Random Ruin

Brian Mott is the world's deadliest killer of computer viruses, but he’s not ready for fatherhood. He can’t even curb his cursing habit. Though his wife is very due, he’s suddenly reactivated into the Technology Corps and rushed to South Korea to stop the Random Ruin virus from cutting communications across the peninsula.

With the cure complete but not deployed, Mott is lost on a battlefield dominated by North Korea’s autonomous killer drones. As he escapes and evades his way to a communications bunker, he finds he remembers more of his military training than he’d expected. But can Mott deploy the cure and live to meet his newborn daughter? And with these marauding murder machines hounding him, how the f-word can he quit cursing?

Scott Coon is a former U.S. Army Intelligence Analyst, an award-winning short story writer, author of the novel GODLESS ARMAGEDDON published by Hypatia Press in 2024, and of LOST HELIX published by Dancing Lemur Press in 2020. His novel Rentsoc Book 1: The Wizard, The Pirate, & The Steampunk Librarian, a comedy, is the beginning of a series. His most recent novel is Random Ruin, a near-future sci-fi war story. His work can be found in Dark Horses Magazine, Bewildering Stories, MOBIUS: The Journal for Social Change, and The STEAM Journal at Claremont University amongst others. His stories are also featured in the anthologies ALIEN GAZE and IT CAME FROM HER PURSE. His website and YouTube Channel provide advice on the art and business of writing, as well as links to his published works.