Children of the Fifth Sun
by Gareth Worthington
on Tour July 24 - Sept 25, 2017
Book Details
Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller | “Science Faction” science fiction, action, adventure with fact-based science, theories and mythologyPublished by: Vesuvian Books
Publication Date: July 25th 2017
Number of Pages: 407
ISBN: 9781944109400
Purchase Links: Amazon | Goodreads
Don't Miss Your Chance to Read this Free Preview: Amazon & Barnes & Noble
Synopsis:
Thousands of years ago, an ancient species from the sea saved humanity; now a cocky, free-diving photographer tortured by his past is the unlikely hero who must save the last of their kind from a global race between nations to control the creature’s power.IN ALMOST EVERY BELIEF SYSTEM ON EARTH, there exists a single unifying mythos: thousands of years ago a great flood devastated the Earth’s inhabitants. From the ruins of this cataclysm, a race of beings emerged from the sea bestowing knowledge and culture upon humanity, saving us from our selfish drive toward extinction. Some say this race were “ancient aliens” who came to assist our evolution. But what if they weren’t alien at all? What if they evolved right here on Earth, alongside humans . . . and they are still here? And, what if the World’s governments already know?
Kelly Graham is a narcissistic, self-assured, freelance photographer specializing in underwater assignments. While on a project in the Amazon with his best friend, Chris D'Souza, a mysterious and beautiful government official, Freya Nilsson, enters Kelly’s life and turns it upside down. Her simple request to retrieve a strange object from deep underwater puts him in the middle of an international conspiracy. A conspiracy that threatens to change the course of human history.
THE INSPIRATION FOR CHILDREN OF THE FIFTH SUN
Hey there. The inspiration for the story? Well that’s a story twenty years long, but I’ll do my best to condense it!
There are two parts to the story: the macro piece, and the more subtle character-driven piece. I’ll start with the former.
I have been fascinated with ancient history – specifically Egyptian history. When I was 14 or 15 I wrote a story for a school project that revolved around the true meaning of the Giza Pyramids. At the time, I was obsessed with theories of their origin put forward by people like Robert Bauval who describes their alignment to the stars of the constellation of Orion. Since the stars move in our sky over time, the pyramid alignment only works if you consider the constellation’s position 2000 years before the pyramids were meant to be built. How could that be, unless they were built on top of something else?
Over the next 15 years, besides college and work, I kept reading about alternative history. Graham Hancock was a particular inspiration. His book Fingerprints of the Gods is amazing. As I gathered all this information, a story began to form in my mind. What if the alternative historians are half right?
The premise of Children of the Fifth Sun is based on a single unifying myth found in almost every ancient culture on the planet: that 15,000 years ago there was a great flood that destroyed much of the planet. After the flood, a highly advanced race came from the sea and bestowed knowledge upon the tribe’s people in Latin America, Africa, Europe and Asia. With this knowledge we made a quantum leap in technology and built many of the amazing structures – many of which are pyramids, irrespective of geographical location, by the way. Despite no known mode of inter-continental travel to share such a myth, the stories always describe the knowledge bringers in a similar way – pale men, often with beards, who come from the sea. I’ll give you some examples.
In South America, throughout various stories of ancient times, several deities existed. For the peoples of the Andes, the main deity was Viracocha: a pale-skinned bearded man who wielded knowledge, power and magic. Viracocha can be translated to mean 'foam of the sea'. He came in a time of chaos after a terrible flood and brought the people out of a time of darkness.
In Mexico, the Maya described another deity – Quetzalcoatl, which roughly translates to: feathered serpent. Like Viracocha, Quetzalcoatl was described as white skinned man with a beard who, in antiquity, came from across the sea and brought with him knowledge which he bestowed upon the people. For the Maya, he is attributed with providing them with their calendrical knowledge.
Interestingly, the descriptions of these deities are derived from the Spanish conquistadors of the time. This means that the descriptions are open to interpretation. For instance, while the word 'beard' is often used, no image of either Viracocha or Quetzalcoatl actually shows them bearded in any way the Spanish describe.
In Mesopotamian myths, strange amphibious beings are described that were endowed with reason. These beings, led by one named Oannes, visited the land of Sumer. Oannes was described as an animal that was sentient and possessed the power of reason. He was said to converse with the people during the day, bestowing knowledge of science and art, but would return to the water at night because he was amphibious.
When I read all of this, I thought to myself: what if the advanced race existed, but were not human? Neither did they have to be alien. Instead, they could be a race that evolved alongside humans – until as the stories tell us, we killed them all.
In Children of the Fifth Sun, our governments and secret societies not only know this to be fact, they are fighting a covert war of a single living knowledge bringer – a clone that was created from a corpse found in Siberia in the 1940s. The main character, Kelly Graham, becomes entangled in the global conspiracy against his will. No one can foresee what impact his involvement will have on the world.
The character-driven piece
Kelly Graham is based largely on me (and a little Indiana Jones). Like me, he has had a painful past, and as a result he uses sarcasm and a foul mouth to keep other people away – all the while throwing himself into situations that will likely result in his death. The only person Kelly lets close to him is his best friend Chris D’Souza. It sounds cliché to base the character on me I know, but Children of the Fifth Sun was quite a cathartic story to write.
Throughout the story, Kelly is forced to open himself to feelings he locked away long ago. Over the course of the book, I explore what loss means and how it defines us as people. If we let go of our pain, who are we? I also pose another question – why do all humans feel lonely? Why do we have the need to find another person to fill the void? Children of the Fifth Sun provides one possible answer.
I hope this was helpful! The book is 140,000 words long and packed with theories and hypotheses that should leave the reader wondering what is real and what is fiction.
Happy reading!
Read an excerpt:
Freya elegantly glided in front of Kelly, breaking his train of thought. Her slender body slid through the water with grace and ease. She must have sensed his stare, because she turned her head to face him and gave a huge, regulator-filled grin. Kelly stifled a laugh.
He turned back to his equipment to check their depth—sixty-five feet. They were at the sea floor. It wasn’t very deep, but this was where it was supposed to be. He motioned his right arm to get Freya’s attention. He then signaled for her to look down and keep her eyes open. She gave the okay sign.
As they swam a little further, the structure came into sight just as Alexandro’s information had indicated. A large horseshoe-shaped wall, three-feet thick and six-feet tall, spanned more than two-hundred-fifty feet in diameter. Other than that, it was unimpressive—just an old stone wall. Surely, if a team had already been down here, they would have found an orb? Kelly pulled himself along the bottom, sifting through the sand, picking up each stone he came across. He shook his head and looked across at Freya. She seemed to be having similar poor luck, pointlessly rummaging through silt and mud. He swam across to her and pointed in front, indicating his intent to look on ahead. She nodded and watched as he flicked his fins, disappearing into a haze of ocean and sand particles.
Freya returned to her treasure hunt. All she found were rocks and the odd tin or soft drink can. Ugh, it was disgusting. Even the ocean wasn’t safe from humanity. She reached the outer edge of the stone wall and swam along, keeping close to it. Her gloved fingers prodded into each crack and crevice, not that she could feel anything through the thick material. Her mask was beginning to fill with water. She thought about Kelly’s instruction and began the mask clearing procedure.
Pressing the palm of her right hand against the top of her mask so the bottom released a few millimeters from her face, she exhaled hard through her nose, forcing the water out. A stream of bubbles crashed about her head in a white-water curtain. As it cleared, a small metallic glint protruding from beneath one of the huge stone bricks caught her eye. She clawed her way to it, then started digging in the sand. The fine silt clouded up around her, obscuring her view. Using only her limited sense of touch, Freya kept tunneling under the wall. The familiar shape of a box began to form under her fingers. She dug beneath until she could grip the box with both hands. Tugging hard, she released the cuboid object from its hold in the silt. The billow of sand cleared.
She stared at her treasure. It was a small chest, copper-colored with a green oxidized coating on its surface. She smiled. Could this be it? Could there be an orb inside? The excitement power through her. She raised her head to see if Kelly was nearby, but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. She swam in a circle. The inability to hear or feel anything was unnerving. She only had the power of sight and that was restricted to a straight line in front of her for one hundred fifty feet or so.
The light above her dimmed. Freya frowned and raised her head to investigate. Above her, the huge shadow of a shark glided by. She knew her mask would magnify any object, but still, the thing looked huge. Its blunt snout and thick body looked positively primeval—the perfect predator. Panic set in.
Damn, where was Kelly? Clutching her treasure, Freya lowered her head. She searched for the knife strapped to her right calf. Before she could find it, her gaze was met by the cold stare of reptilian eyes. A sea snake was inches from her face, rippling its body to hold its position. Its eyes were fixed on hers. She froze, holding her breath. Freya shifted her focus from the uncomfortably close predator to the shadow lurking behind it. Oh God. The shark?
It was Kelly. A brief feeling of relief washed over her, but it was snatched away by the searing pain of fangs plunging into her left hand. Freya gargled a scream through her regulator and dropped the box, letting it fall to the sea floor. The snake shot off into murk as Kelly tore through the water toward her. Her breathing slowed and her limbs grew heavy. Her eyelids slid closed. She blinked before her eyes closed one last time.
* * *
Excerpt from Children of the Fifth Sun by Gareth Worthington. Copyright © 2017 by Gareth Worthington. Reproduced with permission from Gandolfo Helin & Fountain Literary. All rights reserved.
He turned back to his equipment to check their depth—sixty-five feet. They were at the sea floor. It wasn’t very deep, but this was where it was supposed to be. He motioned his right arm to get Freya’s attention. He then signaled for her to look down and keep her eyes open. She gave the okay sign.
As they swam a little further, the structure came into sight just as Alexandro’s information had indicated. A large horseshoe-shaped wall, three-feet thick and six-feet tall, spanned more than two-hundred-fifty feet in diameter. Other than that, it was unimpressive—just an old stone wall. Surely, if a team had already been down here, they would have found an orb? Kelly pulled himself along the bottom, sifting through the sand, picking up each stone he came across. He shook his head and looked across at Freya. She seemed to be having similar poor luck, pointlessly rummaging through silt and mud. He swam across to her and pointed in front, indicating his intent to look on ahead. She nodded and watched as he flicked his fins, disappearing into a haze of ocean and sand particles.
Freya returned to her treasure hunt. All she found were rocks and the odd tin or soft drink can. Ugh, it was disgusting. Even the ocean wasn’t safe from humanity. She reached the outer edge of the stone wall and swam along, keeping close to it. Her gloved fingers prodded into each crack and crevice, not that she could feel anything through the thick material. Her mask was beginning to fill with water. She thought about Kelly’s instruction and began the mask clearing procedure.
Pressing the palm of her right hand against the top of her mask so the bottom released a few millimeters from her face, she exhaled hard through her nose, forcing the water out. A stream of bubbles crashed about her head in a white-water curtain. As it cleared, a small metallic glint protruding from beneath one of the huge stone bricks caught her eye. She clawed her way to it, then started digging in the sand. The fine silt clouded up around her, obscuring her view. Using only her limited sense of touch, Freya kept tunneling under the wall. The familiar shape of a box began to form under her fingers. She dug beneath until she could grip the box with both hands. Tugging hard, she released the cuboid object from its hold in the silt. The billow of sand cleared.
She stared at her treasure. It was a small chest, copper-colored with a green oxidized coating on its surface. She smiled. Could this be it? Could there be an orb inside? The excitement power through her. She raised her head to see if Kelly was nearby, but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. She swam in a circle. The inability to hear or feel anything was unnerving. She only had the power of sight and that was restricted to a straight line in front of her for one hundred fifty feet or so.
The light above her dimmed. Freya frowned and raised her head to investigate. Above her, the huge shadow of a shark glided by. She knew her mask would magnify any object, but still, the thing looked huge. Its blunt snout and thick body looked positively primeval—the perfect predator. Panic set in.
Damn, where was Kelly? Clutching her treasure, Freya lowered her head. She searched for the knife strapped to her right calf. Before she could find it, her gaze was met by the cold stare of reptilian eyes. A sea snake was inches from her face, rippling its body to hold its position. Its eyes were fixed on hers. She froze, holding her breath. Freya shifted her focus from the uncomfortably close predator to the shadow lurking behind it. Oh God. The shark?
It was Kelly. A brief feeling of relief washed over her, but it was snatched away by the searing pain of fangs plunging into her left hand. Freya gargled a scream through her regulator and dropped the box, letting it fall to the sea floor. The snake shot off into murk as Kelly tore through the water toward her. Her breathing slowed and her limbs grew heavy. Her eyelids slid closed. She blinked before her eyes closed one last time.
* * *
Excerpt from Children of the Fifth Sun by Gareth Worthington. Copyright © 2017 by Gareth Worthington. Reproduced with permission from Gandolfo Helin & Fountain Literary. All rights reserved.
More about Gareth Worthington:
Gareth Worthington holds a degree in marine biology, a PhD in endocrinology, and currently educates the World's doctors on new cancer therapies. Gareth has hand tagged sharks in California; won honorable mention at the New York Book Festival 2012 and 2013 for his writing; and trained in various martial arts, including Jeet Kune Do, Muay Thai, and MMA at the EVOLVE MMA gym in Singapore and Phoenix KampfSport Switzerland. Born in Plymouth UK, Worthington currently resides outside of Zurich, Switzerland.Visit Gareth Online: Website Twitter Facebook Goodreads
Very interesting post! I have this profound curiosity where authors get their ideas for a story. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the opportunity to post here!
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