Forever Ann - Francis Jenkins

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Résumé :
In 1968, Francis Jenkins--not the author's real name--was one of several writers with the small, independent newspaper called The Pittsburgh Point to be given one of the Pittsburgh Press Club's annual Golden Quill awards. The author wrote weekly, covering visiting name jazz musicians' appearances. The award noted the author's coverage of Pittsburgh's substantial African-American communities, such as Pittsburgh's Hill District, which had not garnered much attention before.The author left The Point in 1969 to attend the University of Pittsburgh full-time. Graduating in 1972 with a BA in Political Science, the author then won two scholarships for graduate programs at Pitt to become one of the first in the University's brand-new dual master's program.Final graduation in 1974 led directly to the author and partner moving to Daytona Beach, Florida, where the author gained first post-graduate employment as a job placement specialist at the Work-Oriented Rehabilitation Center (WORC, Inc.), a sheltered workshop for mentally, emotionally, and physically challenged adults. With no experience in that field, which the WORC director wanted, the author won the position against three other contenders, who also had no such experience but had only bachelor's degrees.Later, Francis became a teacher of English-As-A-Second-Language for foreign students at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona, working with Libyan and Venezuelan students.In 1979, the author gained employment in the profession of vocational rehabilitation counselor with the State of Florida.The author and life partner since 1985 moved into their new first home in Daytona.In 1989, the author took early retirement from the state to enter private practice--at double the state salary--as an independent vocational rehab counselor for workman's compensation clients. The author then added work evaluations to that practice, leading to expert witness testimonies in court for WC attorneys.Fleeing nuclear-powered rockets being launched at nearby Cape Canaveral, the couple, in the fall of 1997, moved to the Tallahassee area and then to their current home in the Florida woods.In 2005, Francis became an environmental activist, co-founded the nonprofit Environmental Alliance of North Florida (EANoF!) with environmentalist award-nominated Joy Ezell, and over the next three years, published articles on key regional environmental battles across north Florida in a small, independent national newspaper-formatted newsletter. In 2008, suffering burnout, Francis fully retired and began experimenting with different styles of science fiction writing. Forever Ann was the first to meet the desired standards for what the author prefers to call a dystopian to utopian science fantasy, feminist manifesta, and love story.

Sommaire:
Ann Miller wins an unusual lottery she didn't even remember entering. Now she and her life partner, Dave, must face the most difficult decisions of their lives. Indeed, Ann is looking at the greatest challenge ever afforded by a human being. She is intrigued. But she may end up facing it alone, given the trends in the disintegrating world cultures of the 21st through 24th centuries. Those years drag on through chaos and then isolation. Ann struggles to keep her mental balance but slips deeper into the memory hole of her prior life. Sophisticated wars and environmental collapse have left no one with much hope. But a powerful rescue effort from another galaxy helps save Ann's sanity. Then, reinvigorated by a reunion with her partner, and buoyed by a select group of survivors from her planet, Ann finally realizes her leadership potential. She becomes wholly engrossed in the reclamation of the world. The weight of the decisions falling upon her shoulders on where on our degraded planet reclamation efforts will be undertaken - and where not - is staggering. But with love and mutual support, and amazing futuristic technological help, she and her inspired group forge the creation of a new life. And with her immortality, a life better by far than the one they knew before. Or ever existed....