Bestselling author James Rollins is here on Mystery Playground to talk about his new book, mummification, and climate change. You'll need to read on to find out how they all tie together.
The story starts when an archaeologist—who vanished along
with a survey team into the Egyptian desert two years prior—comes stumbling
back out and dies in a small village. But what’s strange is that his body is
already partly mummified, as if someone had forced him to undergo the painful
and gruesome ritual while he was still alive. Unfortunately when he came
stumbling out of the desert, he wasn’t alone. He was carrying a plague
organism, one that traces back to Moses’s ten plagues from the Bible. As this disease
spreads and threatens to trigger the other nine Biblical plagues, Sigma Force
is called in to search for a way to stop it. From there the story blows up into
a global adventure spanning from Africa all the way up to the Arctic Circle.
It’s one of Sigma’s biggest adventures yet.
Is it
actually possible for people to mummify themselves while still alive?
Shockingly it is. Sokushinbutsu—or Buddhas in the flesh—can
be found in Japan, where the practitioners underwent great and excruciating
lengths to preserve their tissues after death. This involves fasting, consuming
special bark and teas, and swallowing stones—then as death nears, they entomb
themselves while still alive. You’ll also find similar practices in China and
India.
Back to
those ten plagues from the Bible…could they really happen again?
This novel deals with an alternate timeline for the events
featured in the Book of Exodus—the story of Moses, the plagues, and the flight
of the Israelites from Egypt. It proves that these were historical events, not
mere myths or legends. It’s a view well researched by Egyptologist and
archaeologist David Rohl. Likewise, the plagues themselves have a rational and
scientific explanation that not only shows they could have happened—but that
they could indeed happen again.
Speaking
of those plagues, you also tie this book to the current crisis involving the
spread of the Zika virus. What does Zika have to do with your story?
The Zika virus originated in a monkey in Uganda, yet it’s
grown into a tragic disease spreading around the world and now into the United
States, causing crippling and deadly birth defects. Yet, as you can see from
the media, we’re struggling to address it as it hits our shores. The organism
in my novel is in the same family of viruses and causes birth defects and
death, but only in male children, very much like Moses tenth plague—the deaths
of the firstborn sons. So this novel serves as a cautionary tale about Zika and
about our inability to face such crises.
Your novel
also features “electric bacteria.” Those can’t possibly be real, can they?
They are very real. They’ve only recently been identified,
but over a dozen different specimens have been found. These are microbes that
feed directly on electricity, sucking electrons out of the environment and
using them as an energy source. They’re so unique that a slew of labs are
exploring practical applications for them—from growing them into living
biocables that could conduct electricity to using them to power nano-machines
capable of all sorts of industrial uses, including cleaning up the environment.
During
this adventure, you also raise concerns about climate change. How does that
play out in your book?
While I don’t intend my novel to be a diatribe about climate
change, it’s hard to deny that the Arctic is getting warmer, the ice caps are
getting smaller, and it’s opening up the entire north to exploration. Cruise
ships are already plying the Northwest Passage, a trek once considered too
hazardous to even contemplate and led to the deaths of countless explorers.
Even more concerning, the whole region has become a political hotbed because
the extensive melting is allowing easier access to the Arctic’s rich resources.
Russia, Denmark, and Canada are fighting to divvy up the territory found under
the Arctic Ice cap, with lots of butting heads, and Russian submarines are
already patrolling under the ice, trying to stake a claim. It’s a powder keg
waiting to explode.
You also
look at a unique way of combating climate change, something called
geo-engineering. What’s that?
These are massive projects, basically Hail Mary passes to
save the planet. Most climate scientists believe we are near, at, or past the
tipping point to do anything. So looking beyond just lowering carbon emissions,
researchers are contemplating projects much larger: like enclosing the earth in a solar shield,
or flooding Death Valley, or even wrapping Greenland in a blanket. The only
problem—beyond the feasibility of funding or accomplishing them—is the danger
of unintended consequences, disasters that no one could predict because the
number of variables is so huge when talking about a global-wide engineering
project. So, of course, I wanted to explore what might happen if someone
actually attempted one of these projects.
The
project featured in your book is tied to something actually up in the Arctic
already.
It does. It ties to an Air Force installation called HAARP,
which is an elaborate antenna array shooting energy up to the earth’s
ionosphere, the electrically charged layer of our atmosphere. The installation
has been the focus for many conspiracy theories, believing it might be a
weather-control device or used to read minds. There were even concerns that is
might set the sky on fire. So in my story, I built a larger, scarier version up
in Canada—and make those fears come real.
As usual,
you also fold some intriguing history into your novel, like featuring Mark
Twain and his friendships with other historical figures, like the inventor
Nicola Tesla.
I’ve always found it fascinating that so many
bigger-than-life historical figures not only knew each other, but were involved
in each other’s lives. Like how Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla were great buddies.
Twain even spent time in Tesla’s lab, helping with experiments, and I’m sure
being a general nuisance. I love one anecdote. Twain wanted to test Tesla’s
“earthquake machine” to help with his constipation. Twain stepped onto the
inventor’s large oscillating device and had to promptly and hurriedly excuse
himself to the restroom. It’s such a fun relationship that I wanted to give
that pair—a writer and an inventor—a great adventure of their own. And that’s
what happens in this novel.
Besides
Mark Twain, you even have Donald Trump’s uncle connected to Tesla’s story. Was
that true?
Yes, and it ties into a great mystery surrounding Nikola
Tesla. Tesla was a visionary genius, and later in life in The New York Times,
he made the bold claim that he had discovered a new, and never-before-seen
energy source, one that would change the world. But he never revealed his
secret, so when he died, the U.S. government cleared out all of his papers and
research journals, including notebook that Tesla had warned his nephew to
secure upon his death. All of Tesla’s confiscated work was reviewed by the
National Defense Research Committee, a group led at the time by John G. Trump,
the uncle of a certain New York real estate magnate. Eventually, pressured by
Tesla’s nephew, those papers were returned to his family, but not all of them.
One conspicuous piece was missing—that notebook. In my book, it’s found.
Your
stories are known for featuring animals in prominent roles. Is that the case
with The Seventh Plague?
As a veterinarian, I love to fold animals into my story, and
this book is no exception. I feature a young lion cub named Roho, but the
emphasis is on the ingenuity of elephants. Elephants have the largest brains of
any land mammal. In fact, they even have the same number of neurons and
synapses in their cerebral cortexes as we do. And they put all that brainpower
to good use. They use tools, are excellent problem solvers, show altruistic
behavior, even self awareness. They are great painters, with a canvas done by a
Picasso elephant named Ruby at the Phoenix Zoo selling for $25,000. They are
also tremendous mimics, able to imitate other animals’ vocalizations, even
surprisingly the sound of human speech. So I wanted to feature these great big
beasts in my book, to highlight their majesty and intelligence.
Finally, as
I understand it, this book is also very personal for you. Would you care to go
into it?
I dedicated this book to my mother and father, who both
recently passed away from complications secondary to Alzheimer's. In fact, my
dad passed away while I was writing this book. In my series, the main
character—Commander Gray Pierce—has been dealing with similar challenges of
aging parents, including a father whose Alzheimer’s has been steadily worsening
throughout the series. In this book, all of that comes to a head, as Gray tries
to balance his professional and personal lives. It’s something we all struggle
with in varying regards, so I think Gray’s struggle—and his shocking decision
at the end of the novel—is something that will resonate with readers long after
they close the book.
Great interview! I'm looking forward to reading this book.
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