Deep Fire Rising

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Of course Deep Fire Rising is a work of fiction. However, I have based its premise on scientific fact. Quantum teleportation has been carried out in a dozen experiments around the globe involving clouds of atoms that are “zapped,” for lack of a better word, across a room in an instant. The ability to transport a submarine into a mountain is beyond our capabilities. For now. But as Dr. Marie points out, tomorrow’s breakthroughs are made by people inspired by some of today’s scientific speculation. Methane hydrate, methane gas trapped in ice crystals, is very real and will likely become the next great source of fossil fuel energy once the technology to develop it becomes available. The story of Admiral He and the Chinese treasure fleets is a true one. I recommend Louise Levathes’s book When China Ruled the Seas to anyone wanting to know more about this little-known time in China’s history.

As for the Canary Island La Palma — well, this is where I started working my imagination. If the island stays true to its history of eruptions, the Cumbre Vieja volcano will become active again in the next two hundred years or so. The eruption will further fracture the island’s western flank and it is probable that the trillion-ton slab of rock will crash into the Atlantic. The devastation to the United States, Europe and Africa described by Mercer will occur. The truly fictional element of Deep Fire Rising is that there is something that can be done to stop it. There isn’t.