JOHN MCGREGOR Author: Sci-Fi and paranormal
​
​
THE BOOKS
When people tell me things are the way they are I argue a) that does not make it right and, b) things do not have to be that way, there is always an alternative. I mostly write speculative science fiction, often with elements of the paranormal, which tear away the thin boundary between reality and nightmare.
The Three
​
A man, crippled by a serious debilitating illness, is troubled by his inability to function as a normal human being, due to a life-changing trauma which occurred during childhood, an event he cannot remember. As his memory slowly returns he becomes aware of people and places which, he believes, will lead him to greater things. His nurse and confidant helps him in his journey towards a finale which leads him to a discovery of The Three, an accomplished group, with whom he will overcome his crippling disability and learn the secret of eternal life.
Nanomachine Blues
Two thousand years in the future liz4d, a lowly manual worker, has innovative brain surgery after a serious industrial injury which unexpectedly gives her the ability to ‘plug into’ the Earth’s insidious planetary surveillance network. She learns about the true misery inflicted upon the populace by the ancient dictatorial ruling oligarchy. The air she breathes and the food she eats are tainted with mind-controlling drugs and everything she has been taught is a lie. While searching for alternative foods, uncorrupted by the establishment, she meets jon1t, a sympathetic higher caste older man who, after similar brain surgery, introduces her to the existence of a rebel group intent on bringing down the established avatar and human members of the world government.
The Consequences of Coercion
​
A down-at-heels aristocratic family living in a quiet country village is shocked to the core when Lady Sophia de Bruyn, the influential highly respected local matriarch, is involved in a scandal reaching back to the Second World War involving her deceased war hero husband. Too proud to involve members of her village, it is left to her daughter Clara and her fiancé James Burnham a schoolteacher at a nearby private school, attended by the twin boys of whom Lady Sophia is the guardian to provide needed support. A threatening telephone call is soon followed by a meeting with the blackmailer at the local church, a demanding blackmail letter and finally another telephone call which outlines the financial demands. When James eventually receives a box of papers and personal effects after the death of his father, from whom he is estranged, he is shocked to find a journal, written by his father which describes the murder of a high-ranking British naval officer by Captain Robert de Bruyn on the hellish icy seas during a voyage on the Murmansk Convoy which seems to indicate that the blackmailer's allegation is true. The affairs of the de Bruyn family take many twists and turns, culminating in a harrowing voyage to the Baltic port of Murmansk, the location of the alleged crime.
The Departed
​
The top secret mission to the moons of Jupiter by a six-man crew becomes increasingly fraught when it is discovered that one member of their crew has a hidden agenda which sours what, until then, had been a highly successful trip to discover the first signs of organic life in the Solar System. However, when they return to Earth, they find that everyone seems to have vanished. As they explore they discover that the world they once knew has gone forever and it is about to change even further. The future is frightening.
A World in Chains
​
The world of Earth is ruled by a dictatorial High Church which frowns upon individuality and the right to choose. The populace exists on the fringe of mediaevalism, with little access to the advanced technology enjoyed by the upper echelons of the ruling classes. Into this world comes Lazarus,a man without a memory. He makes ends meet as an illegal cage fighter in seedy venues throughout the land. Into his world comes Cora who, though beset with phobias, obsessions and tics, encourages Lazarus to retrieve lost memories of his distant past. Lazarus makes the mistake of reading a magical tome of immense antiquity and his life changes forever. He and Cora are beset by tragedy, resulting in Lazarus being accused of a crime he did not commit. They flee for their lives, pursued by Boniface, the psychotic Procurator Marshall, head of the security forces of the High Church, whose only intention is to see them dead. His allies include the largely disorganised Resistance but, even with their aid, their survival looks unlikely. By the end of his quest, Lazarus realises who he really is.
A Question of Scale
​
For Barbara and her friends the world as they know it is about to be turned on its head. It began with hallucinations and a feeling of foreboding that the universe we took for granted was not quite what it seemed. The everyday laws of physics are wiped out in an instant as mankind realises that there are forces beyond our little planet which regard our existence as low as bacteria, to be treated with the same level of contempt and disregard. We discover that we are not alone when we are visited by a species so alien that they freeze the blood, making us question our place in the universe and our origins. To our visitors it is a question of scale. Mankind finds that we are not as advanced as we thought we were. The human race is set to change. Whether we like it or not.
A Slip in Time
​
A man, wracked with guilt for his past actions, drives at night to a remote location to end it all. However, once he gets there, he encounters a mysterious young girl who changes his mind in this most unlikely of places. What if you didn’t have to wait until you died before entering heaven? Wouldn’t that be something? For the first time in a very long while, he is able to collect his thoughts and, in a moment of revelation, remembers what it was like to be young again. This is the story of two misfits who combat seemingly impossible odds to overcome the prejudice and cruelty of enemies hell bent on their destruction. These obstacles are overcome by an ingenious pooling of their resources and shared beliefs and their long search for that better place hidden from sight from all except those worthy of finding it. Their journey is fraught with dangers, both real and imagined. They encounter characters and places unimaginable under the terms of reference of their former existence. Their loosening grip on their sanity forces them to question the nature of reality, and to doubt the evidence of their own senses, to the extent that they are unable to untangle their waking moments and the world of dreams. Their dedicated single mindedness grows stronger as the difficulty of their task increases as they strive to achieve their final goal.
Hot Zone
​
It was dangerous to be on the streets after dark. They all knew that. The ozone-rich atmosphere made it equally precarious in daylight but they were used to the searing heat. Perhaps that was why anyone over the age of fourteen was considered old. By then their skin had acquired the patina of old leather and their eyes were covered with silvery cataracts. Egg, Psycho and Benny live to survive in an area of NE USA ravaged by the final world war a century earlier. Despite the rigours of their existence they enjoy a relatively favoured lifestyle. They rule the roost. They are the major gang in the area and relatively untroubled, despite the existence of mutants, irradiated areas of land and the occasional illness or injury. Their lifestyle takes a turn for the worse when they encounter an enigmatic girl who persuades them to take her to the deadly and feared Hot Zone. Things will never be the same again as they tread forth into an area where they are no longer in charge of their destiny.