It is our privilege to chat with David Lynn Golemon, author of Event and Legend.
For those unfamiliar with your work, what is the Event Group?
The Event Group had its seed planted as far back as President Abraham Lincoln, beginning with the American ‘Raid on Mount Ararat’ in 1864, by several hundred Union soldiers and Confederate prisoners of war. This tale is touched on in Event. The first “officially” funded expedition by the Group was authorized by President Theodore Roosevelt after he read several letters from Lincoln describing the launch of the original Raid forty years before. Officially becoming an agency of the federal government by the hand of President Wilson, who also wrote Department 5656’s national charter. The Event Group was first located in Virginia. The final move to its secret facility in Nevada was done during World War II, when President Franklin Roosevelt could adequately hide the cost.
Describe your creative process in developing the Event Group.
The process is not a simple one, to say the least. Since the Event Group's charter states that their main function is safeguarding the United States and her allies from mistakes already made throughout world history, it is a challenge to link the past with the future, finding historical material that interests the larger percentage of readers is the goal. So, one, I choose something from the past that could have possibly happened; two, I have a relevant equivalent in modern times, couple that with a bad entity trying to exploit the past, usually a technology, and then you have the makings of an Event Group novel.
Event is particularly reminiscent of the X-Files. Are/were you a fan of the show?
When I had the opportunity, I tried to watch the X-Files. As a single parent at the time the X-Files aired, I was in the midst of raising two children, it was hard to sit and watch nighttime television. The writing on the show was very well done and it really helped the storylines when you had quality people who looked as if they enjoyed what they were doing. Therefore, in answer, yes I was a fan, but found little time to be a good one.
Give us a quick plot sketch of Legend.
Legend opens with the first expedition into the Amazon basin by members of the Pizarro incursion into Incan held Peru. While there, the expedition discovers a wondrous lagoon that is seemingly frozen in time. The discovery of an ancient mine at the site leads to future speculation that this is the mythical location for El Dorado, the largest gold deposit in the world. However, this is not the only hidden secret in the valley. There is also an animal that predates man’s existence by 100,000,000 years. With clues left by the original expedition and cover-ups by the Vatican, the Event Group must piece together these seemingly random pieces of the puzzle 500 years later. From the Amazon River to the Little Bighorn, the Event Group fights a running battle to save the lives of a new expedition to this lost world before they too are lost. There are villains at every step, even some that truly believe they are the good guys. Once again, Colonel Henri Farbeaux makes a dramatic appearance and reprises his very complicated complicity in the affairs of the Event Group.
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