December, 2014 - The 2nd Edition of this book is now available as an e-book.

The paperback version of the First Edition of this novel can be ordered at Amazon .

The Second Edition is now available as an ebook from: Amazon (Kindle) .... Barnes & Noble (Nook) ....  Apple iBooks Ap (iPad, iPhone).

This novel gives an account of how the human race came to an extraordinarily rapid and unexpected near-extinction early in the twenty-first century. No thermonuclear or biological war, pollution catastrophe, or any kind of human created disaster played a part in this downfall of modern man.

A highly infectious contagion kills most of the Earth's population in less than three months. The Sleeping Death Contagion (SDC) virus causes the death of nearly every infected victim as they sleep, in less than four days. The nature of the virus was such that it could have resulted in the extinction of the human race. The high level of infectivity and the short time period to fatality had catastrophic results. Only a rare and random genetic immunity to the fatal effects of the virus prevented the total extinction. However, it leaves less than one in a hundred thousand survivors (0.001 %) – less than three thousand in North America.

In one area, SDC brought a quick solution to the complex and serious problems that have been getting increasing attention in the last few years. All issues relating to human pollution of the Earth were solved in less than three months. The rivers, streams and oceans became clear and clean and the fish populations began a rapid recovery. The jungles, forests and grasslands, almost completely rid of their human exploiters, began to regenerate themselves naturally. The populations of wild birds and animals that had been threatened by human expansion started to recover rapidly. Air pollution suddenly became a thing of the past.

The concerns about human greenhouse gas emissions disappeared almost overnight. However, there were few who knew or cared. If Global Warming was to become an important issue in the future, no one could continue to lay the blame on the human race.

This story follows the lives of six different survivors in Canada, England, Kenya, China, France and the United States for the first nine months after the disease strikes.

In discussing his novel, John Gleed said, “Have you ever dreamed about a world where you can live wherever you want, without regard to what you can afford? Have you wished that you could go into any store and just take what you wanted no matter what the price sticker said? This is the kind of world in which the subjects in my story find themselves ... but this freedom came at such a great cost.”

To see more details on the the survivors and their locations in Canada, England, Kenya, China, France and the United States click here.

John Gleed is a retired high-tech executive now living in Morrisburg, Ontario, Canada on the Canadian shores of the St. Lawrence River, bordering New York State.

He has always been interested in apocalyptic fiction about what might happen if a worldwide catastrophic disaster occurred. "Day of the Triffids" by John Wyndham, "No Blade of Grass" by John Christopher, "On the Beach" by Neville Shute and "The Stand" by Stephen King are among his favorite novels.

He was born and grew up in the small village of Dishforth in rural North Yorkshire, England. He emigrated to Canada in 1969. He spent most of his high tech career in Ottawa, Canada with Nortel and Systemhouse and he was a founder of the Canadian software company, JetForm Corporation. He retired in 2002 when the company was taken over by Adobe.

In talking about his novel, John Gleed said, "Have you ever dreamed about a world where you can live wherever you want, without regard to what you can afford? Have you wished that you could go into any store and just take what you wanted no matter what the price sticker said? This is the kind of world in which the subjects in my story find themselves ... but this freedom came at such a great cost."

You can see a collection of his photographs from around the Morrisburg area & South Dundas Township at www.stlawrencepiks.com.