The Conscious Virus

By Miki Mitayn

What if a virus, created with malign intent, developed consciousness?

And you were the doctor given that information, through unorthodox, unscientific channels? Like, listening to spirits.

Nerida and Mari travel all over Australia. They visit Indigenous communities and mining towns to work, appreciate the magnificent country and find adventure. They’d like to have a home if they could decide where to live.

Aboriginal Dr Nerida faces medical drama. Her provocative wife Mari, an artist, supports and challenges her. While making cake and coffee for the nurses.

Welcome to their secret life. When the curtains are drawn, Mari leaves her body. Non-physical beings come to speak through her.

A Druid, a Native American Medicine Man and a gay, Tudor Dandy reveal that life after death is just the beginning.

Channelling passionate, disgruntled spirits trying to save the world, Mari is far away while Nerida has profound, riveting conversations.

The non-physical beings care about the planet. They can tell her friends about their past lives. One will tell you the meaning of rainbows. It’s all New Age and magical. Until it’s not. Now Nerida expects trouble.

After all those years at University, Nerida’s learning takes an offbeat course. The Earth Spirits resonate with her Aboriginal spirituality, as well as her scientific education.

But the conflict generated by their ideas threatens to overwhelm Nerida. She can’t sleep. She doesn’t know what to think or say. It affects her work.

Mari doesn’t hear what the spirits say at all. And doesn’t want to.

Nerida is alone with the consequences of what her wife brings into the world.

If she allows disembodied spirit voices to guide her, Nerida might risk her patient’s lives. As well as her relationships, her career, and her sanity.

But if you had the chance to talk with a spirit who knows the answers to almost everything, what would you do?

This quirky, irreverent, and cerebral fantasy is the first novel in the Aedgar Wisdom series.