The White Plague
The White Plague is a 1982 novel by Frank Herbert, featuring a plague that kills only women and therefore ends the human species.
Scientist John Roe O'Neill is driven mad by a terrorist attack that kills his wife and children. He develops and releases a gendercidal plague in Libya, England, and Ireland, but of course it spreads.
Blurbs
- "John Roe O'Neill, molecular biologist, American of Irish descent, saw the car bomb explosion that killed instantly his wife Mary and their twin five-year-olds, Kevin and Mairead. Physically almost unharmed, a shock wace of blinding, all-engulfing hatred and revulsion seared through his mind. Revulsion not just for the bombers but for a world that could produce such horror. And he sought revenge on that world, creating and unleashing a plague. Then, as his plague swept the world, bringing not just death but the mad anarchy of terror, he went on a journey where he was forced to see the awfulness of his own handiwork."
Reading and discussion notes
- "white plague" is a term also given to tuberculosis
- Compare: James Tiptree, Jr., "The Last Flight of Dr. Ain"
Awards
- Nominated, Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1983)
Editions
- ISBN 978-0399127212