Over the last few years, young adult dystopian
fiction has seen a spike in popularity with several young authors
writing trilogies like The Hunger Games and Divergent which have become
best-selling books and films. These ideas are in contrast to past conspiracy
thrillers from writers like Dan Brown and the thought-provoking espionage
novels of John Le Carré. Based on this rise in popularity between the two
genres, I decided to write a fiction series which would be a modern day
conspiracy thriller, with some of the dystopian ideas from the future. In this
way, the reader is able to relate to the characters, in our current world and
read about the same characters in a world fifty years in the future. ‘Tego
Arcana Dei’ is a three part thriller series which follows the protagonist
through his adventures in his past working life, up to the present day. These
three books are both exciting and mind bending, as shown in the book trailer for Forces of
Retribution, leaving the reader wanting to know more. The final book will
debut later this month, so let’s take a
closer look at this three book series.
Book 1 - Keeping God’s Secret (2011)
The
British hero James Pollack meets a young American on a train in London who
shows him events which he will have to do in his future life. Britain is
suffering under a recession and James leaves to work for a bank in Switzerland–
only to return to the Caribbean island of Antigua for a meeting. Her name is
Gina; her client is the Commander of one of the world’s most powerful agencies.
As the couple plunge into a dizzying, mystical adventure, American powers
collide with secrets at the Vatican summer palace. James is helped by Deepak his guardian who shows him a
circle of wormholes leading from Rome down to ancient ruins in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the antagonist Elizabeth tracks his banking activities and his
travel with unusual friends. The story takes James back to the shadowy
corridors of Italian Banking, his excitement heightened by memories of his
escape in Rome with Alexei a young legal assistant. This leads him on to the Russian
Natasha at an archeologically dig on the coast of Lebanon, where they find an
ancient artefact. A magic blade enabling him to time travel to other
dimensions, and so the real adventure starts.
Book 2 - Forces of
Retribution (2013)
In
this story’s most powerful, and heart stopping novel yet, James is at a
hospital in Geneva, after major surgery from his time travel experiences.
Locations move back to Lebanon, London, and onto the pyramids in Egypt in a
desperate hunt to find the secret of quantum
weirdness. The hunter is the passionate and resourceful James
Pollack, an ex-Swiss banker who has an interest in science, the paranormal and
women. His quarry is the young Italian Alexei, who has given up on her life and
seeks his help to time travel from a Centre of Science in Switzerland, to the
very heart of our Universe, fifty years into the future.
This
story picks up where the first book left off continuing to follow the
Russian Natasha trapped in another dimension in the South of Lebanon. While
Natasha is on the run in a warzone she is given an ancient Madonna doll which
James finds he can open with his magic blade. Inside they find a mysterious
time travelling medallion, similar to the one used by their Indian guardian and
needed by his friends to return from the future. We get a glimpse into how
string theory can explain multiple universes and some of the theories as to
what the pyramids in Egypt really are. There is a very anthropological dialogue
about the origins of humans and the evolution from Mitochondrial Eve. The
benevolent guardian Deepak
again appears to control who and what appears and where to help James solve the
mystery of instant communication.
Book 3 - Beyond the Rest
of Us (2015)
The
final book is set in the current decade, when James now retired is kidnapped at
a Geneva hotel for crimes he doesn’t understand and an Italian cruise ship
crashes into rocks in the Tyrrhenian Sea. A respected American scientist
disappears into thin air, but when the mist clears, we see mind control and
astral travel in their dreams. Elizabeth the antagonist from the previous books
is still following a trail of corrupt power in this third book featuring Andrew
Man’s aging male protagonist James Pollack.
In
this story, when James is kidnapped back to 1814 he has to use all his skills
to uncover the corrupt European operation, against the backdrop of a
disintegrating and unscrupulous world. The story mentions the crumbling
European economy and the conflicts in the Middle East and the part the West had
to play in them. We cross continents, eras and astral planes on this journey
and meet a variety of James’ friends and enemies, before the characters return
to the temples in Lebanon to finish the series.
The
title of the series Tego Arcana Dei roughly translates to “Begone, I
conceal the secrets of God” and is an anagram of “Et in Arcadia Ego.” This was
represented in a painting by Poussin in the early 1600’s called ‘The Arcadian
Shepherds’, which is a common theme throughout the three books.
Andrew Man is an independent author, of books about
politics, science and conspiracy theories. He lives and writes in Switzerland.
In addition to his writing, he has formed the Geneva Creatives Group with www.stage32.com and can sometimes be
found at a cinema centre, discussing new projects over a glass of wine.