Graham Hancock | Lynn Voedisch

Posts Tagged With: Graham Hancock

Writing Fantasy—Where Those Ideas Come From

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Lynn Voedisch

This blog is mainly for relating news of the fantastic and seemingly magical things that go on in our world and the universe. However, I’ve been asked to write about my own work with fantasy fiction, as well. So from time to time, I’ll write about how I go about writing fantasy, which I base in the current world. (I don’t do sword and sorcery writing.)

The thing most people ask me is where I get my ideas. I’m not sure why they ask this, because everyone comes up with ideas in unique ways. Some just have flashes of brilliance, others do research for years. I’m in between the researcher and flash-of-insight kind of writer. For my first book with the Story Plant, The God’s Wife, I had done years of reading on ancient Egyptian culture and religion. In the midst of all this reading (which was done for

my own enjoyment), I discovered that there was a type of ancient priestess in the early dynasties, the 18th Dynasty, and in New Kingdom, called the God’s Wife of Amun. She was supposed to be the earthly wife of Amun or Amun-Re, who was the chief god of the leading triad of gods during the New Kingdom and then later in the waning years of the Egyptian civilization. (Egyptian religion is so complicated that books have been written trying to describe it, but just accept that Amun was the top dog.)

I also traveled to Egypt, when it was safe, with John Anthony West, who lead an extraordinary tour of the pyramids, Sphinx, and great temples. I did research over there too. Plus I learned what the land was like, how the Nile smelled (surprisingly sweet), and how ancient Egyptians depicted themselves in artwork.

Because the God’s Wife was married to the head god, she trumped all the male priests in the temple. Some Egyptologists contend that she was second in power to the Pharaoh, because religion and government were the same in that era. She often came from the Pharaoh’s family.

Also. earlier I had seen a Polish movie, “The Double Life of Veronique” by director Krzystof Kieslowski, translated into English. I was fascinated by this tale of two women who shared the same soul. I decided to make my fictional God’s Wife share a single soul with a contemporary-era Chicago dancer who is to dance the lead in a production of “Aida,” based in ancient Egypt. I leave it up to the reader to figure out how this can be (although I hint strongly a the parallel universe theory). Eventually, they have to merge.

In retrospect, I wish I had put the single soul concept in my promotional material, because many people didn’t understand the dual plot. I did change my Amazon description to make this clearer.

For “Dateline: Atlantis” I read so much about the fabled disappeared continent (or large series of islands) that I don’t know where to start. The idea just grew in my head about a reporter who discovers an underwater world and the romance, murder, detective work, and near deadly underwater encounter all grew out of that. Some plots just do themselves.

I must give special credit to Graham Hancock’s many books about the possibilities of pre-Ice Age civilization as my guiding lights. Hancock, a real reporter, stood out from some of the loonies who wrote strange. unbelievable books on Atlantis. For my next writing project, Hancock is an influence again, and the story involves, somewhat, a killer comet heading towards earth.

My books are published by the Story Plant, a great, innovative, independent publishing company,

Categories: Climate change threatens NASA, the writer's craft | Tags: ancient Egypt, Atlantis, Graham Hancock, The God's Wife of Amun, writers's ideas | Leave a comment

Of comets and the end of the world

Posted on September 22, 2015 by Lynn Voedisch

Graham Hancock

Fantastic World

British best-selling author and journalist Graham Hancock (and one of my favorite writers) reports that after more than 20 years of research, he has come to the conclusion that the floods that came at the end of the Great Ice Age (12,800 years ago give or take a few millennia) were almost certainly caused by a great comet or meteors hitting the earth. The floods, known world-wide by various myths such as Noah’s Flood, tales of rampaging waters destroying the homes of the Cowichan people of British Columbia, the Pima of Arizona, the Inuit of Alaska, the Uiseno of California and the Obijawa of the Canadian grasslands, and many more. All over the world, in most ancient cultures, there is a tale of giant deluge swamping the earth.

Most of this has been dismissed by historians who consider myths to be nothing more than tall tales meant to entertain the people around campfires. There also was a prevalent geological theory that change happens to the earth gradually, and that no sudden events transformed the earth or its climate. However, by the 20th century, this gradualist view was being challenged by Russian scientist Immanuel Velikovsky, who said violent events, such as earthquakes and comet strikes had accounted for some of the most drastic changes in the world’s long geological history. By the 21st century, we take it as a given that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a comet.

But Hancock, in an interview with England’s The Daily Mail, goes even further to suggest that a giant comet strike, well detailed by the Ojibwa, was to blame for the ancient melting of the ice caps and the sudden plunge into a watery, cold world. He says that some survivors sailed the earth looking for toeholds where they could once again spread the knowledge of cosmology, writing, and healing. He traces legends of historical holy men and gets into the long-held debate of whether Egypt was settled by such wise people who introduced them to writing and mathematics. It’s a valid argument because Egyptologists still can’t explain how a full language, with beautiful characters, rose out of a desert of no known culture.

Hancock figures the comet’s flood happened about 12,800 years ago. Civilizations older than Egypt such as Babylon, have almost no artifacts left behind, whereas Egypt is replete with carvings, artwork, even the pyramids that many argue were not tombs but places of safekeeping for documents and precious objects. Hancock also goes on to describe Gobekeii Tepe in Turkey, which has the oldest work of monumental architecture in the world, with pillars weighing 20 tons. Gobekeii Tepe is said to be 12,000 years old.

How can Hancock be sure a comet wiped out the early earth? There are nanodiamonds present in the layer of earth that was formed in the Younger Dryas, or the epoch between 10,800 BC and 9,800 BC. These microscopic gems are formed under conditions of great shock, pressure, and heat. They are often recognized by scientists as signs of comet or asteroid impacts.

And the crater? It would have melted long ago when the ice caps unfroze.

But don’t feel so safe about our world now. As scientists have been telling us, there are plenty of giant comets and meteors that could collide with the earth, causing another catastrophe. Many laser-defense systems have been designed, but it’s unclear whether the Earth really has anything in place right now to avoid doomsday. Hancock says such destructive comets could arrive in as little as 15 years when we cross the Taurid meteor stream.

Well, I’m not going to spend nights up worrying about this. Someone will come up with a meteor shield in that time—won’t they? But Hancock’s material is fascinating and certainly the stuff that fantasy readers (and, yes, that include you Atlantis believers out there) will simple devour.

His new book is “The Magician’s of the Gods,” now on sale in the U.K. We here in the U.S. will either have to wait or do what I’ve done with Hancock books I couldn’t wait to get my hands on: order from http://www.Amazon.co.uk. No advertisement here, but I’ve found them fast and surprisingly cheap.

Categories: end of world, Fantastic World, rise of civilizations | Tags: author, civilizations, comets, fantasy readers, Graham Hancock, meteors | Leave a comment