In another strange coincidence, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which houses China\u2019s only level four biosafety laboratory, the highest-level classification of labs that study the deadliest viruses, is just 32km from the epicentre of the current coronavirus outbreak.\u00a0 The opening of the maximum-security lab was coveredThe opening of the maximum-security lab was covered in a 2017 story in the journal Nature, which warned of safety risks in a culture where hierarchy trumps an open culture. in a 2017 story in the journal Nature<\/em>, which warned of safety risks in a culture where hierarchy trumps an open culture.<\/p>\n . The opening of the maximum-security lab was covered in a 2017 story in the journal Nature<\/em>, which warned of safety risks in a culture where hierarchy trumps an open culture.<\/p>\n Fringe conspiracy theories that the coronavirus involved in the current outbreak appears to be man-made and likely escaped from the Wuhan virology lab have been circulated, but have been widely debunked. In fact the lab was one of the first to sequence the coronavirus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In Koontz\u2019s thriller, the virus is considered the \u201cperfect weapon\u201d because it only affects humans and, since it cannot survive outside the human body for longer than a minute, it does not demand expensive decontamination once a population is wiped out, allowing the victors to roll in and claim a conquered territory.<\/p>\n It\u2019s no exaggeration to call Koontz a prolific writer. His first book, Star Quest<\/em>, was published in 1968 and he has been churning out suspense fiction at a phenomenal rate since with more than 80 novels and 74 works of short fiction under his belt. The 74-year-old, a devout Catholic, lives in California with his wife. But what are the odds of him so closely predicting the future?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Albert Wan, who runs the Bleak House Books store in San Po Kong, says Wuhan has historically been the site of numerous scientific research facilities, including ones dealing with microbiology and virology. \u201cSmart, savvy writers like Koontz would have known all this and used this bit of factual information to craft a story that is both convincing and unsettling. Hence the Wuhan-400,\u201d says Wan.<\/p>\n British writer Paul French, who specialises in books about China, says many of the elements around viruses in China relate back to the second world war, which may have been a factor in Koontz\u2019s thinking.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Japanese definitely did do chemical weapons research in China, which we mostly associate with Unit 731 in Harbin and northern China. But they also stored chemical weapons in Wuhan \u2013 which Japan admitted,\u201d says French.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Publisher Pete Spurrier, who runs Hong Kong publishing house Blacksmith Books, muses that for a fiction writer mapping out a thriller about a virus outbreak set in China, Wuhan is a good choice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt\u2019s on the Yangtze River that goes east-west; it\u2019s on the high-speed rail [line] that goes north-south; it\u2019s right at the crossroads of transport networks in the centre of the country. Where better to start a fictional epidemic, or indeed a real one?\u201d says Spurrier. (Spurrier works part-time as a subeditor for the Post<\/em>.)<\/p>\n Hong Kong crime author Chan Ho-kei believes that this kind of \u201cfiction-prophecy\u201d is not uncommon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIf you look really hard, I bet you can spot prophecies for almost all events. It makes me think about the \u2018infinite monkey\u2019 theorem,\u201d he says, referring to the theory that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type any given text.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe probability is low, but not impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n Chan points to the 1898 novella Futility<\/em>, which told the story of a huge ocean liner that sank in the North Atlantic after striking an iceberg. Many uncanny similarities were noted between the fictional ship \u2013 called Titan \u2013 and the real-life passenger ship RMS Titanic, which sank 14 years later. Following the sinking of the Titanic, the book was reissued with some changes, particularly in the ship\u2019s gross tonnage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cFiction writers always try to imagine what the reality would be, so it\u2019s very likely to write something like a prediction. Of course, it\u2019s bizarre when the details collide, but I think it\u2019s just a matter of mathematics,\u201d says Chan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Many of Koontz\u2019s books have been adapted for television or the big screen, but The Eyes of Darkness<\/em> never achieved such glory. This bizarre coincidence will thrust it into the spotlight and may see sales of this otherwise forgotten thriller jump.<\/p>\n Amazon is currently offering it on Kindle for just US$1. Perhaps, like Futility<\/em>, it will also be reissued with some updates to make it really echo the current outbreak.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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- The Eyes of Darkness features a Chinese military lab in Wuhan that creates a virus as a bioweapon; civilians soon become sick after accidentally contracting it<\/li>\n
- In fact, the one lab in China able to handle the deadliest viruses is in Wuhan and helped sequence the novel coronavirus the world is currently battling<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Kate Whitehead
\nSouth China Morning Post<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Screen-Shot-2020-02-14-at-6.46.39-PM.png\")
In bestselling suspense author Dean Koontz\u2019s 1981 thriller The Eyes of Darkness, a virus to be used as a biological weapon is developed in Wuhan, China, but humans end up contracting it. Photo: Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n
The Eyes of Darkness<\/em>, a 1981 thriller by bestselling suspense author Dean Koontz, tells of a Chinese military lab that creates a virus as part of its biological weapons programme. The lab is located in Wuhan, which lends the virus its name, Wuhan-400. A chilling literary coincidence or a case of writer as unwitting prophet?<\/p>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn The Eyes of Darkness<\/em>, a grieving mother, Christina Evans, sets out to discover whether her son Danny died on a camping trip or if \u2013 as suspicious messages suggest \u2013 he is still alive. She eventually tracks him down to a military facility where he is being held after being accidentally contaminated with man-made microorganisms created at the research centre in Wuhan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nIf that made the hair on the back of your neck stand up, read this passage from the book: \u201cIt was around that time that a Chinese scientist named Li Chen moved to the United States while carrying a floppy disk of data from China\u2019s most important and dangerous new biological weapon of the past decade. They call it Wuhan-400 because it was developed in their RDNA laboratory just outside the city of Wuhan.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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