Monica asked Stephen P. Kiernan:

What inspired the seed thought for The Curiosity?

Stephen P. Kiernan Hi Monica. My apologies for the slow reply. This part of Goodreads is new to me, but now that I see it I pledge to do better in the future.

The Curiosity had two big ideas behind it: One was a fascination with the moral and ethical questions raised by all of our society's new technology with cells: cloning, gene splicing, etc. One of my favorite novels that explores questions like these is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which clearly influenced the plot of my book.

The second idea came from the song by James Taylor, "Frozen Man," which humanized the old idea of a time traveler or man from another era alive in today's world. I loved that song and for years thought about enlarging it into a novel.

But really fiction is made of many many seeds, some of which come from research (like learning about early baseball or the city of Lynn, Mass.) and most of which arise out of the imagination (where else could a genius stoner like Gerber come from?).

Thanks for your question.

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