The Blood Notes of Peter Mallow

Dr. Peter Mallow, a university scientist working on a virulent bird flu, becomes concerned when his brilliant research student, Jorge, "freaks out" during a routine autopsy of a drowning victim. Mallow decides to record his feelings about the troubled young researcher in a lab notebook. Jorge, obsessed with vehicular drownings, persuades Mallow to confront a board of auto-industry safety executives with damning evidence, but the senior scientist is ruthlessly dismissed and his career threatened. Mallow's notes take us into the downward spiral of his scientific career, a devastating hurricane and, eventually, the deadliest pandemic in history. Will Mallow and his notes survive? Can the virus be stopped? And who will receive a Nobel Prize in Medicine?

Paul Boor, M. D., is a professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, home to the highest level bio-safety laboratory in the U.S. Dr. Boor's research has been funded by the NIH for over 20 years. His short stories and poetry, which deal with the inner workings of academia and research labs, are widely published.