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"Dark Benediction" is a science fiction novella by American Walter M. Miller, first published in 1951.
The story is set about two years after the collapse of civilization due to a mysterious disease called neuroderm. The "disease" is actually caused by a symbiotic micro-organism sent to Earth from another inhabited planet, and is actually beneficial, though seen as disfiguring because of the graying of skin which eventually spreads over the entire body.
The story's protagonist, Paul Harris Oberlin, begins the story outside Houston. He has managed to avoid infection so far, but is tiring of a diet of small game and ditch water. Paul has decided to risk exploring a city, figuring that the large, crowded cities are now deserted and, perhaps, offer better opportunities for scavenging.
Paul discovers that Houston is now controlled by a strongman named Georgelle, whose followers exterminate any "dermies" they come across. Unable to stomach the murder of a dermie girl, Paul rescues her and flees Houston.
The girl, Willow or "Willie", was heading for Galveston, familiar to her from visits before the collapse. She has heard that nuns have set themselves up there. Paul takes her to Galveston, hoping to find medical help for her crippling gunshot wound.
Paul finds that Galveston Island is an all-dermie colony which had deliberately destroyed all bridges leading from the mainland. There are nuns, and monks, and they provide the leadership for the colony. There is also a scientist who has survived the chaos, and who confirms for Paul the rumors that neuroderm has an extraterrestrial origin.
Eventually, Paul overcomes his fears about neuroderm for the sake of Willie, and plans to go with her to some small island until sanity returns to the world. However, the implied threat of Georgelle's people remains, the dermies of Galveston providing a doubly attractive target for their planned expansion: extermination of the dermies, plus a treasure trove of loot, including gasoline and working cars and trucks.
Much of the story takes place at St. Mary's Hospital in Galveston, a real hospital which was run by a real order of nuns. The hospital is now part of the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB). The address is 404 8th St.
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The Story of Louis Pasteur is a 1936 American black-and-white biographical film from Warner Bros., produced by Henry Blanke, directed by William Dieterle, that stars Josephine Hutchinson, Anita Louise and Donald Woods, and Paul Muni as the renowned scientist who developed major advances in microbiology, which revolutionized agriculture and medicine. The film's screenplay—which tells a highly fictionalized version of Pasteur’s life—was written by Pierre Collings and Sheridan Gibney, and Edward Chodorov (uncredited).
The Green Mile is a 1996 serial novel by American writer Stephen King. It tells the story of death row supervisor Paul Edgecombe's encounter with John Coffey, an unusual inmate who displays inexplicable healing and empathetic abilities. The serial novel was originally released in six volumes before being republished as a single-volume work. The book is an example of magical realism.
Galveston County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas, located along the Gulf Coast adjacent to Galveston Bay. As of the 2010 U.S. Decennial Census, the population was 291,309. The county was founded in 1838. The county seat is the City of Galveston, founded the following year of 1839, located on Galveston Island. The most populous municipality in the county is League City, a suburb of Houston at the northern end of the county, which surpassed Galveston in population during the early 2000s.
Virginia Dare was the first English child born in a New World English colony.
The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a 2.1-square-mile (5.4 km2) medical district and neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, immediately south of the Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Over sixty medical institutions, largely concentrated in a triangular area between Brays Bayou, Rice University, and Hermann Park, are members of the Texas Medical Center Corporation—a non-profit umbrella organization—which constitutes the largest medical complex in the world. The TMC has an extremely high density of clinical facilities for patient care, basic science, and translational research.
The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) is a public academic health science center in Galveston, Texas. It is part of the University of Texas System. UTMB includes the oldest medical school in Texas, and has about 11,000 employees. In February 2019, it received an endowment of $560 million.
Victoria "Vicki" Winters is a fictional character from the television Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows and its remakes of the same name. The role was originated by Alexandra Moltke on the ABC series from 1966 to 1968. After Moltke left to raise a family in 1968, actresses Betsy Durkin and Carolyn Groves briefly replaced her for only a handful of episodes, before Victoria was written out completely. Jaclyn Smith, who was married to Dark Shadows actor Roger Davis at the time, was offered the role when Moltke left the show, but she declined.
The Sisters of Charity of Montreal, formerly called The Sisters of Charity of the Hôpital Général of Montreal and more commonly known as the Grey Nuns of Montreal, is a Canadian religious institute of Roman Catholic religious sisters, founded in 1737 by Saint Marguerite d'Youville, a young widow.
Marianne Cope, also known as Saint Marianne of Molokaʻi, was a German-born American religious sister who was a member of the Sisters of St Francis of Syracuse, New York, and founding leader of its St. Joseph's Hospital in the city, among the first of 50 general hospitals in the country. Known also for her charitable works, in 1883 she relocated with six other sisters to Hawaiʻi to care for persons suffering leprosy on the island of Molokaʻi and aid in developing the medical infrastructure in Hawaiʻi. Despite direct contact with the patients over many years, Cope did not contract the disease.
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The Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word is the name of two Roman Catholic religious institutes based in the U.S. state of Texas. They use the abbreviation C.C.V.I..
The Painted Veil is a 1925 novel by British author W. Somerset Maugham. The title is taken from Percy Bysshe Shelley's sonnet, which begins "Lift not the painted veil which those who live / Call Life".
John Dustin "Johnny" Montgomery is a fictional character in the daytime soap opera, As the World Turns. He is the only son of Jennifer Munson Donovan. He is the son of Craig Montgomery but was adopted by Dusty Donovan. He was kidnapped by his paternal half-sister, Lucy. Lucy and Johnny returned to the show in December 2008. Craig regained full custody of Johnny in January 2009 and had his son's name changed legally from John Donovan to John Montgomery. He lives with Craig Montgomery and Rosanna Cabot in Oakdale, Illinois.
Jewish Texans have been a part of the history of Texas since the first European explorers arrived in the region in the 16th century. In 1990, there were around 108,000 adherents to Judaism in Texas. More recent estimates place the number at around 120,000.
The History of Galveston, Texas, begins with the archaeological record of Native Americans who used the island. The first European settlements on the island were constructed around 1816. The Port of Galveston was established in 1825 by the Congress of Mexico following its successful revolution from Spain. The city served as the main port for the Texas Navy during the Texas Revolution. Galveston was founded in 1836 by Matthew Sabo and served as the capital of the Republic of Texas. The Battle of Galveston was fought in Galveston Bay during the American Civil War when Confederate forces under Major General John B. Magruder attacked and expelled occupying Union troops from the city.
The Day of the Triffids is a BBC drama made in 2009. It is a loose adaptation of John Wyndham's 1951 novel of the same title. The novel had previously been adapted in 1962 as a theatrical film and by the BBC in a 1981 series.
Vanishing on 7th Street is a 2010 American post-apocalyptic thriller film directed by Brad Anderson and starring Hayden Christensen, Thandiwe Newton and John Leguizamo.
Toby's Room is English novelist Pat Barker's follow up novel to Life Class (2007). It continues to follow the fortunes of a group of students and teachers of the Slade School of Fine Art during the First World War.
Diagnosis is a 2019 documentary streaming television series. The series follows Dr. Lisa Sanders as she attempts to help patients with rare illnesses and searches for a diagnosis and cure using wisdom of the crowd methods. The show is based on her column for The New York Times Magazine. It was released on August 16, 2019, on Netflix.