In Jeremy Robinson's latest thriller, Antarktos Rising, a phenomenon known as crustal displacement shifts the Earth's crust, repositioning continents and causing unimaginable death and destruction. In the wake of this global catastrophe, the living struggle to survive and Antarctica, freshly thawed and blooming, has emerged as the last true hope. Rather than wage a world war no nation can survive, the leading nations devise a competition, a race to the center of Antarctica, with the three victors dividing the continent.Mirabelle Whitney, one of the few surviving experts on Antarctica, grouped with an American special forces unit, finds that the dangers awaiting her team are far worse than feared - because the continent is already occupied by Biblical creatures long thought dead.
The Bible has always been a source of story material for Robinson. "I think the Bible is full of amazing stories, creatures (yes, creatures) and world altering events, many of which are still shaping humanity today. In the thriller genre I noticed that these subjects, from a positive, yet mainstream perspective were severely lacking. We have an abundance of books that rewrite or attempt to dispute the validity of Bible stories, but none that for the sake of a killer story, accept the Bible as fact. We do the same thing with mythology all the time in the genre, why not the Bible? After all, this mode of thinking is what gave birth to Indiana Jones."
And Robinson loves to research - but isn't wed to the idea of total accuracy in his stories. "I tend to find one or two good books on the subject at hand (if there are any), print out gobs of information from the web and then go through it all with a highlighter and pen. This often helps flesh out the story, but certainly doesn't cover everything. Often, while writing, I'll think, "Oh! Wouldn't it be cool if..." and I'll start researching the subject in the midst of writing to see if I can make the idea plausible. But I don't need everything to be rock solid. It's fiction. If I want to thaw Antarctica, I'll find a way to do it."And like his "Biblical Speculation" novel, Robinson's writing career is something of a "biblical story." It wasn't always easy for Robinson - but he plugged away and kept at it. "Over the past 13 years, 'Is it worth it?' is probably a question I asked myself monthly. The rollercoaster ride of a struggling writer can have fantastic highs and desperate lows in the course of 24 hours. But I never lost hope completely. Giving up on writing, on creativity, would have been like giving up on life. I'm happy to say that I now have an answer, once and for all, to that question, Hell, yes!' The icing on my success cake came when I landed a big budget movie deal for Antarktos Rising, which will be released in 2010. If I could have seen the future, all those times I nearly quit, the struggle would have been much easier, but I also think the struggle is important. It sounds corny and cliché, but it does build character and I think keeps me humble despite my recent success. The struggle was long and hard enough that it will always be fresh in my mind."
Jeremy Robinson was born in Beverly, Massachusetts in 1974. He stayed through college, attending Gordon College and Montserrat College of Art. His writing career began in 1995 and includes stints on comic books and screenplays, several of which have been produced, optioned or have gone into development. He is also the author of The Screenplay Workbook and several published short stories and articles.
He has two previously published novels: The Didymus Contingency and Raising The Past, which are available worldwide and in several languages. A feature film adaptation of Antarktos Rising is scheduled for release in 2010.
Contributing editor Mark Combes is an avid sailor
and Scuba diver and travels extensively in the Caribbean pursuing his
passions. He works in book publishing and RUNNING WRECKED is his first
novel.
