A young scientist successfully implants a human intelligence gene into six African Grey parrots. His series of fruitful experiments is brought to an early end when sensationalized media coverage and political opposition threaten his university's funding. Rather than face the prospect of having to put the entertaining, talkative parrots to death, he secretly places them with a retired bird breeder, safely removing them from the public eye. Mandy Grant, the breeder's 19-year-old niece, is spending the summer at her uncle's aviary, helping him care for his already sizable parrot flock. She's thrilled by the addition of the amusing Greys and quickly bonds with the new arrivals. But when the transgenic birds breed and their mutant, eagle-sized offspring escape, Mandy's quiet vacation turns into a headline-grabbing chase through the forests of New York's Hudson River Valley - in a dogged effort to rescue her Little Birdies!
About the Author: I started my first novel sometime in mid-2000, on a Metro-North commuter train traveling into Manhattan, writing on my then new Mac Powerbook. The title stuck-The Third Revolution-but the rest of the work I'd completed was tossed out in early 2002 when I started the project anew. I completed that manuscript, found and worked with a professional editor, and, after spending about a year learning how not to attract a literary agent, I eventually took a chance on the then cutting edge publish-on-demand technology and got the book "out there." The first paperback edition of The Third Revolution appeared on Amazon (as well as in several local bricks-and mortar bookstores) in May of 2004. I have to admit, I liked the feeling. Better than a decade later I'm still working on that same Mac Powerbook, and have somehow managed to write and publish five novels (The Third Revolution, Middle America, Little Birdies!, The Last Bartender and The Cenacle Scroll). I'm presently working on a sixth, Aqua Vitae, which should be completed this year. In my pre-MBA days, a time when I had easy access to fast motorcycles and sympathetic women, I worked as a bartender at the historic Peter Luger Steakhouse in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan, the El Morocco Club on Second Avenue, the infamous Diamond's Whisky Parlor in Flushing and poured shots-and-beers (and kept my head down) through several stabbings and the occasional gunfire at Pirate's Pub in Kew Gardens, Queens. Last year I re-entered the industry, working the bar at Frogs End Tavern within the elegant Glenmere Mansion, an exclusive eighteen-room boutique hotel in Chester, NY, and from behind the stick at the President's Bar at the venerable Powleton Country Club in Newburgh, NY. Today I can be found plying my trade at The Cellar Door Bistro in Ridgefield, CT. The motorcycles and women have yet to reemerge, but I remain ever hopeful in that regard.