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Novel with a novel GMO
Posted: Thursday, June 25, 2009 10:40 pm
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A newly-released novel combines the approaches of Michael Crichton, Dan Brown, and Jeffrey Smith. How did Smith join such august company? Well, it's fiction, for one thing.

But there are other familiar elements: a giant multinational corporation engaged in the development and sales of GM seeds and complementary chemicals. There's pollen-mediated outcrossing, and a 'Doomsday Vault' of non-GM seeds buried in an ice-bound island far north of the Arctic Circle. There's myths and legends associated with the Catholic Church, and centuries-old secret societies bent on world domination. There's control of the food supply, and of world population via the food supply.

There are rock-hewn doors in ancient crypts which, despite no regular use or maintenance in recorded history, open and shut as reliably as those found on modern elevators. And ancient manuscripts with clever riddles. And bombs and guns, and black helicopters. 

Ladies and gentlemen, the novel is The Doomsday Key, by James Rollins.

Dan Brown gets credit for the elements involving the Church, and secret societies, and ancient manuscripts, and so forth. These days, nearly every novelist is scrambling to find a place in his shadow, with the successes of The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons.

More importantly, Michael Crichton gets credit for the genius of establishing the basis of a popular novel on popular elements of activist rhetoric. His success in this regard is indisputable. Though no friend of activists, and actually, an object of their scorn, he adopted their claims as background for the novels State of Fear and Prey. Both became bestsellers.

In State of Fear, he combined global-warming hysteria with the internecine plotting of those determined to see their apocalyptic prognostications realized, no matter what the cost. In Prey, he portrayed nanotechnology in a way clearly reminiscent of the rhetorical elements activists use to alarm the press, and the public, about agricultural biotechnology. With both books, he built his fiction on the fictions which activists labored to popularize.

But what of Jeffrey Smith, the author of Seeds of Deception? In an author's note at the end of the book, Rollins acknowledges a debt to Smith (and to Michael Pollan, and others) for inspiration. Yet Smith garners most of the credit. It appears his material formed the perfect outline of a major work of fiction.

Will Smith, Pollan, et. al. be flattered? That's anyone's guess. Meanwhile, lest anyone surmise that Rollins has bought into the anti-biotech movement, this interview should dispel any doubts. He does, however, owe Smith and the activists a debt of gratitude.

The plot in The Doomsday Key has so many twists and turns that describing the plot, at any level of detail, would deprive the reader of  far too many delightful surprises. Although, it's probably safe to mention that the Club of Rome, polar bears, Thomas Malthus and eugenics also play roles.

And, of course, there's a novel GMO.

The Doomsday Key, by James Rollins. Published by William Morrow, an imprint of Harper James. Released June 23, 2009. ISBN: 9780061231407. Hardcover, 448 pp.
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GMO (noun) 1. An acronym for the term, 'Genetically Modified Organism'. 2. A plant, animal or microbe with a genetic code which has been intentionally altered, such as through forced evolution (see selective breeding); through random mutations induced with radiation or chemicals (see mutagenesis); or through the selective transfer, promoting or silencing of specific genes (see genetic engineering). 3. Most generally, any descendant of a primordial urbiote. (See evolution.)

obelus (noun) A dagger-shaped typographical symbol [ † ] which directs a reader's attention to important matters. From the Greek, obelus, literally, a roasting skewer.

GMObelus (noun, proper) A publication directing the attention of readers to the latest news and commentary regarding the development and use of genetically modified organisms in agriculture and related fields.

peer (noun) 1. One of two or more computers sending data to each other over the same network. 2. One of two or more persons sharing information with each other over such a network. (See also, 'remote peer'.)

peer review (noun phrase)  A process by which peers review information shared over a network, rather than each other. (Compare, argumentum ad hominem.)

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