Talking with Talented Author Christopher J. Lynch, author of DARK STATE, a Modern-Day Thriller Set in California.
Talking with Talented Author Christopher J. Lynch, author of DARK STATE, a Modern-Day Thriller Set in California.
The author of the top-rated celebrity biography, Eddie: The Life and Times of America’s Preeminent Bad Boy, and the award-winning One Eyed Jack crime novel series about a professional blackmailer who operates in and around the South Bay, sits down to talk about his latest work, DARK STATE, a modern-day thriller about a terrorist attack that takes down California’s electrical grid. The book is available on Amazon.
Lianne La Reine: There are plenty of novels about electrical grid attacks, what sets DARK STATE apart from them?
Christopher J. Lynch: Two things. First, most grid takedown books describe either cyber-attacks, or an EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) burst as the method of attack. DARK STATE focuses on a low tech, proven technique to destroy key components in the California grid. Secondly, while most books have the entire US grid going down, DARK STATE focuses only on California.
LLR: Why only California?
CJL: California is vitally important to the US as a whole. It’s the most populous state, the sixth largest economy in the world, and comprises nearly half of the US economy. California is a leader in agriculture, high tech, and entertainment; industries that will be brought to their knees with an attack of this nature. You don’t have to kill the giant to take him out of the battle; only cripple him enough that he can’t fight.
LLR: You mentioned ‘low-tech, proven’ method of attack in DARK STATE. What do you mean by that?
CJL: I mean it’s already been done in California. On April 16, 2013, in what’s known as the Metcalf Sniper Attack, snipers took out several HPTs (High Power Transformers) using only rifles. To this day, no one has been arrested nor prosecuted for the attack. Security experts also consider it to be a trial run — a ‘probing attack,’ in their words. Congress also authorized a study that examined the vulnerability of HPTs from low tech attacks and found them to be easy targets. Unfortunately, not much has been done to mitigate the threat. And remember; it wasn’t high-tech that hijacked those planes on 9-11 — it was plastic knives.
LLR: As far as writing the book, how did you decide who — of the forty million possible characters, you would write about? It had to be tough.
CJL: It was tough. In the end I chose what I considered to be a cross-section of the residents of the state: a single mom, a paranoid prepper, a self-absorbed Hollywood celebrity, a homeless vet, and the newly promoted head of Cal-OES, the California Office of Emergency Services. To explain, Cal-OES is the agency responsible for dealing with all disasters in the state, natural or otherwise and they figure prominently in the book. In fact, I dedicated the book to the men and women of Cal-OES.
LLR: Are these the only characters in the book?
CJL: Main characters, yes. But I also included various vignettes and cover everything from fuel truck drivers, radio hosts, and looting street thugs. I consider the bookends of these minor characters to be the struggles of a fertility clinic that loses its freezers and its embryos, to a mortuary that cannot operate the pumps to inject embalming fluid or even cremate bodies. Everyone, from before life begins, until it ends, is going to be affected by a disaster of this scope.
LLR: Where did you get your research for the book?
CJL: Individuals from different disciplines, but also from plenty of open-source info. It’s amazing what you can find on the web, and most of it was government publications. I list them in the book in relevant chapters.
LLR: Do you ever worry that your book will give terrorists ideas?
CJL: Unfortunately, as with the Metcalf Sniper Attack, they already know about how vulnerable we are. And the government knows, and the utility companies know. Who doesn’t know is the average Californian. Besides entertaining readers, I hope to educate and enlighten them as well. Hopefully, DARK STATE will become a wake-up call.
LLR: Thanks so much for talking with us Christopher. And let’s hope that your fiction does not become fact — and that it does serve as a wake-up call for people.
CJL: Agreed.
Christopher Lynch is a Southern California native and freelance writer. His debut novel, One Eyed Jack, a hard-boiled crime thriller about a professional blackmailer, was a 2013 Shamus Award finalist, and a 2014 Writers Digest Honorable Mention for Genre Fiction. Eddie: The Life and Times of America's Preeminent Bad Boy, the memoir of Ken Osmond, the actor who played Eddie Haskell on Leave it to Beaver, is one of the highest rated celebrity biographies on Amazon.
He is also an avid cyclist and a mountain climber with successful summits of Mount Whitney, Mount Shasta, Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, Mount Kalapatar in Nepal, and has recently completed a trek to Mount Everest Base Camp.
He counts as one of his greatest accomplishments the successful training and leading of nine blind hikers to the summit of 10,000 foot Mount Baldy, the highest point in Los Angeles County, and the third highest peak in Southern California. A documentary film is being made of the adventure and you can view a trailer at: http://www.baldyfortheblind.com
He enjoys giving back to the writing community by offering free Self-Publishing seminars. He also taught creative writing at a maximum security prison north of Los Angeles. You can see more of Christopher J. Lynch’s writing at his website: http://www.christopherjlynch.com
