| Preview the inspirational thriller, The Great Awakening |
(Access/Download Interview Questions as PDF) 1. Can you tell us a little about your inspirational thriller, The Great Awakening? Answer: The book is about transformation. It’s a thriller that delves into the intersections of science and man's greater consciousness. It also journeys into the paranormal. In the novel, a plot to control scientist and mystic Jack Bowman’s cryptic work propels an after-hours murder in a pharmaceutical research center. The perpetrator, with his gun to Jack’s head, demands ISIS, the scientist’s unstable formula enabling him to create like a God. Convinced his work once refined belongs to the masses, Jack refuses to cooperate. Jack is framed for murder and incarcerated – losing everything he holds most dear while he fights for survival. First he must decipher the mystery of controlling ISIS encoded within the arcane text, “A Course in Miracles.” 2. Tell me more about Jack’s formula, why it’s unstable, and what are the God-like abilities it conveys? Answer: Jack’s ISIS formula that is delivered by injection imbues Jack with abilities that are on the level of a mystic, or one of the lauded Tibetan yogis. He then manifests matter and manipulates even his own body. Yet Jack’s experiments have some frightening and unpredictable outcomes. Jack’s number one issue is related to the instability of his new abilities. Unlike the mystics, Jack hasn’t immersed himself in decades of spiritual study. He lacks the wisdom required to safely wield his expanding powers which spiral him into life-threatening situations. |
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@copyright 2009, Lynn Pierson, All Rights Reserved
The Great Awakening
Book Cover Artwork Articles: Finally, "The Da Vinci Code meets A Course in Miracles." Author Information |
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Lynn Pierson
3. In “The Great Awakening,” the secret to gaining control of Jack’s heightened abilities are encoded in the arcane text, “A Course in Miracles.” Why did you choose this work? I chose “A Course in Miracles” (aka ACIM) because I found this work intriguing. ACIM asserts that mankind’s inherent greatness can be realized through the daily practice of the course’s lessons. In the thriller, for Jack’s transformation to occur, he needed to assimilate the wisdom that is encoded in the course. 4. I find it interesting that "The Great Awakening" refers to forgiveness as the secret to controlling apparently super-human abilities. Isn’t that a stretch? ANSWER: In the novel it’s not forgiveness that enables miracles or super-human abilities, exactly, but giving up the destructive feelings of guilt and self criticism. ACIM claims forgiveness removes guilt and the barriers to man's inherent greatness. 5. While in prison, Jack reluctantly accepts the aid of an award-winning yet jaded journalist, Nell McCall who is pursuing writing a news article featuring Jack’s plight. Like Jack, Nell comes across in the novel as an intelligent and compelling yet haunted individual. How much of yourself was reflected in these two characters? ANSWER: There’s a little of me in both these Jack and Nell. Although Jack is a gifted scientist, his need to fully understand his greater cosmic nature haunts him. I’ve historically found the emerging intersections of science and man as a spiritual being to be fascinating. I’ve read numerous books on quantum physics, the bodily electrical fields, Kinesiology, the neurosciences and more. What I’ve learned has been reflected in Jack’s discoveries. As for similarities to Nell, I studied journalism in college, but for me it was a short-lived career because I landed pretty quickly in the advertising field – which wasn’t a good fit. 6. Nell McCall is a daredevil motocross rider and described as living for “the thrill of facing fear dead-on.” Are you a thrill seeker as well? ANSWER: Like Nell, I enjoy traveling at high speed. For me that means snow and water skiing, fast horses and boats. But, I don’t go for motorcycles. Growing up I’d ride just about anything that wasn’t mechanical. I was thrown at least six times, and first by a horse. While living in Grenada, my best-friend Amy dared me to ride an ornery donkey. I finally figured out the only way to stay on the critter was to ride it backwards while gripping its tail. This time when the animal kicked its heels over its head, I stayed on. I was a tomboy, always falling out of trees and off roofs. Once I was shinnying along a branch, bumped into a yellow jackets’ nest and was stung 200 times before I could plunge into the nearby sea. My mother heard me hollering from a half-mile away. I’ve had several close brushes with death and sometimes feel a little like a cat with nine lives. More Questions: 7. How do Jack’s mentors, the monks from the Mount Angel Abbey, fit into the novel’s plot and why? 8. Does Oregon really have a high desert? 9. Why are parallels, in the novel, drawn between Jack and Nell’s troubled thirteen- year-old niece, Jenny? 10. Jack encounters a ghost while staying in Grenada’s La Chapelle Hotel. Did Grenadians speak of similar experiences? 11. In the novel you speak about Grenadian’s underground practice of voodoo? How did that influence this work? |