The Eternal Gene by Ankush Sam Thorpe

The best science fiction books are based on imagination and foresight. They make the readers curious, suspicious, and excited, helping one think about whether such a world can exist. When all this comes from a debutante author, Ankush Sam Thorpe, rest assured, you laid your hands on a brilliantly creative, well-written and smooth, and thoroughly engaging book.

The Eternal Gene was recently launched during his marriage reception ceremony. Just like his stories, which are so different and innovative, this launch also had a unique touch. The turnout was huge – the invitees were curious to know more about this work and lay their hands on a copy of the book. When asked to who he wanted to dedicate this book, he smiled, looking at his wife and parents.

The Eternal Gene, comprising six stories, answers questions like whether the world is the real one or not, whether we can trust what we remember, whether extraterrestrial species visited the Earth in the prehistoric era, and whether a rare mutation has the ability to stop aging.

The book is a collection of fascinating science-fiction stories interwoven with suspense and thrill. In the stunning title story, a man’s journey to investigate his father’s mysterious death leads him to the nation’s best kept secret. ‘A Stitch in Time’, follows a soldier’s quest to finish a mission in a world long forgotten, with a gut-wrenching revelation. In ‘Down Memory Lane’, the protagonist learns that the reality is not what it seems amidst an imminent political coup. In ‘The Representative’, a man suddenly wakes up billions of light years away, in an intergalactic conference, representing Earth. And in ‘Hera’, a group of Neanderthals are visited by a guest from a hyper-advanced civilization, forever changing the course of evolution on Earth.

Ankush Sam Thorpe grew up in Punjab and went on to graduate in Anthropology and complete his post-graduation in Genetics. His love affair with science fiction began when he was just a teenager. He had then been obsessed with Hollywood science fiction films, especially The Terminator and Jurassic Park. His interest grew when he read the Sidney Sheldon novel The Doomsday Conspiracy and got solidified with Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol and George Orwell’s 1984. However, his passion for storytelling grew with Isaac Asimov’s short story ‘Nightfall’, which inspired him to create his own tales. At the age of 20, he wrote his first short story, ‘A Stitch in Time’, exhibiting his fascination with science and history