Lethal Keystrokes, a fast paced read from Mulmur author
John May has released a book, Lethal Keystrokes, penned over the past three years at his Mulmur home.
The book is a fast paced read, much like a Hollywood action movie, but even more plausible and based on some sound research.
The story revolves around virtual assistant technology and the vulnerabilities that it presents. In Lethal Keystrokes, would-be terrorists use the technology to gain access to secret information. May takes the reader on a deep dive into the psyches of all the characters as their storylines converge.
He said he has always been interested in technology, and as a doctor he became interested specifically in the influence of technology on people. He draws on his professional background in programming and medicine to inform what-if scenarios that read more like possibility than fiction.
The book is also inspired by an encounter his family had at the time of the blackout of 2003. At the time of the power outage the family was sitting around a campfire in cottage country unaware of what had happened when a shotgun toting neighbour from Michigan came over and told them what was happening but falsely attributed it to a Russian attack.
The power outage lasted several days and illustrated how reliant we are on electricity.
“The impact that not having electricity has on our modern society has really been an interest to me,” said May, thinking of a scene from The Walking Dead, without the zombies. “It wouldn’t take much; no electricity, no bank machines, you can’t even pump gas. That was all morphed into the idea of what devastating thing you could do to a modern country like Canada or the Unites States, is take away our electricity, we’re addicted to it.”
The result is a worst case scenario of how a technology breach could take down the very systems society relies on.
“There are simple, simple things that terrorists could do involving infrastructure that could really make a mess of an area,” said May.
The retired doctor, musician and author has had his place in Mulmur for more that 25 years, and moved into the home near Terra Nova full time about 10 years ago. Since retiring from medicine May said he has had more time to work on his literary and musical projects.
May cut his literary chops on a young adult novel published in 2011, so he was not naive about the process. He recalls amusedly that by the time he was finished writing his first book, which was for his children, they were too old to appreciate it.
He wrote most of Lethal Keystrokes in a room soundproofed for making and recording music, which he released under the name of Johnny May. He said he tried to write a little every day but there are often interruptions. The pandemic provided some benefitsand hurdles when it came to the process. There was more time, but there was also a rush of new material coming from others who were also taking advantage of the free time, and a paper shortage didn’t help.
Lethal Keystrokes is published by Granville Island Publishing and is available online, at The Creemore Echo’s Newsstand, and at Booklore in Orangeville.
Torn Pages in Stayner is hosting a book signing with the author from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Saturday May 21. For more about his music and book, visit johnnymay.ca.
