Into the Night

     Have you ever felt like you’ve let who you really are slip away?  I  have.  Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about my life, and the times I’ve been the happiest, and I’ve come to realize that the happiest times of my life were when I was immersed in learning (school, research, etc), creating, and helping other people.  I’ve spent a lot of my life volunteering for causes in which I believe.  In recent years, however, I’ve become swallowed by the day-to-day, and the corporate machine.  And I’ve been miserable in it.  Instead of feeding my soul, I’ve been draining it of everything that’s so important to me.

     Why do I bring this up?  Because I believe that everyone should take at least one moment in their lives and consider what really makes them happy.  Find that part of yourself that says “I am happiest when I___________.”  The blank can be anything.  And you’ll be surprised to realize that at some point in your life, you had exactly what made you feel happy and fulfilled.  But, if you’re like most people (myself included), you’ve let that slip away in the raging river of what’s expected from you.  Now, ask yourself one question:  When was the last time I expected something of my life?” 

   Notice I said “I”… Not “what everyone else thinks I should expect from me.”  Look deep inside yourself, and you’ll see that the number one expectation you have of yourself is to be happy.  And are you?  Are you genuinely happy with what you do every day?  Do you want to be more, to feel more, to experience life more fully?

   If your answer to any of those questions was “Yes!” then you’re already on the right track.  Sometimes, it’s difficult to break out of the constraints of what we know everyone else expects of us.  But consider honestly - do you think anyone expected the Wright brothers to build flying machines that would actually give us flight?  No.  They were expected to build bicycles.  The dreams others laugh at, scoff at, or disapprove of are sometimes the things that turn out to be the greatest steps we can take. 

    My point? Be willing to dream, and UNwilling to give up on those dreams. Be willing to stand up for what you believe in, even if the rest of the world thinks you’re crazy.  Be outrageous at least once in your life, do something unexpected every day, and find the part of yourself that children understand, and adults bury away - the part that still believes.

I’ve never really gotten inside the workings of the Project Prometheus organization.  I’ve explored what makes it tick, a bit, but not into the meat and bones of what the organization is, or how it came to be.

It all began about ten years ago (you see, the genesis of Project Prometheus actually predates the creation of the book that would eventually become its launch point, IN HER NAME).  As a military enthusiast, I’m fascinated by the inner workings of both military systems around the world and the politics that are often an influence on them.  And then, in passing, I read something regarding stated US policy, and it surprised me.  The US Government neither condones nor participates in the use of mercenaries.  In fact, the stated policy is that any American citizen who joins a mercenary unit loses his/her citizenship as an American.

Now I grew up in the military - I’ve seen enough, heard enough, and lived through enough that this information really surprised me.  From the Swamp Fox during the Revolutionary War to Somalia, I’m aware of dozens of instances in which the US either made us of or worked in co-operation with mercenaries.  This contradiction sent me searching deeper, and inspired an idea. 

What would happen if a mercenary organization fought for the same thing official US policy stands by, and was based in the US?  What would happen if the men and women recruited by this organization were some of the most decorated personnel in both military and civilian Law Enforcement channels? 

From this thought came the idea of Project Prometheus, though I wasn’t sure at the time what I’d do with it.  The first thing I decided was that these were mercenaries.  The second was that they wouldn’t all be US citizens.  These men and women would be chosen for their skills, and their dedication to a common cause - peace and safety for the world, no matter the cost.

Now, Prometheus isn’t anywhere close to your typical mercenary unit.  I’ll grant you that. Most mercenary units are available to the highest bidder, and don’t draw a lot of moral lines regarding what they will and won’t do for their pay.  Most are modern equivalents of land-locked pirates.  But I didn’t want that for Prometheus.  These had to be men and women you couldn’t help but admire and respect - people with histories and lives that lent themselves to the moral codes so often ignored.  So, what to do?

 :)  It was simple enough.  By giving them a face - the mythical face of Prometheus himself, they learned to help others, to work for the betterment of all humanity.  They aren’t all warriors, either.  Prometheans come from all walks of life - they are protectors, healers, investigators, teachers and so much more.  As many of their non-Promethean counterparts soon discover, there’s a lot more to being a Promethean than the willingness to fight.

    I know I’ve blogged before about Project Prometheus and its inspirations in mythology.  But I thought I’d touch on where it departs from history and mythology, today.

      I know there are historical scholars out there who’d debate the history and mythology of ancient Mesopotamia with some of the details in IN HER NAME.  I’ve never claimed that I was writing historical fiction.  I know the history of Sargon written in books, and I also know the mythology of the area, as is written in books.  Thing is, I’m also aware of something many historians - whether through choice or the nature of things - forget: We don’t know everything about history.

    There is an age-old adage which says “history is written by the victor.”  In the case of ancient Mesopotamia, there’s not a whole lot written at all.  Even today, there are discoveries constantly being unearthed in the Middle East and North Africa which change how we view different eras of the ancient world.  IN HER NAME was written to take up the areas where history and mythology are vague, where what is and what could have been meet.

    History tells us Sargon I of Akkad was the first great king of Mesopotamia.  Mythology tells us of Ishtar’s adoption of a young man who later rose to become a great king through Her tutelage. 

     History tells us that Ashuribanipal degenerated from a decent king, in his youth, to a depraved and dangerous man in his later years.  Mythology tells us of the epic struggle between Ishtar and Ereshkigal, and of demons that feed on souls and inhabit the bodies of their victims.

    History tells us that every culture on the planet has tales of sunken cities and great floods.  Mythology (and Homer) tell us that Atlantis was once the center of the ancient world, but not where or how. 

    Through IN HER NAME, I sought to bring  these two areas of the same world together, to tell the story that fills in the gaps between segments of history and the rich tradition of mythology - to explore the possibilities that these events might all be part of a cosmic struggle between forces beyond the scope of human history to quantify.  The purpose of this?  Simply, I wanted to show the world that there are undercurrents to every action that are capable of rippling acros the pages of time.

   So was born the story that became the genesis of Project Prometheus, IN HER NAME.  Originally, it was meant to be a stand-alone novel - a response to the fear, paranoia, and terror that marked one of the darkest days in American history.  But, as the story grew, those ripples became evident, and spread outward, encompassing more stories - more tales spun from where history and mythology met, and a new world was born.