Contagion: Episode One

by S.L. Beaumont

In a seaside village in New Zealand, two aliens posing as human teenagers, Jules and Tom are assessing Earth’s suitability for colonisation. But things do not go to plan. Jules falls in love with Sam, the local high school’s rugby star and Tom discovers that a variant of a plague on Earth could mean the destruction of their kind. Together they must try to stop the impending invasion. Or are they too late to stop the inevitable?

28 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 2, 2017

About the author

SL Beaumont is the author of the award-winning Historical fiction novel The War Photographers, art-crime series, The Carlswick Mysteries, the award-winning thriller Shadow of Doubt and the Kat Munro series.

She lives in beautiful New Zealand, which is only problematic when the travel bug bites (which it does fairly often)! Her passion for travel has seen her take many long-haul flights to various parts of the world. Her love of history helps her determine the destination, and the places she visits are a constant source of inspiration for her. Prior to becoming an author, SL Beaumont worked in banking in London and New York and is now a partner in a chartered accounting firm in Auckland.

The War Photographers won the 2024 IRDA Historical Fiction Award, Shadow of Doubt won the Indie Reader 2020 Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Award and was long-listed for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel. Death Count was a semi-finalist for the 2021 Publisher’s Weekly Booklife Prize. The titles in The Carlswick Mysteries series have been awarded honorable mentions at the San Francisco Book Festival and have been finalists in the Wishing Shelf Book Awards.

Reviews

[Shannon Everyday · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a huge fan of SL Beaumont's Carlswick series, I was very excited to see her dive into writing a YA Sci-Fi story. Contagion is a fast-paced, fun, sweet read, that makes the stakes high for it's characters. Jules and Tom are have been sent, by their planet, to assess Earth for colonization. Tom makes a discovery that shows that if their people colonize Earth, it will lead to the end of both their species and Earth's. It then becomes a race against time to contact and stop their people from invading. There are some twists to the story, and it feels well set up to become a longer book or series. There's a little romance, action, and good back and forth among the characters.

[Eveie Hickman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great 👍 story , Jules and Tom are aliens sent to earth 🌏 to check out the suitability for colonies. They take humanoid form and assimilate into society. Tom however discovers that a disease a present on the planet that will kill their kind. Now there is a race to stop the invasion . The interaction between the characters is good and the love interest adds a bit of spice.good writing though.🤓