In the clear blue skies above Long Island, two airplanes collide. Tony Stark watches the scene in horror and wishes he had the technology that is almost within his reach—a new hyperintelligent instant control system that could have given the aircraft advance warning. But Stark, an obsessive, increasingly troubled recluse, doesn’t know that his invention has been compromised.
In fact, the collision was a carefully crafted hit on Madame Hydra, the final stage in Arnim Zola’s plan to seize control of HYDRA and get rid of Iron Man once and for all. The cunning adversary has already infiltrated Stark Industries security to develop a version of the instant control mechanism that will take over the armored suit and turn it against Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. While Tony races to track down the source of the intrusion, Zola unleashes direly ingenious computer viruses and the ultimate secret weapon: a murderous clone army based on Stark’s most trusted friend. A puppet master of self-replicating terror, Zola is plunging a city into a war that threatens to consume all in its wake.
Alexander C. Irvine has written fourteen books, including Buyout, The Narrows, and A Scattering of Jades, which won him the Crawford Award for best new writer. He was a finalist for the Campbell Award for best new writer and a Pushcart Award nominee for his short story “Snapdragons.” Irvine’s short fiction has appeared in the Vestal Review, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Alchemy, and The Year’s Best Science Fiction, among others. He lives in Portland, Maine.
View titles by Alex Irvine
In the clear blue skies above Long Island, two airplanes collide. Tony Stark watches the scene in horror and wishes he had the technology that is almost within his reach—a new hyperintelligent instant control system that could have given the aircraft advance warning. But Stark, an obsessive, increasingly troubled recluse, doesn’t know that his invention has been compromised.
In fact, the collision was a carefully crafted hit on Madame Hydra, the final stage in Arnim Zola’s plan to seize control of HYDRA and get rid of Iron Man once and for all. The cunning adversary has already infiltrated Stark Industries security to develop a version of the instant control mechanism that will take over the armored suit and turn it against Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. While Tony races to track down the source of the intrusion, Zola unleashes direly ingenious computer viruses and the ultimate secret weapon: a murderous clone army based on Stark’s most trusted friend. A puppet master of self-replicating terror, Zola is plunging a city into a war that threatens to consume all in its wake.
Author
Alexander C. Irvine has written fourteen books, including Buyout, The Narrows, and A Scattering of Jades, which won him the Crawford Award for best new writer. He was a finalist for the Campbell Award for best new writer and a Pushcart Award nominee for his short story “Snapdragons.” Irvine’s short fiction has appeared in the Vestal Review, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Alchemy, and The Year’s Best Science Fiction, among others. He lives in Portland, Maine.
View titles by Alex Irvine
