Tides of Fire: A Sigma Force Novel

They’re a team of former special forces soldiers who have been drummed out of the service for various reasons. But because of special aptitudes and abilities, they’ve been recruited in secret by DARPA—the Defense Department’s research-and-development agency—and retrained in various scientific disciplines to act as field agents for DARPA. Their mission is to protect the globe against various emerging threats. Basically, they’re scientists with guns.

Not at all. I tailor each story so a new reader could jump into the series at any point. In fact, only a small fraction of my readership has read my series in order. For anyone interested in this unique set of heroes and the troubles they face, Tides of Fire is a perfect place to jump on in.

I based the book’s prologue on written accounts from that time, specifically by the lieutenant governor of Java—Sir Stamford Raffles—who plays a vital role in this story. While there have been many near-apocalyptic volcanic events throughout the planet’s history, the 1815 explosion of Mount Tambora was the largest ever in recorded history, witnessed by hundreds of thousands, and shared with the world by British colonial ships plying the South Pacific. The blast was heard eight hundred miles away and was first attributed to cannon fire. It sent a plume of ash and rock eighteen miles into the sky. Between the immediate explosion and the starvation that followed, millions would die when the ash cloud circled the equator, dropping temperatures in some areas as much as twenty degrees. It resulted in the infamous “year without a summer.” It serves as a reminder that we’re living on a geological powder keg—and that even worst eruptions could happen.

As much as possible, I stuck to the reality and limitations of such an enterprise. I consulted marine biologists, oil-rig engineers, ship builders, even companies that manufacture deep-sea submersibles—all to create as accurate a picture as I could. In fact, the leading support ship for the Titan Project—the gigayacht called Titan X—was based on a real-world research vessel that will be sailing the seas in the next year or so. This ship, the Earth 300, will hold a complement of 160 scientists who will be working in 22 state-of-the-art labs, all housed in a thirteen-story glass orb, called “science city.” Upon learning of this ship, I decided to give it a test drive myself in this novel.

Again, everything that appears in this novel is based on either ships in use today or those that are undergoing testing. I was very interested in the current acceleration of the Chinese navy and the advancements being engineered into their vessels, namely the incorporation of AI into many of their systems—both civilian and military. All the ships, drones, and submarines that appear in the novel are stunningly real. I think readers are going to be shocked at what’s currently being employed—both by our forces and by the Chinese.

They were. China’s lunar lander did mysteriously break down while trying to drill into a strange stratum of the moon. And the lunar rocks recovered showed that, during the moon’s formation, its core cooled far slower than previously believed. The reason still baffles scientists. But I have my own theory, which I raise in the book—one based on another strange detail about the moon’s formation, a detail that still affects us today and could threaten us in the future.

The consensus of scientists today is that the moon formed when a small planetoid struck the young Earth and blasted a large chunk of the crust into orbit. That eventually coalesced and formed our moon. But for decades, we’ve known of the existence of two large blob-like structures hidden in the Earth’s mantle, just under the crust. One under Africa. One under the south Pacific. Both are the size of a continent and a hundred times taller than Mount Everest. Latest research confirms that these “blobs” are likely pieces of that ancient planetoid that struck the Earth and became trapped in our mantle. But these planetary blobs are not inert. Like splinters under the skin, they have been the source of great tectonic instability, leading to massive quakes and volcanic activity. It’s believed one of those events triggered the Great Dying at the end of the Permian Period, an extinction-level event which wiped out most life on the planet. And it could happen again. To quote a scientist from the University of Oslo, we’re all sitting atop an “antediluvian time bomb.”

As an avid scuba diver, I’ve always been interested in this topic—especially the ingenious ways that various animals have adapted to living in the deepest trenches. Yet, still so much remains unknown. Only about 20% of the ocean floor has been crudely mapped. And if you’re talking about finer imaging—detailed enough to spot a plane wreck—that number drops down to a mere 0.05%. So, what’s truly down there remains unknown and unexplored. Even giant squids were once considered mythical until they were found washed up on beaches. That said, when it comes to the wonders I share in this book, I adhered to what is biologically feasible—as astounding as it may read.

It does. Coral has a long and interesting biological history. In fact, coral has been continuously growing in the Mediterranean Sea for 400,000 years.

I’m sure that will raise a few eyebrows—as did the peer-reviewed research paper upon which that aspect of the book was based. Octopuses have a unique and baffling biology, including an astounding intelligence, all of which makes their evolutionary pathway challenging. The research paper mentioned above—“Cause of Cambrian Explosion—Terrestrial or Cosmic”— theorized that octopuses evolved from cosmic seeding of our planet by extraterrestrial retroviruses during meteor impacts. This paper, of course, was met with much skepticism, but it did withstand a vigorous peer review. So, I decided to test this theory myself in Tides of Fire.

I find it interesting that, back in January of 2021, the CIA declassified nearly three thousand pages of documents, known as The Black Vault, pertaining to UFOs and UAPs. Likewise, in July of that same year, the Pentagon produced an unclassified report regarding 144 UAP cases noted by military pilots. Of those cases, only one had an explainable origin—a deflated balloon. Perhaps it’s for that reason that the Pentagon established a new group in November of 2021, to “detect and identify” unknown anomalies in restricted airspace, naming this outfit the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group.

For me, with all the recent declassifications and the continuing slow leak of data, along with the 2022 congressional hearings with Pentagon officials pertaining to the possibility of alien life, it raises two questions: What does the government already know? And what are they trying to prepare us for?
 

I believe there is much more research that needs to be done concerning the First Nations People. The currently accepted date for when humanity first migrated to Australia is between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago. But that timeframe has come into question by the recent uncovering of older hunting and fishing camps. Likewise, I could only glancingly cover the rich and diverse belief systems of the First Nations People. But what is covered in this book is based on true Aboriginal stories and legends. Similarly, the conjectures and conclusions found within this novel, as astounding as they may seem, are based on true research.

Sure. My support for veterans first came about after I participated in a USO tour of authors to Iraq and Kuwait in the winter of 2010. Upon coming home, I knew I wanted to do more. First, I worked with USA Cares, which raises emergency funds for vets in need, then most recently I joined US 4 Warriors as an advisory board member. The new charity started as a grassroots effort in San Diego and has since expanded nationwide. Besides helping to promote the social welfare of vets in a wide spectrum of activities, the latest endeavor also involves helping veterans tell their stories…and get published! So as a writer, I’m especially excited as US 4 Warriors expands into this adventure.

This past winter, I launched Cradle of Ice, the second book in my Moonfall fantasy series, and I just completed the third book, A Dragon of Black Glass that’ll be out in 2024. I’m also finishing up the next big Sigma novel, titled Arkangel, that deals with a global hunt across the top of the world, pitting nation against nation in the pursuit of a mythological lost continent and an arcane treasure that could save the world—or doom it.