Gary F. Jones is a retired veterinarian with a PhD in microbiology and an interest in history. He'd heard of outbreaks of hemorrhagic viral diseases in Europe during the dark ages. The victims and the epidemics died out quickly, and their causes remain unknown. Enter the Iceman, the 5,000-year-old mummified corpse discovered in the Alps. What if another Iceman, one from around 800 AD were discovered, an Iceman who had died of a hemorrhagic virus? Combine that with the eccentricities of people Jones met in his small-town veterinary practice, and he recognized a story waiting to be told.