I thought it would be appropriate in light of something I JUST read today to share some of the coincidences from real life that have either happened or that I found out well after I'd started writing A True History.
TL:DR - there's a lot of weird shit between real life and my book.
First, a bit of real history. I came up with the idea for this book in the middle of 2016. I had several different ways to start the book that I worked through, and I figured out where I'd want the capsule to land (meaning near Hutch) in 2018. Finally got serious and started writing it late in 2019, and you know how it's gone as far as on here is concerned.
What you don't know is how many times I've come up with something for the story, said this sounds like a good idea, start writing it, and then in the process of doing research, gone ... no shit, really?
The first coincidence was me simply using the name, Cal Lewis. I did it purposely as an homage. Cal L ... pretty simple. I hadn't planned on adding the Romany influence at all when I started writing, so finding out that CaLe - the name of the parent company of CEDEM - really is a Romany language made me go, huh. I had also stuck in the Gypsies because I figured if anyone had weird stuff, it'd be them. I had no idea they traced their roots back to India, from about 10,000 years ago, when I stuck them into the story.
That's two coincidences.
I chose Hutchinson because I thought the towns that were closer to where the illustrated novels (aka comic books) show the Blue Boy Scout (BBS) landing were too small. According to those, the BBS landed near a small town close to Salina, Kansas. I had picked the landing spot back in early 2018, and had an initial chapter done back then. The Hutchinson Wikipedia page made an addition in June of 2020 that, in honor of a convention, they officially change the name of the town during that convention to Smallville. They've been doing it for several years, but I didn't know it when I picked Hutch!
That's three.
I'd already decided that Shiva was an alien - which if you look at various Indian religions, is entirely possible anyway, but that's another topic. No, I wrote Chapter 4 of Book 3 and decided that this mountain range would be perfect for Shiva to have a home. I got a list of mountains and said, "Hey, Machapuchare sounds a lot like Machu Picchu, let's make that Shiva's home!" So I wrote the chapter. THEN - AFTER writing the whole encounter, I was doing more browsing, and added a couple of things. The mountain really IS off limits for religious purposes and has never been climbed because of that. Oh, and it's supposed to be the home of Shiva.
Yeah, I'm serious. So now, that's four.
Remember I had Cal make a great shot at Bay Hill Country Club, across the lake? I wrote that last year! Bryson DeChambeau did it this past March.
I linked Helen and Carrie as being Guardians, due to their links from history. I was planning on having another 'lost tribe' down in Peru, basically watching Machu Picchu, being wary of Shiva coming back. (That last sentence I haven't written the chapter yet, but it planned.) Then I saw a news headline today that scientists have now confirmed that Indigenous Australians are DNA related to natives in Alaska, and other natives in South America, including tribes that live in Peru near Machu Picchu.
Five and six.
People have sent me compliments on how realistic my story seems, and on how much research I've put into it. You have no idea how many times I've written something that's I've made up (so I thought), then doing a bit more research, I've just sat here going, damn!