The Devil Colony (60 page)

Authors: James Rollins

Tags: #Mystery, #Thriller, #Suspense, #Contemporary, #Science Fiction, #Adventure, #Historical

BOOK: The Devil Colony

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Science Tidbits.
I try to be as accurate as possible in regard to the science in my novels, so most of the factoids are based on some manner of realistic data. I thought I’d signal a few here.

1. The
Super-Kamiokande detector
is a real facility doing subatomic particle research using a tank full of fifty thousand tons of ultrapure water. And yes, sixty billion neutrinos pass through your fingernail every second—and those particles still remain a mystery to modern physics.

2. The novel contains much information about
volcanism
. Most of it is true, including the fact that you should be careful about drilling into geothermal levels. Explosions and lava production have resulted.

3. On a minor note, the
Underground Physics Research Laboratory
at BYU is indeed buried underground north of its science building (sorry for blowing a hole in it).

4. Evidence of ancient
nanotechnology
does exist in Damascus steel, ancient medieval glass, and some hair dyes. As to modern nanotech, I went into that at length in the foreword: all true . . . and yes, that scary.

5.
Weaponry
in the book: Taser XREP shotguns, flashbangs, up-armor kits for Humvees, and one kick-ass cattle dog. All real.

Places.
We’re mostly in America, so it must be real.

1. There is a
Serpent Indian Mound
, but it’s in Ohio, not Kentucky.

2.
Sunset Crater
does have lava tubes that hold ice all year round in the Arizona desert.

3.
Wupatki
does have a blowhole that opens into seven million cubic feet of cavern space and gusts of wind of up to thirty miles an hour do blow through it.

4.
Crack-in-the-Rock Pueblo
is a real place.

5. The
Westman Islands
south of Iceland do have the largest orca population (so, of course, they had to play a role). Ellirey Island can only be reached by rope and does have a small lodge on its top. Heimaey Island is indeed known as the Pompeii of the North.

6. Most of the landmarks in
Yellowstone
are accurate, including
Fairyland Basin
with its scatter of geyserite cones. And yes, since the 1990s, fewer than thirty people have visited that beautiful and strange little basin.

7. And
yes
, the Yellowstone caldera is due to erupt. It’s late, in fact. The geological information that Chin gave regarding an impending eruption of the supervolcano and its aftermath is
true
. So it’s not a matter of
if
that supervolcano will erupt, rather of
when
.

Other Books of Interest.
While a long bibliography could be given here, I thought I’d share the books that are of the greatest relevance to this novel.

1.
Solomon’s Power Brokers
by Christopher Knight and Alan Butler (specifically for information about the “star families”)

2.
Jefferson and Science
by Silvio A. Bedini

3.
Southern Paiutes
by LaVan Martineau

4.
American Monster
by Paul Semonin

5.
Unearthing Ancient America
by Frank Joseph

6.
The First American
by Christopher Hardaker

7.
Founding Fathers, Secret Societies
by Robert Hieronimus, Ph.D.

Acknowledgments

As this book has been two years in the making, the debt of gratitude I owe on it is long overdue. So let’s get started. First, I mention this group in every book, and it’s still not enough. They’re my first readers, my first editors, and some of my best friends. I wanted to take this moment to acknowledge those folks who’ve been my bedrock over all of these past years: Penny Hill, Judy Prey, Dave Murray, Caroline Williams, Chris Crowe, Lee Garrett, Jane O’Riva, Sally Barnes, Denny Grayson, Leonard Little, Kathy L’Ecluse, J. M. Keese, and Scott Smith. And again I owe an extra big thanks to Steve Prey for all of his spectacular help with the maps and some crafty handiwork with the Great Seal of the United States. Beyond the group, Carolyn McCray and David Sylvian have kept me upright and moving through the best of times and the worst. Somewhere I probably owe fellow scribe Steve Berry for something (so consider yourself covered, Steve). And, of course, I
do
know what I owe everyone at HarperCollins: Michael Morrison, Liate Stehlik, Seale Ballenger, Danielle Bartlett, Josh Marwell, Lynn Grady, Adrienne Di Pietro, Richard Aquan, Tom Egner, Shawn Nicholls, Joyce Wong, and Ana Maria Allessi. Lastly, of course, a special acknowledgment to the four people instrumental to all levels of production: my editor, Lyssa Keusch, and her colleague Wendy Lee; and my agents, Russ Galen and Danny Baror. And as always, I must stress that any and all errors of fact or detail in this book fall squarely on my own shoulders.

About the Author

New York Times
bestselling author
JAMES ROLLINS
holds a doctorate in veterinary medicine and resides in the Sierra Nevada mountains. An avid spelunker and certified scuba enthusiast, he can often be found underground or underwater.

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

ALSO BY JAMES ROLLINS

Subterranean

Excavation

Deep Fathom

Amazonia

Ice Hunt

Sandstorm

Map of Bones

Black Order

The Judas Strain

The Last Oracle

The Doomsday Key

Altar of Eden

Credits

JACKET DESIGN BY RICHARD L. AQUAN

JACKET PHOTOGRAPH COLLAGE : METAL BACKGROUND © BY JOHN FOXX
/
GETTY IMAGES ; JEFFERSON MEMORIAL © BY FRANK TOZIER
/
ALAMY

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

THE DEVIL COLONY.
Copyright © 2011 by James Czajkowski.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

ISBN 978-0-06-178478-1 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-0-06-199283-4 (international edition)

EPub Edition © July 2011 ISBN: 978-0-06-200012-5

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RRD
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Australia

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