Elements

By Alex Fogel

Genres: Adventure, Commercial Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Cosy Mystery, Erotica, LGBTQ+, Literary Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction (Sci-Fi), Thriller, Womens Fiction, New Adult

Age Groups: 12-18, 18+

“Elements”

An adventure romance, complete at 118,850 words in twenty-one chapters.

The environment is fighting back and Earth’s inhabitants are dying.

Several typically safe and naturally occurring elements are suddenly being released in quantities and places never before experienced by mankind. The deadly effects on all living species are alarming, while the cause of the toxic releases around the world remains a mystery. Are these environmental accidents, man-made catastrophes on an epic scale, acts of terrorism, or are they due to something beyond human comprehension?

Celia “Cile” Read and Tobias “Toby” Davis (“Searching for the Shoreline Angel) are adjusting nicely to living together at her condo in Irvine, California. Her work as an investigator with the U.S. Public Health Service is as rewarding for her as Toby’s career as a physics professor at UCLA is for him. Their interests, intellects, and passion in bed compliment each other perfectly, and their future together as a couple looks bright.

When Toby agrees to assist the UCLA women's volleyball team during a tournament in Myrtle Beach, Cile agrees to accompany him. Toby surprises her by proposing to her on the first leg of their journey, and further by arranging for them to get married while on a layover in Texas. Their trip to the volleyball tournament could now double as their honeymoon.

Shortly after arriving at their hotel, Cile and Toby befriend Jules and Didi, a young couple on vacation from South Africa. Jules is a world renowned geologist and Didi is his beautiful Capetown Colored fiancee. When Cile and Toby instill enough confidence in this couple that their interracial relationship would be completely acceptable in America, a beach wedding results in two couples now eager to celebrate their honeymoons.

At least they could try to celebrate if work and world events didn’t keep interrupting them. As the head of her team, Cile keeps getting communications related to mysterious poisoning events around the country. Conversations with old friends and new acquaintances provide details of similar poisoning events occurring beyond America’s borders.

Against the backdrop of these loving couples attempting to experience the lustful, passionate, and romantic vacation they desire, they must contribute to identifying why typically safe environmental elements are suddenly causing widespread deaths around the world. Assembling a team of experts visiting Myrtle Beach for an Earth Science symposium, Cile creates a think tank of professionals free of the political back-stabbing and glad-handing that has failed to either identify the cause of the poisonings, or find a solution to stop them.

When a beautiful young Indian scientist is sent to the symposium to try to surreptitiously learn what other countries are doing to solve their environmental crises, the attempt to kidnap her is thwarted by Cile and Toby. Invited to join the growing group of newlyweds and their friends, this Indian beauty draws the attention of UCLA’s women's volleyball coach and a steamy affair soon develops.

Utilizing resources previously ignored by other task forces, Cile’s team locates the source for each of the exposure events and throws all of their combined scientific knowledge and skills into identifying the cause. Water samples contain a previously unknown organism that goes dormant when exposed to light. Answering the questions about where this organism came from and how to control it test Cile’s team, but they prove up to the task. Their solution is embraced by the world scientific community, but they convince the President to place all the credit with the government of India in an attempt to garner better international cooperation with future environmental issues.

Cile and Toby convince Jules and Didi to return to Southern California with them. It is from their condo in Irvine where Cile and Didi, along with Cile’s cousin, Katie, share with their families the fact that each of the young wives is pregnant with the next generation of problem solvers for the world.