Sandstorm (Sigma Force, #1)

by James Rollins

She had been teasing out the revelation, but she finally relented. “Nabi Imran was Mary’s father.”

Hi, everyone, with the debut of my latest Sigma novel this week, I thought I'd go back to the very beginning, to where it all started. I wanted to tease out annotations from SANDSTORM to give insight into the series history and creation. Then over the next month, I'll be doing the same throughout the other books in the series. It's a great way for me to revisit the books--and I hope you, too, will enjoy this trip down memory lane. I'm starting with the tantalizing line above as I think it best captures what I've been trying to do. One of the themes (though I hate using that word from English Lit) that courses through all of the Sigma books is to search for the truths hidden behind stories and mythologies. I'm fascinated by by the common ground between seemingly disparate ideologies: between science and religion, between your view of the world and mine, between one faith and another. The world--for too long--has been a divided place, with camps separated by a deep line dug in the sand. My goal is to try to smudge that line as best I can. To find that common ground. To learn more about THE LAST ODYSSEY on Goodreads and add it to your shelf go to https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43386047-the-last-odyssey?ref=knh.

Where the Delta Force had been established as an antiterrorist squad, Sigma was started to protect and maintain the technological superiority of the United States. No matter the cost.

With this quote, let's get to the origin of this series. For the longest time, I resisted doing a series. All of my earlier works were stand-alone thrillers. I balked at a series due to what I call the "Jessica Fletcher Syndrome." Now Ms. Fletcher (from the tv series Murder She wrote) was always stumbling over dead bodies, murders to solve. I've never tripped over a corpse. So what was her problem? It eventually strains the suspension of disbelief. Likewise, it's hard to maintain jeopardy in a series character like Ms. Fletcher. If another character points a gun at her head, you know the trigger will never be pulled as another episode of Murder She Wrote airs next week. So I kept resisting a series, until I discovered Sigma Force in SANDSTORM. I never thought this novel would be the launchpad for my first thriller series. But when I finished this book, I missed Painter and Coral and the rest of the Sigma clan. Then I realized I didn't have to say good-bye to them. I could build a series around a GROUP of characters rather an individual. That way the threat could come from any direction and I could maintain jeopardy, as no Sigma member was necessarily safe. I could knock off a major character...because Sigma could always recruit a new member. And thus the Sigma Force series began!

Dr. Sean McKnight was Sigma’s founder and director, Painter’s immediate superior, an ex–Navy SEAL who had gone on to earn a Ph.D. in both physics and information technology.

This line pretty much sums up WHO Sigma Force is. For those that might not be familiar, Sigma Force is composed of former Special Forces soldiers who have been drummed out of the service for various reasons, but because of special aptitude or skills they are secretly recruited by DARPA (the defense department's research-and-development agency). These men and women were then trained in various scientific disciplines to protect against emerging threats. They're basically "scientists with guns." And me (being a veterinarian) I get to live vicariously through their adventures, imagining myself as a gun-toting vet who saves the world. I'm still waiting for Sigma to recruit me.

Behind him, two men sampled a tray of varied hors d’oeuvres, traditional dishes of Oman, bits of braised meat, goat cheese, olives, and slivered dates. Dr. Omaha Dunn and his brother, Daniel.

Why this quote? It's to highlight a bit of where my love of such scientific adventure fiction began. When I was a kid, I became fixated on a middle-school series featuring Danny Dunn and his adventures (written by Raymond Abrashkin and Jay Williams). Danny and his school friends solved mysteries of a scientific nature. And my imagination (as a nerd who loved math and science) was hooked. So I namedone of the main characters "Daniel Dunn" as an homage to Danny of my youth. Likewise, this character's brother, Omaha Dunn, is a direct nod to another adventurous favorite of mine, Indiana Jones. One of my greatest honors was when I was tapped to write the novelization to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.Apparently no one can fully escape their past.

Clay finally spoke up. “Whiskey is for drinkin’, water is for fightin’.” She frowned. “Mark Twain,” he said.

I was born in Chicago but mostly grew up in St. Louis. I also attended veterinary school at Mizzou (University of Missouri-Columbia). So my midwestern roots run deep, and as a Missouri kid, how could I not become a huge fan of Mark Twain? You'll see such references or nods throughout my series. In fact, I even wrote one book (The Seventh Plague) that features Twain as a pivotal character. But what you might not know is that the vet school at Mizzou is located on "Rollins Avenue." So when a certain author with a troublesome Polish last name needed a pen name....well, there you have it.

They all knew borders no longer divided the world so much as ideologies. Though it was undeclared, there was a new world war being waged, where fundamental decency and respect for human rights were under assault by forces of intolerance, despotism, and blind fervor.

I mentioned before about my desire to seek the common ground between disparate ideologies. But where I DO draw a line in the sand is between right and wrong. And by that I mean in the respect of the fundamental human rights that must be protected against militant intolerance and prejudice. I try my best to build a cast of diverse characters: from every background, nationality, race, religion, and sexual orientation. I try to shine a light on the fundamental nature of all human beings. And Sigma spends much of their energies protecting those unalienable rights of all peoples--both here in the U.S. and around the world.

“When someone is always looking over their shoulder, they’re more likely to trip.”

Maybe this goes back to my love of all things Twain. He was an author that in a single sentence could make you laugh while offering great insight into the human condition. I'm always trying to create my own Twain-isms in my books, like the one above. If only I was as good as my fellow Missouri author...

Safia cleared her throat, still stunned by the discovery. “Biliqis is better known by her title: the Queen of Sheba.”

Now we're getting into the nuts and bolts of my series. I often get asked "Where do you get your ideas from?" Now, I always have my antenna up when searching for seeds to a story. I subscribe to early two dozen magazines. I interview anyone willing to talk to me. I jot notes when watching documentaries. When I travel, I journal and I'm notorious for walking up to someone in a village and asking them: "Tell me a secret about your town?" And often they do. Often such details end up in future book. Yet, throughout all of this antennae waving, I'm searching for two things. The quote above shines a light on the first. I'm always looking for a good historical mystery, a piece of the past that ends in a question mark, something I could potentially solve within the pages of a novel. SANDSTORM deals with history of the Queen of Sheba and her possible connection to Joseph, Mary, and Jesus Christ. And each Sigma novel delves deep into other mysteries. But that's only ONE of the two seeds of a story that I'm looking for. Read on.

“Parthenogenesis,” Safia said aloud. Kara looked confused. “It’s a form of reproduction where a female can produce an egg with an intact nucleus containing her own genetic code, which then grows and is born, an identical genetic duplicate of the mother.”

And here in a nutshell is the SECOND seed of a story that I'm always searching for. I'm looking for that bit of science that makes me go: "What if?" "Where might this lead?" "How will this effect us?" And while I can build a great big rollercoaster of an adventure based on some technological threat, what intrigued me more--and what I love to explore in a novel--is how that technology challenges us: morally, ethically, spiritually. It is in that gray area that great stories can be found.

“It looks like a big hollow sphere,” Omaha said. Coral nodded. “It is. The dodecahedron goes more commonly by the name buckyball. Named after Buckminster Fuller.”

Last but not least, this quote is a hint at another aspect of humanity that I love to feature in my novels: The enduring inventiveness and creativity of the human spirit. We have the tendency to dismiss the advancements and technology of ancient peoples. To attribute the building of the pyramids to aliens. We look toward "ancient astronauts" as the bearer of great technological gifts. But throughout the course of my series--starting with SANDSTORM and onward--readers will learn the enduring curiosity of the human mind, the determined fierceness of our spirit. And Sigma's goal is to preserve and protect what is special in all of us. So I hope this little tour through SANDSTORM offered a little glimpse behind the curtain. Over the next weeks and months, I'll continue this sojourn through the series by drawing out quotes that will offer even greater insight. Or maybe just quotes I particularly like. I would LOVE if you all would do the same. Post them here. Email them to me (authorjamesrollins@mac.com). And I'll do my best to try to pull that curtain even wider. Until then... keep reading. I'll keep writing.