I got the idea
to write about a game show host who becomes a superhero after learning about transhumanism.
A story about the world’s first transhuman would make a fun read,
I thought. So, I forged ahead with my megalomaniac celebrity and turned him
into a loveable, humbled, truth-seeking robot. Sort of. He’s entirely human, only better.
After
finishing and contracting book one, Wake the Dead, I discovered many of the “betterments” gifted
to my hero, Chase Sterling, were actually in the works, planned for our future.
Chase evolves into more than his creators had planned. And he rebels against
them. In book two, Killswitch, he goes underground. In book three, Transfusion,
he resurfaces for battle. So, how do you stop a rogue transhuman? You make more
transhumans. In the final pages of my trilogy, an army comes against Chase. An
army I invented in the weird layers of my imagination. And now, a year after
that book’s release, I find this:
Here’s an excerpt:
If you think mutant soldiers with unstoppable
physical and mental powers sound like nothing more than science fiction, you
may be in for a shock.
A chilling Government report today warns that the breeding of
genetically-modified troops could be a reality within a generation.
The creation of bionic soldiers would allow countries to increase their
military capability and improve performance of fighting forces.
Within 30 years, mutant soldiers could be able to lift huge weights and
run at high speeds over extreme distances, the report by the Ministry of
Defence’s think-tank says. They could also have infra-red night vision and be
capable of transmitting their thoughts through electronically-aided telepathy.
The article suggests the army is
coming in thirty years. I had them marching a decade earlier. Other than the timing,
they're pretty much how I wrote them. To read the rest of this slightly terrifying
commentary, just click on the article's title. I consider it only slightly terrifying because there is a hero who will save the day. When a writer spends a
thousand pages with a character, that character becomes real. Sort of. While I
do enjoy the company of those I meet in Fiction Land, I am fully aware that Chase
Sterling will not rise up to defeat a transhuman army. But there is another
hero in my story. I didn’t forget Him when I wrote about the transhumans. Even
Chase comes to the realization that the battle is the Lord’s.
We might be headed into a world
we don’t understand, and it might prove to be more than slightly terrifying. But
we can trust in Christ, the real hero of the story of the world.
For I am convinced that neither
death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the
future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38,39