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'Oracle' reveals visions of science gone awry: ?The Last Oracle? by James Rollins William Morrow, $26.95, 434 pp.
(Albuquerque Journal (NM) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jun. 22--Strands of a story are braided in best-selling author James Rollins' latest thriller, "The Last Oracle." A bloody coin clutched by a dead homeless man is traced back to the ancient Oracle of Delphi in ancient Greece. The coin is key to a plot that could threaten humanity.
Meanwhile, a think tank of scientists has bioengineered austistic kids -- trapped in a facility under a radioactive Russian lake -- with savant talents. They're trying to enhance the children's abilities, but something goes awry and turns into the scary prospect of creating a world prophet.
Where does Rollins find the scientific ideas and historical concepts to shape into a plausible storyline?
Answer: magazines.
"It's just me as researcher. And what I do is not exactly scientific, but I read National Geographic, Scientific American, New Scientist," Rollins said in a phone interview from his home in Sacramento, Calif.
"I look for three things. One, a bit of science that ends in sort of a 'what if ...' Two, interesting locations in which to set a story. By interesting, I mean (in terms of) mythology, history. And three, a piece of history left unexplained, a mystery in the past."
When Rollins finds an article, he tosses it in a large rectangular cardboard box.
"It's just a mess," he said of his filing system. "I like it that way. It's a good way to generate ideas. Rather than me making connections, I turn the box over and put it in the middle of the family room floor.
"Sometimes a piece is juxtaposed next to another that I would not have thought ... I like the randomness of the box. Were it not for the box I would not have as many ideas."
But if one doubted that the Russians have a facility under a radioactive lake, Rollins would be the first to reject that incredulity. Russia's Lake Karachay is radioactive.
Two other publishing events converged for him this spring. The paperback release of his bestseller "The Judas Strain" and his novelization of the film "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."
"It was a blast to write hurry-up-and-wait," Rollins said.
He had read the script a year ago at the Lucasfilm Studios in San Francisco. That gave him time to research points in the story he wanted to expand.
He added 20 scenes to the book that aren't in the film. "Once I started writing it was a blast -- cracking the whip, putting on the hat," he said.
To see more of the Albuquerque Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.abqjournal.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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