are in the yin. It's a kind of disaster. It's sad. And on the yang side... it looks like some sort of a mathematical balance that I cannot explain." - Jeanne Claude Van Damme   "I would have done the whole thing for a donut and a tuna fish sandwich. The money meant nothing. It was the opportunity to at least prove to myself that I wasn't a liar, that I wasn't living a life of disillusionment. When you think of yourself as being a very creative person, and turn around and realize you've been leading a lie." - Sylvester Stallone (Rocky).   "At the beginning of the pandemic, Jorah Kai led a plucky band of frontline workers and activists to fight the pandemic with science. Some called him a harbinger, others a 'pandemic guru' as they navigated an increasingly bizarre world of book deals, TV appearances, speaking engagements, and a recovery event with his childhood hero, martial arts movie star Jeanne Claude Van Damme. But nothing could prepare him for what came next..." - The Narrator

LIFE IS ABSURD ALL ROADS LEAD TO DEATH HOW DOES ONE LIVE A GOOD LIFE?   The pandemic rages on, but the world has changed the channel. Society has inoculated the working class: by normalizing dying of COVID. Millions develop long-lasting neurological damage and disabilities, and immune systems battered by SARSCOV2 are now hosting opportunistic infections that keep healthcare systems beleaguered and overwhelmed. To put it very simply: the young party and the old die.   In China, Zero COVID has maintained strict lockdowns and quarantine procedures for years, but as the variants mutate to become more and more infectious, the lockdowns grow longer and more tedious. Something has got to give. And one night, with little warning, it does, leaving many to wonder WHAT IS THE POINT OF ANY OF IT? IS THERE MEANING TO THE ABSURDITY OF EXISTENCE? WHY AM I HERE, ANYWAY? and many other serious questions. In his third year of pandemic jail, Jorah Kai ponders the absurdity of this thing called life, mortality, legacy, and the search for meaning and purpose.   "He wishes he were a skilled poet, it would fit his chosen image perfectly; the poor, tragic, tortured artiste. But he has no talent for words, neither for paints nor music; his uselessness is tremendously total." ― Curtis Ackie, Goldfish Tears   "But perhaps the great work of art has less importance in itself than in the ordeal it demands of a man and the opportunity it provides him of overcoming his phantoms and approaching a little closer to his naked reality." ― Albert Camus   "Life belongs to those who can somehow make a sick joke out of it all." - Sylvester Stallone