A Gift for Africa

Set in the year 2047, this literary intrigue is strongly themed around overpopulation and environmental degradation. The government offers the Near Death Experience (NDE) as part of the health system, to encourage voluntary euthanasia among the old and sick. Women must get a permit to bear a child, based on someone else's death. The United Nations has established quotas for the number of people sustainable by each nation. Some countries, particularly those in Africa, consistently violate their quota allotments. The continent is an ecological disaster. Wildlife has been decimated and mass starvation is only avoided through United Nations food shipments. A trillionaire playboy, Barry Morgenthau, decides to set up a foundation to create a "New Eden" in Africa, but first he must find a way to get rid of the excess population which is blocking the environmental restoration he envisions. He invites a reporter and two young women to the Bohemian Grove in California, where the Lycurgeans (sponsors of the Spartan League) are meeting to find ways to stabilize the population. When the reporter gets wind of Morgenthau's real plans, he is about to reveal all. However, the playboy forestalls him and teaches him a painful lesson in his Museum of the Inquisition. The reporter understands that he must promote Morgenthau's foundation, not undermine it. Will there be a new Garden of Eden in Africa? Where will all the people go?