Our Price: AUD$27.95 (USD$)* ISBN: 978-1-921456-25-1 Subject: Science Fiction Publication Date: September 2009

Synopsis
Decorated, retired astronaut Jordie MacAlister has retreated to the rugged West Coast of Scotland; his wife dead, his career cut short and his life in disarray. His solitude is suddenly blown away when an entire, top-secret NASA database is inexplicably downloaded into his computer. He understands that such a thing is impossible, and yet it has happened, and MacAlister knows he is in deep trouble. In desperation he turns to his old friend, retired professor and self-confessed conspiracy theorist Alan Sinclair, for help. Together they attempt to hide the stolen data before Jordie is arrested, but an even greater danger awaits them, something that threatens the entire planet.

What was always considered a barren, dead ball, the mysterious planet Mars is proving to be much more. Something monstrous is alive in its red soil, a fact that has been known and kept secret for some time. When the alien entity makes its way to Earth, Jordie and Alan must race against the approaching apocalypse in a bid to find possible salvation hidden amongst the NASA files.

The Finger of God is a gripping thriller from start to finish and a searing social commentary on the human condition from the author of Dark Beckoning.

Read the Scary Minds Review.

About The Author
Keith Williams was born in Kilmarnock, Scotland (hence the Scottish connections in his books) and emigrated to Australia in 1956 as a three-year-old on the good ship SS Australia. Growing up in Geelong provided much of the basis for his first novel Dark Beckoning.

He graduated with a Diploma of Arts in 1974 and spent many years as a Production Designer in television, working on shows such as Hey, Hey, it's Saturday, Sale of the Century, The Paul Hogan Show and many others.

Keith then worked as a Kitchen Designer before moving to rural Victoria to commit to the care of his elderly parents. He currently works in the hospitality industry to subsidise his love of reading and writing.

From The Book
It felt the vibrations and heard them almost simultaneously...it was extremely high pitched and if the creature could have understood the terms, would have described them as ultrasonic. The earth and rubble beneath its trembling feet were humming like a tuning fork, the sound heard within its brain, not with its ears, and then the pain began. Every organ in its small body began to vibrate in tune with the earth, and the agony was excruciating, causing it to squeal loudly and leap into the air as if to escape the pain. There was no escape. Survival instinct once again overrode all other considerations and forcing its agonized body into motion it scurried down the now crumbling mountain of rubble.

Even as it ran it witnessed the bizarre sight of solid objects crumbling to red dust under the onslaught of the ultrasonic barrage, but it pushed these incomprehensible images from its tortured brain and forced its body down the crumbling pile and into a hole it had dug in the earth at the foot of the rubble.

The sonic vibrations intensified as it entered the earth itself but the creature was in total survival mode now and it ignored the agonies from its internal organs as it scurried down the tunnel to its lair...