You know, somebody around here has that broadcast tape from that night. I should put it up on MySpace or on the website. You want it or a link to it?

There's a great deal of Revolutionary War Era history involved in this story. How much of it is "real"?

Wow, just about all of it. All the characters of that era are real, the things they said and did. Even the globe.

George Washington plays an important role. Are you a particular admirer of his?

He was, as his contemporaries said, the "indispensable" figure of American history. The Republic could not have happened without him. Twice he voluntarily gave up power. First as Commander-in-Chief of the Colonial Army at the end of the Revolution. Then again after his second term as President of the United States. He has no equal as president.

Conrad proves very tough and resourceful in this story. Is there an element of his background of which we are unaware, or did he toughen up after the Antarctic incident?

Yes and yes. There is some background that will come to the forefront of The Atlantis Revelation. And he did toughen up after Antarctica and the loss of both his father and Serena. He became less tolerant of lies and liars, both inside government and outside, and is more willing to use deadly force if his own life or those of others is in danger.

What is your opinion on the Atlantis myth? Based in fact? Fun source of speculation? Alien race? The source of Dick Vitale's annoying personality?

Personally, I suspect Plato used the volcanic eruption of Fira — present-day Santorini — as the basis for his story about Atlantis. I've been back there several times, and each time reinforces for me the connection between the island and Crete and the Minoan civilization before Plato's time. However, as has been pointed out, Fira blew about 900 years before Plato's time, and Plato put the destruction of Atlantis 9,000 years before his time. Maybe it's one of those "lost in translation" mistakes. If not, then the only place that satisfies Plato's description in time and space is Antarctica, which was ice-free at the time of his account, outside the Mediterranean, and surrounded by a "world ocean." It's always instructive to look at a dead-on satellite image of Earth with Antarctica in its center to really see how East Antarctica beneath the ice and the islands of West Antarctica beneath the ice could really have been Atlantis if Plato's account is historically accurate.

Should this book find its way to the big screen, who should play Yeats and Serghetti?

I have met with some of the biggest directors in Hollywood about this series, and to a person we all lament — after complaining about the massive budget to pull the movies off -- about how much easier it is to cast Serena Serghetti than Conrad Yeats.