Weaving together a colossal scientific discovery and the clash of two headstrong characters was as much fun as an author can have. My novel, Church of the God Particle, was born.
A little background is in order: Everything we see and touch (matter) is made of atoms. Within those atoms, and flying through the space between them, are subatomic particles with odd names like quarks, muons, gluons, photons, electrons, and bosons. The God Particle is a peculiar type of boson first theorized in the ’60’s by Edinburgh physicist, Peter Higgs. He had the good sense not to call it a “God Particle”, but because of the fundamental impact his particle could have on the laws of physics, the grandiose nickname followed.
Scientists proclaim that discovering the Higgs Boson, alias God Particle, would be the greatest achievement in 60 years. We have to go back to the discovery of DNA for a comparable feat. Before that, it was Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.
Why has something so small prodded the scientific community into such a frenzy? After all, trillions of God Particles could shake and shimmy on the head of a pin. If the theory proves true, the God Particle could determine how matter is distributed throughout the universe. For a hundred years physicists and cosmologists have not been able to reconcile the nature of stars with the nature of atoms. Discovery of the God Particle could lead to a single theory that explains everything. Yes, everything. Well, maybe not human behavior, but at least everything in the realm of how the physical universe manifests itself.
My novel, Church of the God Particle, was born out of the excitement of these potentially vision-altering discoveries. Have no fear of detailed, repetitive doses of particle physics in this crime-thriller novel– I’ve presented enough science to set the stage, but you’ll rip through the story.
Human aspirations and foibles will always clash in unpredictable ways. The reader sees and feels those eruptions when a megalomaniac, physicist preacher provokes a Texas rancher after a bizarre accident. Hang on as you journey through the heart of Austin, onto the High Plains of Kansas, and into Cold War Romania of the 1980’s.