The Roman God, Janus, is depicted with two faces staring in opposite directions: one face looking into the past and the other into the future.
The past can tell us a lot about who we are and what we will one day create, or do. That’s why I find it essential to retrace the steps that led me to a new novel and in so doing the fourth key to writing The Sixth Key is closely linked to my love of history and my passion for mysteries.
My love of history began at around age fifteen when I first read Gone With the Wind. I became a lover of historic novels and developed a fascination for history itself. My passion for mysteries was ignited when I saw my first Indiana Jones movie. The idea of lost artefacts, codes, puzzles and unsolved enigmas, excited me so much that I told myself I would one day write thrilling mystery novels based on true history.
Two books later, the protagonist in my historic mystery thriller, The Sixth Key, is Otto Rahn - the living inspiration for Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones. Rahn is racing against time to solve numerous puzzles, codes and enigmas to find a lost artefact that actually existed in history and although the book is predominantly set in the late 1930’s, it is interwoven with other historic time-lines.
I guess we never know what influences will work on us strongly enough to become actions. The best we can do is to look back every so often, like the God Janus. We might then better understand the present and even prepare ourselves for the future. In this case – a sequel!
