James Rollins

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Saints and Seeds

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

The Doomsday Key is due to hit shelves in another two weeks. So I thought I'd share a bit more about the contents of this book. In this blog, I'll cover some of the history behind this book (and in the next blog, I'll be talking about some of the science behind the book). And fear not, no spoilers. Just some interesting tidbits to whet the appetite.

Let's start with a certain Irish Saint and the Prophecy of the Popes.

During the twelfth century, an Irish Catholic priest named Máel Máedóc, who would eventually be named Saint Malachy, had a vision while on a pilgrimage to Rome. In that ecstatic trance, he was given knowledge of all the popes who would come until the end of the world. This grand accounting--a cryptic description of 112 popes--was recorded and safeguarded in the Vatican archives, but the book vanished, only to resurface again during the sixteenth century. Some historians believe that this recovered book was most likely a forgery. Either way, over the intervening centuries, the descriptions of each pope in that book have proved to be oddly accurate--up to and including the current head of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI. In Saint Malachy's prophecy, the current pope is listed as De Gloria Olivae, the Glory of the Olives. And the Benedictine Order, from which the pope took his name, does indeed bear the olive branch as its symbol. But most disturbing of all, Pope Benedict XVI is the 111th pope. And according to this oddly accurate prophecy, the world ends with the very next one.

As a thriller writer, I can't help but wonder.  

Is this truly prophetic? Are we destined to see the end of the world in our generation? And if this prophecy is true, is there a way to avoid this fate? 

Such questions are answered in The Doomsday Key.

Other bits and pieces of this puzzle are also related to the word DOOM: such as the Doomsday Book (a mysterious eleventh century tome) 

And the Doomsday Vault (a Noah's Ark of seeds finished in 2008 on an island above the Arctic circle, a vault meant to withstand a global catastrophe).  

How do all these relate?  Sorry, like I said, no spoilers here.

On another another subject, specifically for CLIVE CUSSLER FANS:  

I just wanted to give a head's up about a special signing event during this tour (in case anyone wanted to book early). My appearance in Phoenix/Scottsdale on Saturday June 27th has been moved from The Poisoned Pen bookstore to the Scottsdale Library (on Drinkwater). Why was it moved? Because a special guest will be joining this event: none other than one of my idols of the literary world, Clive Cussler. It'll be a great evening (starting at 6pm) with the master of ceremonies being another great author, Brent Ghelfi. And if that wasn't cool enough, it's also a potluck. So it'll be a wonderful evening of conversation and great food! For more information about this event, I'll refer you to the fine staff at Poisoned Pen (888-560-9919). The store has arranged some special hotel deals for this event for any out-of-town attendees.

With that all said, I'll end this blog here. Next up, what's going on with those darned bees?

all the best,

Jim

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Posted by James Rollins at 09:18 PM

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