THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE NOVEL
Not long after I published my first trilogy The Trinity Forest Series, my husband showed me a story on Flipboard about a Russian psychic during the Cold War that he thought I would find interesting.
He was right….
Then my imagination took over.
That fascinating Flipboard story explained how Russian psychic Nina Kulagina's supposed powers kicked off a "psychic arms race" between the U.S. and the Soviets during the Cold War. When American officials discovered the Soviet research into her supposed powers, they began funding investigations into supernatural phenomena at Stanford Research Institute.
I went on to read a fabulous nonfiction book, Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government’s Investigation into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis.
Author Annie Jacobsen provided the true-life facts for the unique setting for my book and intriguing details from government documents and interviews. This led to an understanding of real experiments, the physics they tested, and the government’s efforts to build a team of psychic soldiers.
I also found great inspiration from the real-life story of former Russian spy Jack Barsky, whose book, Deep Under Cover, offered a rare look into the mindset of Communist spies and daily life behind the Iron Curtain during the 1960s and 1970s.
What is Stanford Research Institute up to now?
Click here to check out the innovations that the organization has produced in the last 50 years.
What is one of the most remote places in the United States?
Check out the spot that inspired a setting in my book.