Hello Ms. Shiel. Welcome to DivineCaroline. Would you mind briefly introducing yourself?
I research and write about everything strange, from Bigfoot and UFOs to alternative history. My latest book, The Evolution Conspiracy, Vol. 1, marks the initial release in a planned three-book series. I have been interviewed for big-city newspapers, national magazines, drive-time talk radio shows, and TV news. I also have a master’s degree in library science and formerly served as president of the Upper Peninsula Publishers & Authors Association (UPPAA) here in Michigan. As a fiction writer, I developed the Human Origins Series—which includes the novels The Hunt for Bigfoot and Lord of the Dead. My other nonfiction books are Backyard Bigfoot: The True Story of Stick Signs, UFOs & the Sasquatch (a finalist in ForeWord Magazine’s 2006 Book of the Year Awards) and Strange Michigan.
Would you mind telling us about your interestingly titled book: The Evolution Conspiracy?
In The Evolution Conspiracy I delve into the evidence for evolution, exposing both its strengths and its flaws without getting into religious beliefs. Contrary to the assertions of many biologists, the evidence is far from incontrovertible. I give you the tools you need to make up your own mind about how life came to be—tools including a list of 171 references, a glossary, and numerous illustrations. In The Evolution Conspiracy I present the evidence and my analysis of it, then I encourage you to think for yourself.
Did you start out with that title or did it come to you later?
I came up with the title The Evolution Conspiracy after writing the book. I played around with different words but finally settled on “conspiracy” because it sums up the attitudes of many evolutionists—that no dissent should be allowed and none will be tolerated. Conspiracies need not involve organized cabals meeting in secret to devise schemes for world domination. A conspiracy can be diffuse and subtle, with individuals working toward the same goal without a centralized organization or manifesto. That’s the nature of the evolution conspiracy. The subtitle, Exposing Life’s Inexplicable Origins and the Cult of Darwin, gives an inkling of what you’ll find inside the cover.
