Veins of Canada

Calgary, 1892. The first symptom was a fever. The second was a riot.When a deadly smallpox outbreak is traced to a Chinese laundry, the burgeoning frontier town of Calgary does not respond with medicine, but with a torch. The authorities burn the infected homes and imprison the entire Chinese enclave behind a quarantine wall-a cage where disease and despair are left to fester.But within the walls is Li Wei, a laundry worker whose mind operates with the cold, precise logic of a strategist. While his community relies on tradition and prayer, Wei sees their predicament as a single, brutal equation: to survive the mob outside, they must first conquer the virus within. He turns a root cellar into a covert hospital and begins a silent war.Using a network of invisible child spies, forged documents, and carefully planted rumors, Wei systematically dismantles the mob from the inside, manipulating friend and foe alike. But each calculated move draws him deeper into a moral darkness, distancing him from the very people he fights to save.As the town's fear ignites into a violent fury led by a charismatic agitator, Wei must step from the shadows for a final, bloody confrontation. He is the only thing standing between his people and eradication. But in mastering the calculus of survival, he risks becoming a monster more cold and calculating than the disease itself.Variola: Calgary 1892 is a gripping and unflinching novel that exposes a dark chapter in history, exploring the viruses that infect the body, the mind, and the soul of a city. Bungen Lee (pen name) has always had a passion for writing. As a child, he would spend countless hours scribbling stories in his notebook, often to the neglect of his schoolwork. However, it wasn't until later in life that Bungen realized that writing was his true calling. Despite his love for writing, Bungen pursued a career in engineering, where he worked tirelessly as an engineer for many years. However, his desire to write never waned, and he spent every free moment honing his craft. He attended writing workshops, read every book on the craft of writing, and even took a course on creative writing online. As an Asian Canadian writer, Bungen has always been interested in exploring the complexities of identity and culture in his writing. His stories often delve into the experiences of immigrants and their families, as well as the challenges of navigating life in a multicultural society.

They built the most dangerous railroad in the world. Now, someone is building a graveyard along its tracks.1882, Canadian Rockies. For Zhang Wei, a brilliant Chinese-Canadian laborer, the brutal work on the Canadian Pacific Railway is a sentence of slow death. Paid less, fed worse, and tasked with the most lethal jobs, he and his countrymen are treated as disposable-statistical losses in the great national enterprise.When his only friend, Lin, is killed in a suspicious "accident," Zhang is the only one who sees the murder hidden in the mishap. A cut rope. A misplaced boot print. The signs of a killer who uses the treacherous mountain itself as a weapon. While the white constabulary turns a blind eye, Zhang begins a solitary investigation, compiling a secret ledger of the dead.His hunt pits him against a cunning adversary who stalks the camps, making the deaths of "coolies" look like the cost of doing business. As Zhang uncovers a pattern of ruthless elimination, he draws the killer's attention, becoming the next target in a deadly game. To survive and expose the truth, he must use his intellect to outmaneuver a monster, the hostile wilderness, and the pervasive racism of his superiors. Bungen Lee (pen name) has always had a passion for writing. As a child, he would spend countless hours scribbling stories in his notebook, often to the neglect of his schoolwork. However, it wasn't until later in life that Bungen realized that writing was his true calling. Despite his love for writing, Bungen pursued a career in engineering, where he worked tirelessly as an engineer for many years. However, his desire to write never waned, and he spent every free moment honing his craft. He attended writing workshops, read every book on the craft of writing, and even took a course on creative writing online. As an Asian Canadian writer, Bungen has always been interested in exploring the complexities of identity and culture in his writing. His stories often delve into the experiences of immigrants and their families, as well as the challenges of navigating life in a multicultural society.