IDbyET: Intelligent Design by Extraterrestials

This intriguing novel is based on the possibility that extraterrestrial genetic engineers visited this planet in the distant past, and some of the novel's zany characters examine many of the problems associated with the Theory of Evolution.

Lucy, and two other palaeontologists, discover an alien space craft that was buried by an erupting volcano in a remote corner of Western Australia about a million years ago. While digging out the craft Lucy becomes involved with Colonel West, the officer in charge of the army unit sent to investigate the strange discovery. It seems the Aliens who left it there were genetic engineers. But more than that they were intelligent designers, artists who used DNA as their medium and the earth as their canvas. In other words they were fooling around with life here on this planet.

To carry out their work, it appears the aliens trapped animals in a large transparent dome that was filled with a lush tropical garden, which featured a small pond that was kept brimming over by a little fountain - A fountain that, when reactivated, turns out to be the Fountain of life.

Then Paul arrives on the scene. He drinks the water and is miraculously changed and claims to be able to understand the aliens. Word of the discovery eventually leaks out and people come from all over the world to drink from the fountain of life. But they don't always get what they want. For some it's the elixir of life, an answer to their prayers. Its waters can cure the sick and make the old young again, but for others it's a toxic nightmare, it can turn sane people insane, and normal people into amazing and sometimes beautiful genetic freaks.

Recently in the US, and here in Australia, there was a heated debate about whether Intelligent Design, the biblical story of creation, should be taught in schools alongside the Theory of Evolution. The attempt was rejected on the grounds that ID was not based of scientific fact. My novel explores a third option when considering the origins of life here on Earth - that it is the result of the diligent efforts of some super-smart extraterrestrials with a superior technology. In my novel one of the characters coins a name for this new theory – ID by ET. (Intelligent Design by Extraterrestrials)

I like to think of this novel as speculative fiction. The focus of attention is not on aliens. It’s on people, and how events changed their lives. It’s about their deep seated desires; - greed, love, courage, and disappointments. The discoveries cause people to start wondering about the validity of the Theory of Evolution. In strategic places throughout the novel scientists get together and debate the pros and cons connected with evolution, and intelligent design. I have tried to present information and concepts in interesting, and highly entertaining ways. I believe this novel offers people something to think and talk about.

Incidentally, I have written a screenplay version of this novel, and I have spent years writing, revising, and polishing both of them. This is not a hastily written novel.