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Interview with Paul Mark Tag, author of Prophecy Book Summary: Shortly before the great Johnstown, Pennsylvania, flood of 1889, a 19-year-old girl enters a church and places an envelope inside a bottle and into a safe. Minutes later, a wall of water engulfs the town and kills over 2200 people. What happens 120 years later when the bottle is discovered—and its contents become ensnared in a worldwide quest for rare genetic material—is the intriguing story behind Prophecy by Paul Mark Tag.  Prophecy
At the epicenter of the ensuing maelstrom, Dr. Victor Mark Silverstein, the Naval Research Laboratory's preeminent scientist, and his loyal assistant tangle with greedy U.S. senators, the CIA, and a Middle Eastern organization for verification and control of the "prophecy gene." The hunt begins for a present-day carrier who could confirm the gene's potential and prompt development of a synthetic replacement. At stake is theological chaos for the world's religions—and the power to control the planet. About the Author: Until he retired in 2001 to write fiction full-time, Paul Mark Tag’s work revolved around meteorology and his career with the Naval Research Laboratory. Prophecy is his second novel, following his thriller, Category 5. Tag lives in Monterey, California, with his wife, Becky. Please visit the author at www.paulmarktag.com LAUREN SMITH: What inspired you to start writing fiction? Paul Mark Tag: First, Lauren, I’d like to thank you for this opportunity to discuss my book. To answer your question, since I was a child, I’ve loved to live in the world of make-believe. One of my first memories is of my mother yelling to me outside, around the corner of the house, asking me to whom I was talking. Of course, I was talking to one of my make-believe friends. I think that my reply was “Nobody.” Later in school, I wrote stories and poetry. Fast forward to adulthood, and I found myself going to Penn State, majoring in meteorology. My education there transitioned into my career with the Navy as a research scientist. I sometimes wonder, if I had to do it all over again, if I should have gone into writing from the start. I’ve decided that the truth is two-fold. First, I would have starved to death starting out. Second, importantly, I later realized that I didn’t have enough life experiences or the maturity to write (fiction) then. But when I reached the age when I could retire from the federal government, I jumped at the chance to tackle fiction writing head-on. |
