Sam Fisher is the pseudonym for an international bestselling author who has written over 30 books, has a degree in chemistry, has lectured in Science at d’Overbroeck’s College, Oxford and been the science editor of GQ magazine in the UK.
Can you guess who he really is?
His new book, State of Emergency, is like an action movie on the page. If you like Matthew Reilly, you might like to try Sam Fisher.
Synopsis
Funded by philanthropists and governments around the world, E-Force exists to take care of global crises that no other agency can handle. From natural disasters to assassination attempts, when tragedy is imminent and it seems nobody can prevent it, where do you turn? The answer is E-Force.
State of Emergency, the first in Sam Fisher’s new series of high-octane, heart-stopping, action-packed thrillers,
lives up to this promise. A concise but in-depth origin story soon throws the new group – which consists of military
hero, a cryptologist, a doctor, a computer hacker, a NASA astronaut and an explosives expert – into a fastpaced
adrenaline rush filled with intrigue. Specialist new technologies of the future – as imagined by scientist Sam Fisher – and there are guns and explosions to make your heart race.
Q & A
Q: As an international bestselling author of both fiction and non-fiction why have you chosen to create Sam Fisher, as a pseudonym for writing the E-Force Series under?
A: It's was a practical reason really. I plan to have an E-Force book out each year as well as a book a year in another series - a crime thriller serial set in London. I didn't want to confuse my readership, so I thought up the name Sam Fisher for this series and I'll keep Michael White for the other series. Sam was my dad's name, so that may be where I got part of it from. It was only recently someone reminded me that Sam Fisher is actually a character in a series of books by Tom Clancy!
Q: What brought you to write State of Emergency?
A: ‘I genuinely believe there is a need for a real-life International Rescue unit, or – as they are called in State of Emergency – an E-Force. It is amazing that we can get hundreds of thousands of troops into a combat zone at the drop of a hat, but when a disaster strikes the response is piecemeal.’
Q: As a scientist how much has science influenced you in the creation of the E-Force Series?
A: Quite a bit. I've always been fascinated with technology and I'm a big SF fan. A few years back I wrote a non-fiction book called The Fruits of War which was nominated for the Aventis Prize. It was about how war has helped to advance many technological innovations we all rely upon. One of the most important groups involved with this is DARPA, an American government agency which finances research with military applications. In State of Emergency I've created a fictitious equivalent called CARPA which supplies E-Force with technology 20 years ahead of the present.
Q: You have referred to your book as ‘Thunderbirds for adults’… can you expand on this?
A: Well to me it really is in that it is about a team of specialists who are brought together as a rescue unit. They use technology that hasn't yet reached the public domain and they get to disasters very fast using Mach 10 jets. They are highly trained and dedicated. I wanted to take the idea of Thunderbirds and turn it into something more realistic and contemporary.
Q: E-Force has been enlisted to save the character of Senator Kyle Foreman, who at age forty discovered a passion for the environment and created a quickly growing new political party - is he based on a real life politician?
A: Oh yes, and I think we know who!
Q: If State of Emergency was to be made into a movie who would you like to see playing the lead characters?
A: I think Denzel Washington would make a great Mark Harrison, the team leader. Guy Pearce would be good as Senator Foreman, while Hugh Jackman would be brilliant as the headstrong, Josh Thompson. Of course we would have to get Kevin Spacey as The Dragon.
Q: Do you think the world needs an E-Force? Do you think this will ever happen?
A: Yes, I definitely do believe the world needs an E-Force, but the only way it could be made feasible is if there was a commercial return on the project. In the book, I suggest that the money men behind the project are involved because they can use E-Force to test out the latest equipment coming from CARPA. The only other possibility is if I have a quick word with Mr Obama!
A big thank you to all of you who filled out our survey. It was great to receive such wonderful feedback about your likes and dislikes. I’ve particularly taken note of the sections and genres you love and your ideas for what else you’d like to see in the magazine. I’ll give you more information on this next month.
Recently I had a reader write to me and ask me what books I have loved. Looking at my shelves, I pinpoint time-periods of my life.
I was late to reading. Although my parents always gave me books and read to me and encouraged me to read, I always preferred playing in the dirt with the cars or taking my hard-living dolls on a space-trip. I discovered reading in the late 70s. Many readers might roll their eyes when they know the books that got me hitched to a life-long passion. Yes, it was The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I remember sitting up until the wee hours of the morning completely enraptured in Tolkien’s world. From not reading at all I would then go on to read Stephen Donaldson, Raymond Feist, Patrick Tilley, Guy Gavriel Kaye, David Eddings, Tad Williams and more. More authors than I can list here. I still have this library from my teenage years and I can’t part with it as it is such a happy time of discovery for me. And I still love this genre.
So it was fantasy in the 70s and 80s. Thrillers also make an appearance in the 80s as I worked my way through Sidney Sheldon, Robert Ludlum and all those great airport blockbuster writers. The 90s was then a mish-mash of all sorts of books. I started reading biographies and collecting art and gardening books. Strange as it seems, I would often be found with a cup of tea reading encyclopaedias on plants. I discovered biographies, such as The Mad King which chronicled the life of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. This would lead me to visit his incredible castles in Germany. The 00s have seen me return to 
fiction having enjoyed The Kite Runner, Rebecca, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Boy in Striped Pyjamas and most recently The Uncommon Reader.
When I look back over time I think now, more than ever, I want much more from my stories. I want to be truly affected by a book. I want to cry, laugh, be shocked, enticed along, and for it to stick in my mind so I can analyse it and revel in the pleasure it gave me. And I have found books that do this for me. I have found them myself or through books you’ve suggested. Did I want all those things all along but just chose to take what I needed at that moment? Is this one of the great things that books provide? The ability to take from them what you need at that moment in your life? How truly wonderful they are.
I wonder if you can you see a time-line within your shelves? Is there a book or books that suddenly got you into reading as child or adult? We might even start a new column in the magazine on what first inspired you to read! Tell me your stories. I know many readers would love to read them.
Rowena
