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Fragment by Warren Fahy By Melissa J Wantuck  |
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On June 16, new to the science fiction genre in the mold of Crichton, Warren Fahy will debut his first novel Fragment (Delacorte Press, 2009). Move over Darwin and the dinosaurs: This hair-raising thriller might give you nightmares with its unstoppable predators that threaten to wreak havoc on human civilization.
Reading like a modern real-life story, the basis of Fragment’s plot is a reality TV show. Amidst the popularity and success of reality TV, a new show is launched, literally. The show, “SeaLife,” is documenting a year-long voyage of the ship Trident as its crew and passengers of scientists encounter exotic flora and fauna in the most remote places around the world.
True to reality TV reputation, the producers are more concerned with drama and who’s shacking up with whom rather than making scientific discoveries that some of the scientists signed up for and are disgruntled over the lack of it.
Twenty-nine year old Nell Duckworth is the ship’s botanist and it’s her goal to find a new plant species on this trip and hopefully it will be on the remotest island on the planet: little known Henders Island. Named after the captain of a British vessel whose crew was the last known humans to set eyes on the island over two hundred years ago, Nell had stumbled upon its description during her graduate studies. The proximity of Trident’s course to the island and its planned stop there was what convinced her to try out for the show but recent storms had delayed Trident’s schedule and stopping at the island was cancelled. Instead, they were all heading to Pitcairn Island for a hopeful ratings boon. There the entire ship’s crew and passengers would banquet with the descendants of a mutinous crew of British sailors.
Nell’s luck swiftly changes when a bigger ratings boon attracts the attention of the Trident’s crew. A distress signal is detected in the vicinity of Henders Island and “SeaLife’s” producers quickly agree to head back there. The tunnel vision of onboard producer, Cynthia Leeds, recklessly places everyone on board in danger and the fate of everyone is soon placed in the hands of Nell as she grapples with the bizarre and frightening situation they discover on Henders Island.
Fahy builds a what-if drama with some factual references then heads off into the science fiction universe. In real life, the little known island near Pitcairn Island is called Henderson Island, named for a real British caption, Henderson. Pitcairn Island is really the home of the descendants of a group of British mutineers who had sailed on the Bounty in the late eighteenth century. Employing a Dan Brown-esque twisting of the truth, Fahy makes a little adjustment to the facts and creates a brand-new story base for Fragment.
The story is fast-paced and heart-racing with plenty of blood and gore to keep special effects directors busy. A hunky love interest for Nell gets thrown in along with a bad-guy scientist only interested in filling his pockets with cash. With all that, Fahy has written a made for the silver screen story.
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