Year of the Rat

CHINA, VIETNAM, CANADA, SAUDI ARABIA, ITALY, ARGENTINA, AMERICA, JAPAN, AUSTRALIA PHILIPPINES, NETHERLANDS, GUATEMALA, UGANDA, THE U.K., SINGAPORE, RUSSIA... THE YEAR OF THE METAL RAT, 2020, was a time of panic, uncertainty, and great division. As the pandemic spread, some wore masks and socially distanced to protect the vulnerable, while others protested all public health measures as a form of tyranny and caused loud and obnoxious mass disruptions to critical infrastructure in a jarring display of 'personal freedom.' Fake news and echo chambers enabled 'alternative facts,' while unhinged narratives and cartoonish conspiracies ran rampant, often trumping coverage of legitimate and existential converging catastrophes. In YEAR OF THE RAT, the sequel to the international best-seller 'The Invisible War' (Kai's Diary), Jorah Kai documents the world's largest 'Zero Covid bubble' while the outside world handles the pandemic uniquely. Reaching out to friends across the globe, he weaves their stories together. Thirty-six writers from 33 cities in 16 countries share their daily struggles, hopes, and fears for the YEAR OF THE RAT as the SARSCOV2 virus spreads catastrophe to every corner of the globe. "It's... the metaphor of the yin and the yang. I'd say right now, we are in the yin. It's a kind of disaster. It's sad. And on the yang side... it looks like some sort of a mathematical balance that I cannot explain." - Jeanne Claude Van Damme "I would have done the whole thing for a donut and a tuna fish sandwich. The money meant nothing. It was the opportunity to at least prove to myself that I wasn't a liar, that I wasn't living a life of disillusionment. When you think of yourself as being a very creative person, and turn around and realize you've been leading a lie." - Sylvester Stallone (Rocky). "At the beginning of the pandemic, Jorah Kai led a plucky band of frontline workers and activists to fight the pandemic with science. Some called him a harbinger, others a 'pandemic guru' as they navigated an increasingly bizarre world of book deals, TV appearances, speaking engagements, and a recovery event with his childhood hero, martial arts movie star Jeanne Claude Van Damme. But nothing could prepare him for what came next..." - The Narrator