Steve Alten is the New York Times bestselling author of twelve novels that characteristically deal with situations of extreme emergency and crisis affecting humanity. He has a new novel out. The Omega Project, set in a future when the world’s oil reserves run out, leading to war and mass starvation, is another high octane emergency thriller. Steve met me at The Slaughterhouse, where we talked about the future and identity.

Tell us about The Omega Project.

Robert “Ike” Eisenbraun and his fiancée, Andria survived the Great Die-Off of 2020-2025 when the world’s oil reserves ran out, leading to war and mass starvation. Five years and five billion deaths later, mankind attempts to begin anew, devoting its remaining resources to fusion energy – a clean-burning system that requires Helium-3 to forge a stable reaction. One problem: He-3 only exists on our moon and Jupiter’s ocean moon — Europa. Man is ill-equipped to exist in near-zero gravity; the mining equipment will be operated remotely using GOLEM, a super computer programmed by Ike to “protect and preserve the human race.” All goes well until the computer determines the mined He-3 isotope to be unstable and takes it upon itself to jumpstart a mission to Europa. GOLEM designs Oceanus, an underwater habitat, and selects six men and women — including Andria — for the six year mission.

Has GOLEM gone rogue? Ike is charged with finding out – he will join the Omega crew on a 45-day training mission beneath the Antarctic Ice Shelf where the crew will spend the last thirty days of the prep cryogenically frozen. Ike is forced into his cryogenic pod by the men, who accuse him of working as a spy for the coal industry.

Time passes. Ike awakens to find Oceanus collapsing into a sea trench, the ice gone, the world changed dramatically. Either he is still asleep, caught up in a vivid Omega dream – or 12 million years have passed.

Do you think the future is more frightening than the past?

The question is relative to how far you go back or ahead. In the near future society will be hit with the reality of PEAK OIL. Translated — world oil reserves peaked in 2005. When the oil runs out there will be a massive food shortage, followed by starvation, anarchy, and nightmares categorized in THE OMEGA PROJECT as the Great Die-Off. We can avoid the G.D.O. if we prepare, only we won’t as the world’s corporations are vested in the problem, not the cure. Then there’s an asteroid threat in 2028…

Do you think we are the victims of the economy?

Victim is a term that infers we are innocent. I feel the economy and society’s problems are a result of our negative actions — greed, ego, etc. When we transform from selfish to selfless, things will get better.

To what extent does The Omega Project challenge notions of identity?

What will our planet look like 12 million years from now? How will a potential cataclysm in 2028 affect the future? How will it affect evolution? What species will replace man? These are questions that are answered in the pages of THE OMEGA PROJECT. Publishers Weekly calls THE OMEGA PROJECT “an exuberant thriller.” I wrote it as part entertainment, part warning.

Our news stories are inundated with petty issues, political corruption, and royal births. THE OMEGA PROJECT deals with a major speed bump that – unless we prepare now — will lead to a Great Die-Off, followed by something far worse.

The novel opens with a foreshadowing — an actual press conference which occurred on March 11, 1998 when an administrator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab refuted Harvard astronomer Brian Marsden’s prediction that Asteroid 1997 XF11 might impact Earth on its pass on October 26, 2028. The news story received worldwide coverage, with scientists assuring people that by NASA’s calculations the asteroid would come no closer than a moon distance away. Ah. . . but what if this very real mile-in-diameter asteroid struck the moon?

The story’s protagonist becomes our eyes and ears to world events leading up to the 2028 cataclysm as well as an Earth freed from the shadow of man. I spent long hours researching post-human evolution as well as the aftermath of a major asteroid strike on the moon and its potential effects on Earth. At the same time I kept my creative license, describing exotic backdrops, bio-diverse fauna and food chains that had never been penned before. In the end, it comes down to our identity and future as a species and how we relate to one another.

How much is the fear of evolution and its threat to humanity part of the novel?

There is a very real threat to humanity; evolution is what happens after the event takes place. So the hero awakens 12 million years later in a post-human world and now he must a) survive and b) figure out what happened. His decisions will affect the planet for millenium to come.

What skills are necessary for your protagonist to survive?

The protagonist is the man who invented ABE, the Amalgamate Biological Enhancement chip he had surgically implanted in his brain stem. Like a computer, our brain was designed to process information – in our case about 400 billion bits of information a second. We’re only aware of an infinitesimal percentage of that storehouse of memory because our brain must adhere to the programming limitations imposed by the blinding forces of our perceived reality – a reality anchored by natural selection and the weight of our evolution as a species. While there are exceptions to the rule; photographic memory. . . Mozart composing music as a child – solving abstract problems of logic or recalling previously read texts was not a skill our ancestors required to survive while hunting and foraging. Furthermore, the human brain cannot relay to the mind what our senses cannot perceive, and our senses lie to us during every waking moment. As an example — our planet is rotating on its axis as it soars through space at a speed exceeding eleven hundred miles a minute. And yet, we feel nothing. Why? Because our senses lie to us; concealing the velocity from our brain. The walls of this train possess atoms, each a universe unto itself, and yet we cannot perceive of the micro any more than the macro. If our senses cannot perceive it, Ms Helms, then for us it does not exist, and yet it does. What is needed is a pair of neural spectacles that will allow us to see. Enter ABE, a bio-chip that allows its user to direct his or her thought impulses to the parts of the brain best suited to download, comprehend, store, and retrieve the information. Think of ABE as a television remote control, one that uses thought energy to enable its user to channel surf or immediately dial up their desired program or app. ABE’s temporal lobe setting stimulates memory, allowing its user to create his or her own data base in the time it takes one to listen to a language CD. Read a book and you’ve memorized the text; engage ABE’s dictation unit and you can record a letter or even a novel and simultaneously download it to anyone else who possesses an ABE chip. Program ABE’s self-diagnostic app and your brain will boost your body’s immune system to prevent cancer or cure virtually any ailment. Immortality is within our reach; ABE bridges the gap between human frailty and human perfection; unfortunately it doesn’t come with an app that conquers human ignorance.

Is there a particular event that has changed your life and influenced your writing?

Picking up and reading a TIME article in Aug. 1995 about the Mariana Trench spurred the idea for my first novel; MEG and kick-started my career.

Do you think publishing is learning necessary lessons epitomised in the rise of Amazon?

I think book sellers were affected more, which hurt all of us.

What are you working on now?

The sequel to THE LOCH. It’s a crossover novel that teams Zachary Wallace (Loch) with Jonas Taylor (MEG) and sets up for MEG 5; NIGHT STALKERS.

What makes you angry?

Politicians who care only about being reelected, hypocrites.

Thank you Steve for an informative and perceptive interview.

Links:

Visit the Macmillan Publishers site for all things Steve Alten and The Omega Project:
     Read – more about The Omega Project, an excerpt,      reviews, and more
     Connect – find links to Steve’s site and social websites
     Buy – direct from the publisher

Or find The Omega Project at Amazon US and UK, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository and more online stores here

Find out more about all Steve Alten novels here

Keith Nixon has written a gritty hard core novel in The Fix. The author’s debut moves like burning oil and is packed with realistic and funny dialogue. Set in 2007, it deals with the events surrounding investment banker Josh Dedman who is fired when millions go missing from the bank. Keith met me at The Slaughterhouse where we talked about money laundering and crime fiction.

Tell us about The Fix.

The Fix is my debut novel. In its simplest form The Fix is a multi-layered tale of crime and dark humour in one neat package.

It is set just prior to the financial collapse of 2007. The protagonist, Josh Dedman is fired when £20m goes missing from the bank he works for. Josh has no friends to speak of, other than a Russian tramp who claims to be ex-KGB and an irritating careerist he meets on the train one morning. Unknown to Josh he’s being followed by the mysterious Mr Lamb. His cheating girlfriend dumps him, then Josh’s sociopathic boss, Hershey Valentine, winds up dead and he’s the prime suspect and his life really goes off the rails…

How pervasive do you think money laundering is in the UK?

Interesting question as ironically I touch on money laundering briefly in my second, as yet untitled, book and follow-up to The Fix. Money laundering is at its simplest is the legitimising of cash generated from criminal means. It is probably more pervasive than any of us realise as witnessed recently as in the press about well known comedians and their illegal tax avoidance scams. I’ve seen one piece of data saying that the US loses $100 billion a year to money laundering activities, an incredible amount.

The UK’s involvement is two-fold, first there’s the front for the money laundering process. This is typically a business where the vast majority of the financial transactions are in cash – strip clubs, casino’s and… beauty salons. However the UK is also involved in the movement of the cash. Although small island locations like the Caymans are often cited, understandably criminals like to go through the very large financial centres where millions of transactions occur daily. This includes the UK, New York, Tokyo and Switzerland. The financial institutions are supposed to tip-off law enforcement agencies if they see any suspicious movements of cash and anything over the value of $10,000 (although this thresholdvaries from country to country) which leads to my favourite phrase – smurfing. This is where multiple cash transfers occur at just below the threshold and proves someone at least has a sense of humour.

Is there a particular incident that has changed your life and influenced your writing?

Absolutely yes – I was made redundant just over four years ago. The lead up to the execution wasn’t pleasant, it was a very difficult period of my life. However, there’s always a silver lining to every thunderhead and what I ended up with was three-fold. First lots of inspiration and material for The Fix. Second was a change in writing style. Previously I’d written historical fiction novels and comedy / drama screenplays, but when pulling The Fix together my prose was immediately sharper, shorter, more focused. Third was settling in the crime genre where overall I feel a lot more at home.

What do you make of the E Book revolution?

I’m a big fan of the e-book revolution primarily because it provides choice to the writer and the reader (ironically my day job is to convert print customers from analogue to digital) by largely eliminating barriers to entry. On the upside, writers that were previously blocked from readers by agents & publishers now have free market access. Therefore readers get wider choice and, often, new writing styles. On the downside a lot of dross reaches the market and it is difficult for the reader to select authors amidst all the noise. All in all a significant change that was overdue.

Graham Greene wrote ‘There is a splinter of ice in the heart of a writer.’ What do you make of his observation?

Greene, to me, is saying writers need to be coldly focussed on writing as an activity. I would also interpret it in three ways:

1) Being clinical in the treatment of your characters – if someone needs killing, do so, favourite or not

2) Be hard on the storyline – if something needs cutting, do so

3) Be committed to writing as a craft, even if this impacts on leisure time

I see truth in all three perspectives, to do anything well takes dedication and commitment – writing is no exception.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m working on the follow up to The Fix. In it Lamb and Konstantin return. It’s another murky tale of murder and betrayal – crime mixed with humour. I hope this will be out in the early summer.

I also have a historical fiction book being edited, I wrote this several years ago. It’s utterly different to the crime novels…

What makes you angry?

It takes a lot to make me angry, annoyed regularly, but angry rarely. Generally it’s abuse of position or power that gets up my nose, people who think the rules of life don’t apply to them, regardless of the consequences to others. It’s a constant element in the news – the banking sector scandal, Syria, MP’s expenses, the Jimmy Saville affair, etc. Unfortunately the list goes on and on. This is a central theme in The Fix and it’s as yet unnamed follow-up.

Do you think much crime fiction sanitises crime?

I suspect in the vast majority of cases, yes. Reading, and therefore writing, about a crime is very different to actually experiencing it and / or living with the consequences thereafter.

What advice would you give to yourself as a young man?

I’d give myself several pieces of advice – worry less because everything works out in the end, family and friends are more important than work, get writing you idiot.

What else is on the cards for you this year?

A couple of projects – I’m in the process of re-drafting the follow up to The Fix (as usual the title is the last element to be defined). Lamb and Konstantin return. I also have a historical fiction book in edit that I’ll release. I also intend to write a novella on some of the history on Lamb and Konstantin’s history, but I’ve been struck by a silly idea for another crime humour novel… ah, decisions, decisions…

Thank you Keith for an eloquent and insightful interview.

Links:

Get a copy of The Fix
Amazon.com, paperback and Kindle
Amazon.co.uk, paperback and Kindle
Kobo, ePUB

Find Keith Nixon at his blog, on Books & Pals, his Amazon.co.uk author page, Facebook and Twitter