Who is L. A. Larkin?

L A Larkin divides her time between writing topical thrillers and her work for one of Australia’s leading climate change consultancies.

Passionate about fiction, L A Larkin studied Literature at the University of London, graduating with honours. While travelling the world, she fell in love with Sydney and emigrated to Australia in 1998. She also fell in love with her Australian husband, Michael, at a Bondi writers’ group.

L A Larkin’s corporate career, international travel and knowledge of environmental issues provide the inspiration for her action-packed plots. To research her first thriller, The Genesis Flaw, she drew on her time in Zimbabwe, consulted with world renowned geneticists and worked closely with a computer hacker, even attending a hackers’ conference. Her extensive travels have taken her through East Africa, Europe, North America, the Middle East, New Zealand and around Australia.

L A Larkin recently returned from Antarctica, which is the setting of her next thriller, Thirst, a climate change catastrophe.

Pier 9 / Murdoch Books will publish The Genesis Flaw in Australia / New Zealand in 2010 and Thirst in 2011.

The story behind The Genesis Flaw

A number of years ago I did some voluntary work for Greenpeace and this gave me the opportunity to speak to world renowned geneticists, many of whom had originally believed that genetically modified (GM) food was the way to feed our growing global population. But, when they did their lab tests they became increasingly alarmed by the potential health and environmental impacts. What concerned me was the apparent lack of truly independent research that proved GM was safe to eat, and, also, safe to be released into our environment. Greenpeace tells me (May 2010) that the Australian Government still relies solely on corporate data to approve GM foods.

I combed though oodles of articles and scientific papers, both for and against GM crops, and I was fascinated to learn that parts of viruses (including hepatitis) can be used in transgenes (which contain genes from another species), and that some scientists believe gene transfer from plant to human gut bacteria is possible.

At this point, I have to state very clearly that the biotech company and genetically engineered products and processes in The Genesis Flaw were all created in my head. Other people’s research and articles fired up my imagination and I created a fictional world in which the outbreak of an incurable hepatitis pandemic is the result of a genetic engineering process. But I won't say any more, as it will give away the plot...