Goodreads asked Felix Long:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Felix Long It was the strangest thing. I had watched a National Geographic documentary on the lost tomb of the First Emperor of China.

A gorgeous French-Chinese lady academic read the only written description of the tomb; "When the Emperor first came to the throne he began digging and shaping Mount Li. Later, when he unified the Empire, he had over 700,000 men from all over the empire transported to the spot. They dug down to the third layer of underground springs and poured in bronze to make the outer coffin. Replicas of palaces, scenic towers, and the Hundred Officials, as well as rare utensils and wonderful objects, were brought to fill up the Tomb. Craftsmen were ordered to set up crossbows and arrows, rigged so they would immediately shoot down anyone attempting to break in. Mercury was used to fashion imitations of the hundred rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangtze, and the seas, constructed in such a way that they seemed to flow. Above were representations of all the heavenly bodies, below, the features of the earth."

The lady looked up at the camera, breaking the fourth wall and said "It sounds so exciting!" And oh yes, it certainly was.

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