Guest Blog (and Giveaway!) by Paul Christopher

Like a lot of people I read a lot of books that veer off of the path of what we think of as "strictly" fantasy or science fiction. Stories that feature characters like James Bond aren't that so far removed from my favorite genre and I can seldom resist books that deal in historical conspiracies-- as Dan Brown has become so famous for thanks to "The Da Vinci Code." So when I was asked to host a guest post and giveaway featuring author Paul Christopher, author of the newly released The Templar Conspiracy I was immediately on board. And after reading the post sent over by my guest blogger-- I'm more interested than ever in checking out his new book. I hope you will be too. Read on and enter the contest featured at the end of this post for a chance to win one of 4 copies of "The Templar Conspiracy."

~SQT



I've always been a fan of dystopic novels from George Orwell and 1984 to John Wyndam’s novels and most particularly and most affectionately  to Death of Grass by John Christopher. On the movie side it’s been a long love affair with flicks like Wyndam’s The Midwich Cuckoos, known in the U.S. as Village of the Damned and on the ‘realistic’ side, Seven Days in May, the Manchurian Candidate and FailSafe.



One way or the other, all of those stories inform and inspire the Templar Series, particularly the latest—The Templar Conspiracy, which, in many ways, despite what Publisher’s Weekly said has more to do with Seven Days in May that The Manchurian Candidate. I’ve had a growing sense that with the advent of the Patriot Act and the very 1984 style Homeland Security (the word ‘Homeland’ ring a bell very much like the German Fatherland and the Russian Motherland) we have been steadily stripped of our basic human rights to the point where Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness may very well depend on what you look like, the sound of your name, your religion and the possibility of having your name accidentally put on a No Fly list.



The Templar Conspiracy is really more about the ease with which enormous events can happen and how lives can change direction on the turn of a dime. Of all the themes in my writing that has always been one of the most important. As time passes I’ve also come to the regrettable decision that the Internet, in all its fundamental richness and freedom will probably be the death of culture, truth, history and everything else I find important. One of these days some future bigger and nastier entity in the WikiLeaks mold is going to appear and the whole, fragile thing is going to collapse in a Babel of Tweats Twitters, Skypes, texts, e-mails and E-trades, putting us all back in the Stone Ages.



Oh yes, and Happy New Year.



~Paul Christopher





The Templar Conspiracy

In this suspenseful thriller, only former army ranger John Holliday has the ability to solve a modern Templar conspiracy. In Rome, a pope is assassinated by an unknown sniper on Christmas day which unleashes a massive investigation and Holliday’s skills are put to test when he uncovers the real motif behind the pontiff’s murder. When a private confession leads to the discovery of a grisly murder under a D.C. parkway, Holliday must unravel the Templar’s deadly plot to extend their influence to the highest power.





Courtesy of Penguin Books (Signet) I have 4 copies of "The Last Templar" to offer for giveaway (U.S. entries only). Just add your information to the form below to enter (all entries are guaranteed confidential and will be discarded once contest ends) and I will randomly pick 4 winners by Friday January 21st. No multiple entries please-- all multiple entries will be discarded. Open in the U.S. only.



Good luck!