I am Emeritus Professor of Applied Mathematics and a Fellow of the Australian Mathematical Society with longstanding interest in environmental and natural resource modelling. Through years of teaching and research, in both USA and Australia, I developed a special perspective on the conflict between Western technological society and sustainability of Earth's life support systems, which is exacerbated by fundamentalist religious views.While new to writing fiction, I have a well-established record of scientific publications. Now, in the remaining active years, I wish to share my accumulated scientific and societal insights with a broader audience than I could reach through my mathematical contributions alone. Namely, through works of fiction that not only entertain but also inspire readers to explore the underlying concepts and phenomena in greater detail.Born in 1949 in Warsaw, Poland, I immigrated to Australia in 1964 and spent 16 years studying and living in the United States before returning in 1992. I travelled extensively, in North America, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa. I was especially influenced by travels in Ethiopia, my wife's birth country, which is also reflected in the plot of this novel.In the sense of Mathematical Genealogy, that traces lineages of mentorship through generations, I am humbled, yet grateful, to be a descendant of illustrious scientists such as Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, Ronald Fisher and other remarkable antecedents.
