Author R&R With Charles Brokaw
I can't give you much in the way of biographical details about Charles Brokaw, the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlantis Code, The Lucifer Code and The Temple Mount Code, because Charles Brokaw is a pseudonym for an anonynous author. We do know he's an academic and college educator living in the Midwest, who is fascinated by history and archeology. He was also a friend of the late Martin H. Greenburg, the prolific editor of anthologies, and there's a Q&A between the two men on Brokaw's web site about the author's first book and the research behind it.
What I can tell you is that Brokaw's latest novel, The Oracle Code, is the fourth in the series featuring brilliant archaeologist, Thomas Lourdes, who is dispatched to Afghanistan to decipher the code found in a tomb associated with Alexander the Great, potentially leading to a lost trove of powerful weapons. But the Russians are also desperate to get their hands on the code and have sent a dangerous assassin to hunt down Lourdes.
Brokaw stopped by IRTM to discuss some of the research behind this book:
Researching the
Ancient World
Saying you want to tackle such a vast genre as the
mythology of the ancient Greeks and the life of Alexander the Great in a novel
is a daunting task, to say the least. This is especially true since there are
so many different stories floating around about what actually happened to
Alexander the Great’s after his death. But that is what made this book so
intriguing to write. There is just enough information out there to make a
concrete story, and enough unknowns to leave certain elements open to
interpretation.
The specific “unknown” that led me to write The Oracle
Code was that pesky question that so many have tried to answer over the ages
and no one ever could: where is the tomb of Alexander the Great?
Some Ancient
Scrolls
The disappearance of the tomb of Alexander the Great is
one of the greatest archaeological mysteries. And as was the case with The
Atlantis Code, the “what if” question that has hung in the air was the perfect
opportunity for Thomas Lourdes to step in and find some answers.
I began by reading and reviewing each historical document
pronouncing the mishaps of Alexander’s early death and the ensuing burial. His
tomb stood for centuries, untouched, in a sacred area of ancient Greece.
However, it is also said to have occupied two different cities in Egypt as well
as various other sites. I also spend quite a bit of time delving into the
nature of the relationship between Alexander the Great and Aristotle, which was
quite unique. Not many people know that Aristotle was actually Alexander’s
mentor and worked quite hard to engender a sympathetic attitude in his protégé
for the Greek culture since Alexander was actually Macedonian.
Traveling the
World
An ancient scroll holding the location of Alexander’s
tomb was said to materialize in Afghanistan. So I decided to take my research
there. With a dear friend of mine along for the ride with a crew of
researchers, we traveled to gain a deeper understanding of the Afghan
culture—the food, clothing, trade routes and location where each scene took
place. I didn’t just want to go to Afghanistan and start digging in the
desert—I wanted this beautiful country to play a major role in the book, almost
as a character in and of itself.
Herat, Afghanistan—the location of the dig and one of the
main cities in which the book takes place, has an extensive history, dating
back to ancient times. Heart’s location on the ancient trade routes of the
Middle East, and Central and South Asia made Herat a vital city to research,
especially when looking into the disappearance of Alexander the Great. We spent
quite a bit of time in the major cities in the area researching primary sources
and speaking with archaeologists who are experts on the subject.
The next obvious stop after Afghanistan was Greece. As I
began shaping my own hypotheses on where the tomb of Alexander might lie, it
seemed like the next logical step, particularly because of the nature of
Alexander and Aristotle’s relationship. Also, there are so many links between
the major trade routes that ran through Herat and Greece, so the connection was
plain and simple.
I could probably write a whole series about
archaeological adventures that take place in Greece. I spent quite a bit of
time on the island of Delos, an island where Aristotle purportedly took
Alexander the Great when he was a child. This island was seen as a holy
sanctuary for a millennium before the Greeks proclaimed it the birthplace of
some of their most revered gods. During the Greek empire, no one was allowed to
live there. It was an island specifically for temples and offerings
to the gods. So as you can imagine, there is quite a bit of history there as
well and the perfect background for an archaeological adventure.
If you go there now, Delos is completely covered with ancient
artifacts and the remains of countless Greek temples. The number of stories
about the Greek gods could make your head spin, especially since there are so
many variations passed down through the ages. To be honest, it took me quite a
bit of time to wrap my mind around it. Although Alexander’s connection to the
Greeks made the perfect backdrop for The Oracle Code and a hypothesis about his
whereabouts that, in my opinion, might not be too far off.
--Charles Brokaw
The Oracle Code is available on Amazon as a Kindle special and has its own book trailer on YouTube. You can also find Brokaw via his website and on Facebook.
