Title: Truth Insurrected: The Saint Mary Project
Author: Daniel P. Douglas
Publisher: Geminid Press
ASIN: B00NYEX6RI
Pages: 470
Genre: Science Fiction/Thriller

Read Author Interview

About the Author

Daniel P. Douglas is a novelist specializing in conspiracy thrillers and science fiction. His first novel, Truth Insurrected: The Saint Mary Project, centers on a decades-old government cover-up of contact with extraterrestrial life. Other upcoming novels include The Outworlds series, which is comprised of science fiction adventure stories set in the early twenty-fourth century at the fringe of human civilization, and Green Bird, a modern-day thriller about an FBI agent racing to stop a cyber terrorist before it’s too late. Douglas is a US Army veteran and long-term civil servant who worked in the federal government and the museum profession. Born and raised in Southern California, he has lived most of his life in the southwestern United States. He now lives in New Mexico with his spouse, children, siblings, parents, pets, and livestock. His travels take him throughout the United States, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East and the Caribbean.

Interviewed by:  Lisa Brown-Gilbert, Pacific Book Review

www.danielpdouglas.com

Today we are talking to  Daniel P. Douglas, author of “Truth Insurrected: The Saint Mary Project.”

 

  1. PBR:  What is your favorite genre to read?

I like to read various genres and authors, but I definitely gravitate to one genre over others, and that is science fiction. I grew up and live in an age where technology seems to really change daily, with huge advances in so many areas. All of this raises a lot of questions for me. Where are we going? Is this good for us? How will this affect the future? Not all of the answers or their implications are necessarily positive. I guess I look to sci-fi not only because I like the genre but because the genre helps me grapple with some of these questions, gain a more steady perspective, and bolster my hope over uncertainty or outright fear.

 

  1. PBR:  What factors led to you becoming a writer?

I’ve always written a lot professionally. Not fiction but work-related documents. Things like reports, memos, articles, proposals, and the like. In doing this, my goal was always to reach the reader and have a desired impact, so it honed my skills. But when you do this for others, like an employer, it is all well and good. It means you are doing your job well. I guess I realized one day that I could also do this for myself, and choose to tell stories that not only appealed to me, but could also impact readers. I also realized that writing could help me process ideas and messages that are important to me, that it would give me an outlet not only to express myself, but maybe to find deeper meaning in the things that I care about.

 

  1. PBR:  Do you have a particular method that you employ when writing?

I try not to hold back for the right word or phrase when I hit a road block. I just move ahead. I also switch up fonts too. For some reason that little change triggers something in me. Mostly though, I just try to follow a schedule and write every day. I’ve learned to outline my longer works before I start, but I am also not afraid to just start writing. I guess you’d say I use different methods, but mostly I just try to write, have fun and don’t sweat it.

 

  1. PBR:  Do you believe in any conspiracy theories?

There seems to be an evidence trail indicating the government is engaged in a cover up of UFO’s and alien contact, so I definitely believe in this, and I don’t consider it some sort of fringe conspiracy theory. The government has obfuscated and changed their story about UFO cases and not just famous ones like Roswell. These are facts, so I’d call it an outright conspiracy and I have to wonder why more people aren’t outraged and vocal about this. As for other conspiracy theories, I can’t say that I believe them, but I enjoy them immensely.

 

  1. PBR:  What made you decide on the government cover-up of UFO encounters as a storyline for the book?  

To say the subject of UFOs is controversial would be an understatement, but that makes it all the more suitable as the topic for a novel. For decades, perhaps even centuries, people have seen these unknown craft in the sky or even underwater. There can be a sharp divide between believers and non-believers, and controversy about what it all means, especially in the context of alleged government secrecy. That tension, blended with the fundamental question, are we alone?, makes for a great storytelling opportunity. I focused on the cover-up aspect because I also have strong feelings about overuse of secrecy by the government with this subject. It undermines trust, which endangers our democracy.

 

  1. PBR:  How much research went into writing Truth Insurrected: the Saint Mary Project?

Years of watching or reading anything and everything about UFOs! By the time I started writing it, I had already absorbed a lot of information about the subject because it had always been an interest of mine. The rest just came from my military and government experience, travels, and imagination.

 

  1. PBR:  Did you have a specific goal in mind when writing Truth Insurrected: The Saint Mary Project?

I wanted it to be a catharsis, a way of shedding some of my frustrations with how guarded many people are about this subject. I wanted truth to show its might and for it to prevail! As an exercise in storytelling, I also wanted to tell a good story with interesting characters and settings.

 

  1. PBR:  How did you come up with the characters for the book and are they based on anyone real?

So, in the UFO lore, there is a group known as Majestic 12, or MJ-12. Reportedly, they were a high-level, secret group formed by President Truman in order to wrestle with the subject of UFOs and aliens. I definitely modeled the Saint Mary Project and specifically its leadership after MJ-12. As for other characters, safe to say there are parts of me in Harrison, but pieces of me are in other characters too. I put many of the others together from the characteristics and personalities of real people I have met over the years through work and other settings, people who have made an impression on me good or bad.

 

  1. PBR:  Do you have any advice for new writers looking to be published?

Seek out and listen to feedback. It is one thing to be able to write well and be productive, but it is another to do it so others are interested in what you produce. The other thing that I would say is don’t stop writing. I wrote Truth Insurrected 20 years ago and it sat collecting dust. Thankfully, I picked it up, edited and re-wrote it, and now it is my debut novel. I really wish I’d stuck with my writing 20 years ago. I definitely would have produced more by this point and would be a lot better writer now because of it.

 

  1. PBR:  Do you have any future projects in the works that you would like to share?

There is a short story I am working on right now for an anthology my publisher, Geminid Press, will publish next year. But my main focus is a novella I’m writing called The Oeskone Anomaly, which is the first book in my sci-fi adventure series, The Outworlds. After Oeskone there will be two more installments of that series. These are stories set well in the future on the edge of human civilization in an area known as the Outworlds. Following this will be another novel, Green Bird, which is a modern-day thriller about an FBI agent struggling to stop a cyber terrorist before it is too late.

 

To learn more about “Truth Insurrected: The Saint Mary Project”  please read the review at:  Pacific Book Review

Buy on Amazon