Black Project: security, secrecy and conspiracy

I’ve always been fascinated by the weird things people choose to believe. Credulity is a powerful force - it is the foundation, after all, of social engineering.

And I love a good conspiracy theory. The wackier the better. There are few things more entertaining than watching people construct an complex argument that can be demolished in a moment with a swift flick of Occam’s Razor.

These are the things that inspired my new novel, Black Project.

One of the key characters is Dick Kennedy, the UFO reported for a rather dubious publication, the Weekly World Inquisitor. He yearns for contact with the numinous. He wants strange phenomena in his life. He wants to believe. But his intelligence keeps getting in the way.

The story also features Kate Macmillan, an engineer on secret government projects who has some rather dark secrets of her own. She winds up working at a base that makes Area 51 look like a theme park.

They both come into contact with something that speaks directly to their desires - and their nightmares. From there, things start descending into madness, chaos and farce.

There are conspiracies and weird beliefs galore. There’s a messianic fundamentalist President - a puppet for a sinister Vice President. There are soldiers on the streets of the US, not in Army uniform but that of a private firm of mercenaries. And all of this is played out against the backdrop of a society descending quickly into totalitarianism, mostly in the guise of customer service. Did I mention it’s funny?

And yes, there’s a tiny bit of hacking in there too.

Black Project is available in print, Kindle and Apple iBooks editions. You can also check out the first three chapters free here…

Enjoy!