|
Former Sylva physician, wife complete novel on UFOs
By Justin Goble
A former Sylva doctor and his wife have recently published their first novel.
Symm McCord, with help from his wife Jacquelyn, are out promoting “The Challenge of JHWH.” According to the couple who now live in Waynesville, Symm completed the book last year, with Jacquelyn helping to keep the book “grounded in reality” throughout the writing process.
“He’s the idea man,” she said. “I was just there to help out whenever I could. It’s a pretty extraordinary story, and we just wanted to make it a fun read.”
Former Sylva physician Symm McCord, left, and his wife, Jacquelyn, recently completed the science-fiction title “The Challenge of JHWH,” (below). Interested in UFOs for most of his life, Symm said the book centers around the information about extraterrestrials he has researched. For more about the book, visit online at www.thechallengeofjhwh.com. Copies can be ordered locally through City Lights Bookstore or online at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com.
According to Symm, the book revolves around two different plot threads. The first involves a man and woman who are “at odds” with each other about the existence of extraterrestrials and unidentified flying objects. The second is about what he calls “an ancient political and scientific event that had ramifications of galactic proportions.”
“The central story is totally different than the one that bookends it,” he said. “But in the end they come together. I did it that way to get a lot about the current state of UFO research and study in there.”
Symm said much of the inspiration for the book came from his lifelong fascination with UFOs.
“It’s something I’ve thought about for much of my life,” Symm said. “I’ve had weird ideas floating around for a long time. I guess it all started with the Roswell UFO crash, which happened when I was a boy. I read the newspaper articles about it then and have followed the research people have done.” Another inspiration was the story of creation as presented in the Bible, Symm said.
“It’s funny how many airline pilots and astronauts have also admitted to seeing UFOs,” Symm McCord said. “It used to be that airline pilots wouldn’t mention seeing them. They would be ridiculed and maybe even fired from their jobs if they did. Now they report them quite frequently.”
“It’s not like a lot of people think of creation,” he said. “I always thought the Bible said God created heaven and earth in his own image. That’s what you hear in Sunday school. But the Bible actually says ‘in our image.’ So I thought about that and combined it with extraterrestrials and UFOs to create this story.”
“It’s not anti-Christian,” Jacquelyn said. “That’s the last thing it is. It is a different way to look at the story of creation, but it’s all fiction.”
Symm said the idea of writing a book had been floating around for more than a decade, though his work as a doctor left him with little time to actually start on one.
“I started thinking about writing a book around 1989 or 1990,” he said. “But I really didn’t push into it until I retired a couple years ago. I spent the first year reading books on how to write. When I started, I even had a ‘book doctor’ look at it to see if I was going in the right direction.”
From there, Symm said he started to write the narrative using much of the information he’d gathered through his years of research on UFOs. Though there’s a wealth of detail, he said Jacquelyn helped make sure that information served the story.
“There’s a lot of biotechnical stuff in there,” he said. “That comes pretty easy to me since I was a doctor for all those years. And I think some people will be surprised about how much of the history of UFO-ology I’ve been able to fit in the book. But Jacquelyn was a big help in making sure that the whole thing was a good story and wasn’t just a lot of technical stuff.”
While he admits some people might find his fascination with aliens and UFOs odd, Symm said there are a lot of people who share his beliefs.
“A lot of people laugh about it,” Symm said. “But there’s a study that shows 56 percent of Americans believe in extraterrestrials and UFOs. Two presidents, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, have gone on record and said they believe in aliens and UFOs. Even presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich said he believed in aliens.
“It’s funny how many airline pilots and astronauts have also admitted to seeing UFOs,” he said. “It used to be that airline pilots wouldn’t mention seeing them. They would be ridiculed and maybe even fired from their jobs if they did. Now they report them quite frequently. I’ve read this story about a Japanese pilot who was flying to Alaska. It said he’d come within yards of a UFO during his flight. There was a picture of him after his plane had landed and he looked like he’d seen a ghost.”
“It’s not like we go around thinking there’s little green men in our house,” Jacquelyn said. “But when you think of the expanse of the universe and how big it is, you have to ask yourself ‘what makes you think you’re the only form of life out there?’ ”
That community of believers has been around for some time, and the McCords said that science-fiction movies and television shows have helped spur the public’s interest in space and aliens.
“I think a lot of it got started with the advent of ‘Star Trek,’ ” Symm said. “Then ‘Star Wars’ came out, and I think a lot of people became desensitized to the idea of extraterrestrial life. From there this whole space community developed and people started to accept the possibilities of what could be out there.”
Now that the book is completed, the McCords are promoting the book as much as they can. That has been a learning experience, Symm said.
“We had to jump right into the marketing world,” he said. “That’s a first for us, so we’re learning what it takes to put out a book. We’re trying to get some reviews on sci-fi Web sites and things like that. We even put up our own Web site which is constantly updated. Along with stuff about the book, I try to post interesting articles on UFOs that I find.”
“It takes a lot of work to get a book out,” Jacquelyn said. “But you have to have faith in what you’re doing. This is just a fun little story, and I think a lot of people will enjoy reading it.”
For more information about the book, visit online at www.thechallengeofjhwh.com. Copies of the book can be ordered from City Lights Bookstore or online at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com.
|
