James Rollins: The Judas Strain

CANNIBALS AND PIRATES:Indonesian piracy is still a booming growth industry. Pick up applications at the back of the room. As to cannibals, tribes can still be found among the Indonesian islands, but you’ll have to bring your own seasonings. As to the genetic condition known as Prader-Willi (resulting in insatiable appetites), it is a real and horrible condition, but is in no way related to cannibalism. Were we all once cannibals? Current research into genetics reveals humans carry a specific set of genes against diseases that can be acquired only by eating human flesh.

ANGKOR:All the details of the ruins — from the Churning of the Milk mythology to the two hundred stone bodhisattva faces — are accurate, including how the temples were laid out to mimic star patterns, specifically the constellation of Draco. For more details on this, check out Heaven’s Mirror by Graham Hancock and Santha Faiia.

ALL THINGS BACTERIA:There are indeed milky seas of glowing algae that bloom up periodically. And according to a series of disturbing articles in the Los Angeles Times, our seas are increasingly threatened with the resurgence of ancient slimes, poisonous jellyfish, burning seaweeds, and toxic clouds bursting from algal blooms. As to the strangest claim in the novel: that only 10 percent of the cells in our body are human (and the rest are bacteria and parasites). This is true! There is a wonderful book exploring this topic that is as horrific as it is humorous, Human Wildlife by Dr. Robert Buckman. Just don’t read it before you eat.

Too many people, not enough space.

First, to everyone at HarperCollins, I owe you all a long-overdue acknowledgment for the past decade of guidance, hard work, and expertise:

To the big guns, Michael Morrison and Lisa Gallagher, thanks for all the support and confidence. Past, present, and future.

To the art directors, Richard Aquan and Thomas Egner, thanks for making the books stand out so handsomely. I could not be prouder.

To the marketing directors, Adrienne DiPietro and Tavia Kowalchuk, thanks for your ongoing leadership in getting the books out there…and noticed!

To the best PR team in the world, Pam Spengler-Jaffee and Buzzy Porter, thanks for not making me jump out of a bush plane in Alaska.

To a trio of women who put me on the map and in bookstores — Lynn Grady, Liate Stehlik, and Debbie Stier — a huge thank-you (and I’m writing this on bended knee).

To the indomitable force behind national sales and accounts — Carla Parker, Brian Grogan, Brian McSharry, and Mark Gustafson — thanks for all your extra efforts and energies to elbow the novels into stores and onto shelves.

To Mike Spradlin, thanks for both sales and zombies (in no particular order).

And to the hundred and one others whom I’ve failed to mention, but whom I appreciate no less — THANKS!

Moving closer to home, I must acknowledge my dark cabal who tear apart each chapter and reconstruct it into something better: Penny Hill, Steve and Judy Prey, Chris Crowe, Lee Garrett, Michael Gallowglas, Leonard Little, Kathy L’Ecluse, Debbie Nelson, Rita Rippetoe, Dave Murray, Dennis Grayson, Jane O’Riva, and Caroline Williams. And I’d like to give a special shout-out to Steve Prey for the book’s map and Penny Hill for all the working lunches. To Cherei McCarter for the great series of articles featuring advanced weaponry. And to David Sylvian for listening ad nauseam as I read sections out loud (your ears will stop bleeding).

And once again, to the four people instrumental at all levels of production: my fantastic editor, Lyssa Keusch, and her stalwart colleague May Chen, and my indomitable agents, Russ Galen and Danny Baror. You all rock…big-time!

And lastly, I must stress any and all errors of fact or detail fall squarely on my own shoulders.

JAMES ROLLINSis the bestselling author of eight previous novels: Subterranean, Excavation, Deep Fathom, Amazonia, Ice Hunt, Sandstorm, Map of Bones , and Black Order . He has a doctorate in veterinary medicine and his own practice in Sacramento, California. An amateur spelunker and a certified scuba enthusiast, you’ll often find him either underground or underwater.