LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Jean-Pierre Chevalier, a leading authority on genetic medicine, and iUniverse, Inc., a leading provider of publishing technology solutions announced today the long-awaited publication of “Sarcophagus,” the novel. In this stunning work of contemporary fiction, Chevalier has succeeded in illuminating one of the unspeakable tragedies of our age: the institutionalized exploitation of illness. Now available in stone-cold print, the appalling dilemma of the cancer patient is laid bare like never before.
Thinly disguised in the veiled vestments of literary fiction, this savvy expose is a veritable tour de force of a novel that is as compelling as it is disturbing. Sarcophagus is artfully structured on several levels: intended to provide the casual reader with a “good read,” the inquisitive reader with a wealth of new insights, and the literary cognoscenti with a moveable feast that is worthy of the intellectual effort.
Rendering the depravity and misfeasance of our modern-day temples of medicine with scholarly aplomb, the gripping narrative in Sarcophagus chronicles the journey of an inspired physician and an intrepid biophysicist as they strive together against all odds to develop the world’s first effective targeted, injectable gene delivery system-the coveted holy grail of genetic medicine. It is a time in history when terminal cancer patients languish on the chain while august medical institutions, academic research centers, and giant pharmaceutical companies struggle in unison against the emerging tide of genetic medicine in a misguided effort to maintain the authority and applications of their loathsome poisonous treatments.
As a strident patient advocate and stalwart social critic, Chevalier is unequalled: “I will be Samson or I will be Joshua-you decide! But one way or the other, these walls are coming down! The only question is how soon! And how many of you will be left standing!” Written with abiding compassion and the omniscience of an astute insider, yet set against the bleak and timely backdrop of clinical pathos, Sarcophagus is a compelling journey of discovery and a descent into the netherworld of modern medicine as it crosses the threshold of history.
For those of us who love stories about Hollywood, Sarcophagus is a postmodern masterpiece; implicitly a screenplay describing a tragedy and a drama crafted within the literature, moving pictures, and newsreels in our minds. “First of all, this is Hollywood! We don’t have itsy-bitsy teenie-weenie scandals around here; we have scandals that come in great big packages, oversized, just like everything else in California.”
In his own outrageous manner, Chevalier records our history… “records what happened that evening when Enlightened Intention collided with Pristine Cognition right on Sunset Boulevard. They collided with a dynamic that resembles an illusion, a dream, a reflected image, a celestial city, an echo, a reflection of the moon on the water-an intangible emanation written in the margins of the Hollywood Book of the Dead.” From the allegorical Inner Dark of intractable cancer, to the remarkable chapters describing the return of Prometheus on Sunset Boulevard, to the symphonic orchestrated triumph of the human spirit embodied in each episode, Sarcophagus is an indelible literary phenom.
About SARCOPHAGUS by Jean-Pierre Chevalier (Now Available in Stone-cold Print): ISBN: 0-595-67678-2, hardcover; 0-595-39228-8 paperback. Published in the fall of 2006 by iUniverse, Inc. Available at iUniverse Online Bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million.com and Amazon.com
About iUniverse: iUniverse is one of the largest book publishing companies in the United States. iUniverse publishing programs are endorsed by industry leading author organizations, including the Authors Guild and the ASJA. iUniverse is a proud member of the Association of American Publishers, Publishers Marketing Association, and Small Publishers Association of North America.
[tags]Sarcophagus the novel, book news, cancer patient, iUniverse, Jean-Pierre Chevalier[/tags]
