Ivan Debel lives in Port Washington NY. After penning over thirty short stories, his first novel is Solar Jihad.
In keeping with Ivan’s interest in astronomy, the author’s second novel Lunar Gold centers around riches found on the moon. A collection of Short Stories will also be out soon on this website.
An excerpt from a Radio Interview at Long Island University’s 88.1FM station
By Hal Spielman
Spielman— Where did you get your idea for this unusual story?
Debel— When I started writing this book, people often asked what the book was about. After I told them, they all asked the question you just asked. “Where did you get your idea for this unusual story?”
Spielman— What did you tell them?
Debel— I told them I got the idea for Solar Jihad after I saw the late Vince Flynn interviewed on Fox News. Flynn talked about the sociopathic mindset of these terrorists. And how the FBI has set up a special department that does nothing but try to think like a terrorist; that is out-of-box. He said it took some imagination to devise plan that involve flying planes into buildings. He was right.
Spielman— When did you see this interview?
Debel— Shortly after 9/11
Spielman— So that interview was the catalyst for your novel?
Debel—Partially.
Spielman—What do you mean, partially?
Debel—It also came from TV News, various newspapers, and magazine articles. I read or saw stories dealing with terrorism, like the Marine barracks in Beirut, the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, the bombing of our embassy in Kuwait, and PanAm over Lockerbie. I also found articles about Al-Qaida and Hezbollah going hi-tech by recruiting scientists for their jihad. And read about students from Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Syria studying Physics and Computer Science and earning Ph.D.s from schools like MIT and Cal Tech. Computer Science made sense, but Physics, particularly Solar Physics, didn’t. What value would their education have in countries without solar observatories or astronomical research facilities? In my mind, it didn’t pass the smell test.
Spielman—What about the sun part?
Debel—Just after 9/11, I read about England’s Richard Carrington’s 1859 discovery and recording of the first solar flare to hit Earth and its devastating aftermath. I took these two unrelated subjects, terrorism and our sun, and intertwined them, and used the results as the foundation for the heart of the Solar Jihad story, which is what would happen to society if everything we value became worthless. Money, jewelry, gold, real estate, stock & bonds, everything that defines our financial life disappeared. This happens when cyber-terrorists convince our scientists that the sun’s core is heating up and will become unstable in three years.
Spielman— Well, Ivan, Solar Jihad sounds like an interesting and thought-provoking story. Thanks for being here.
