Jim Neville
I think I need to update this question more often. The first time I answered this, I only had one book. I updated it again when I had six written. Now I have ten (two removed from publication by myself and two yet to be published). Since I'm not good at keeping this updated, I'll be a little generic.
Many of my ideas come from the question "What if?" That's basically the premise for all my books. In my first books, I pondered the end result of sophisticated Virtual Reality and Droids with real Artificial Intelligence. Recently, it was the question, "What if the ancient gods had some basis in fact? Could they have been humans with psychic powers?"
The psychic power angle seems to dominate my writing. It was there in my first book, the Crux series, and Hermes High. If I had to narrow it down, I'd say it all started in the sixties.
In 1968, there was a movie called The Power. People were gathered around a conference table and asked to move a piece of paper that was balanced on the tip of a pencil. The point of this exercise was to prove the existence of telekinesis. The person who proved the point had no idea he had the power until he tried.
I suppose I was susceptible to the movie's influence because the 60's were full of paranormal topics on TV. Twilight Zone led the way, but it was followed by many more shows with episodes devoted to the subject. There was even a show called Sixth Sense where a parapsychologist solved supernatural crimes. My parents even gave me a Kreskin's ESP game one Christmas. I suppose my parents were open to possibility, too. They were fans of the clairvoyant Edgar Cayce.
Long story short, I developed a philosophy which I suppose is a conglomeration of all the pseudo-science I was exposed to. I believe we all have psychic potential, some more than others of course. The largest barrier to exercising this power is lack of faith. It's kind of like the power of positive thinking or faith healing. The brain is an amazing organ with boundless potential.
Many of my ideas come from the question "What if?" That's basically the premise for all my books. In my first books, I pondered the end result of sophisticated Virtual Reality and Droids with real Artificial Intelligence. Recently, it was the question, "What if the ancient gods had some basis in fact? Could they have been humans with psychic powers?"
The psychic power angle seems to dominate my writing. It was there in my first book, the Crux series, and Hermes High. If I had to narrow it down, I'd say it all started in the sixties.
In 1968, there was a movie called The Power. People were gathered around a conference table and asked to move a piece of paper that was balanced on the tip of a pencil. The point of this exercise was to prove the existence of telekinesis. The person who proved the point had no idea he had the power until he tried.
I suppose I was susceptible to the movie's influence because the 60's were full of paranormal topics on TV. Twilight Zone led the way, but it was followed by many more shows with episodes devoted to the subject. There was even a show called Sixth Sense where a parapsychologist solved supernatural crimes. My parents even gave me a Kreskin's ESP game one Christmas. I suppose my parents were open to possibility, too. They were fans of the clairvoyant Edgar Cayce.
Long story short, I developed a philosophy which I suppose is a conglomeration of all the pseudo-science I was exposed to. I believe we all have psychic potential, some more than others of course. The largest barrier to exercising this power is lack of faith. It's kind of like the power of positive thinking or faith healing. The brain is an amazing organ with boundless potential.
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