All too often, when people think of stories having elements of science and technology, they think of science fiction. Yet, I think for many people, science fiction is stereotyped as rocket ships and laser beams.
They’re wrong.
I’ll note that in Darwin’s Cipher, not one rocket ship or laser beam was used, yet it would be hard to say that the novel wasn’t chock full of scientific topics and technology.
It would also be hard to deny that novels like Jurassic Park, or The Andromeda Strain weren’t technically science fiction, yet they were marketed as thrillers, which is also what they are.
Thus came the birth of a new genre: the technothriller.
The type of novels I write almost always tend to weave elements of science into their fabric. It may seem to some that there are components of my stories that seem fantastic, or impossible, yet it’s my goal to always base things on current science or scientific theory.
I’ve often said that I tend to write two type of novels, one that lands squarely in the technothriller genre, and the other being more a mainstream thriller (e.g. like the Levi Yoder series.)
It would be reasonable to ask, given what I’ve already written above, “If you always weave science or technology into your stories, why make a distinction between technothriller and mainstream thriller?”
The answer is simple:
To me, the key thing that differentiates a technothriller from a mainstream thriller is that in the former, science is not just an ingredient of the story, but a key part of it. Just like with Darwin’s Cipher, you wouldn’t have much of a story without the cipher (DNA modification).
However, in my honest opinion, that shouldn’t mean you need advanced degrees to understand what is happening in my technothrillers. All you should need is a love of good stories that contain science and technology. It is up to the author to make the science portion accessible to all that would read it.
In this novel, I’ve strived to maintain a strong level of scientific accuracy. Certainly, there will be elements in any tale of fiction that are impossibilities today. However, built upon a solid foundation of science, I attempt to venture forward with some predictions of what could be, and from that, construct a tale that should hopefully be entertaining and maybe somewhat enlightening.
In this addendum, I wanted to note some things that I’ve used in this story, and give you, the reader, an insight into how some elements of science might relate to them or serve as inspiration. For example, I’ve discussed extensively aspects of genetic modification in this novel. Almost all of what I’ve described is real.
There is a lot of misconceptions and debate around the topic, which is completely fair. Anyone who ever claims that the science for something is settled is often leading you astray.
Always question. Always doubt. Always verify.
In this addendum, I’ll give very brief explanations of what may be very complex concepts. My intent is to only leave you with sufficient information to give a remedial understanding of the subject. However, for those who want to know more, it’s also my intent to leave you with enough keywords that would allow you to initiate your own research and gain a more complete background understanding of any of these topics.
This should also give you a peek into some of the things that have influenced my writing of this story, and maybe have you start asking what all authors inevitably ask themselves, “What if?”