{"id":4233,"date":"2024-06-15T13:35:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-15T17:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/?p=4233"},"modified":"2024-06-15T13:37:12","modified_gmt":"2024-06-15T17:37:12","slug":"a-new-science-fiction-novel-from-a-j-hartley-and-tom-delonge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/blog\/2024\/06\/15\/a-new-science-fiction-novel-from-a-j-hartley-and-tom-delonge\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Science Fiction Novel from A. J. Hartley and Tom Delonge\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Charlotte author A. J. Hartley and his occasional writing partner Tom Delonge have collaborated on several science-fiction thrillers in recent years. Their latest science fiction novel is Trinity, <\/em>which came out on June 11, <\/em>2024.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Such collaborations are rare among fiction writers.  However, both Hartley and Delonge bring to their writing partnership long histories of collaborative work in other artistic endeavors.  As a retired Shakespeare professor, Hartley has an extensive background in the world of theater, and Delonge has performed as a member of a rock band for many years.  In part because of these experiences, they know how to work together on creative projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I contacted Hartley and asked him for more information about Trinity.<\/em> Here is what he sent to me:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Trinity:<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Trinity is the 5th<\/sup> science fiction novel I\u2019ve done as part of my on-going partnership with Tom Delonge of punk rock band Blink-182. In the last few years, Tom has become a leading figure in the movement to press the government for the disclosure of UFO\/UAP related documentation (he–and our <\/em>Sekret Machines novels\u2014were instrumental in releasing navy pilot videos of UFOs which led directly to the recent congressional hearings) and <\/em>Trinity is a novel rooted in this phenomena.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s set in the fictional town of Trinity, Nevada, in 1962 during the atomic bomb tests which marked that phase of the Cold War, focusing on a group of high school seniors, and two brothers, Van and Andy Lopez, in particular. They are the human center of the story, misfit kids trying to make their way in small town America, picking their battles with the factionalized school culture, working on their cars, dreaming of what might be in store for them in the new space-race driven world of the early sixties if they can find a way out of Trinity. They live on the edge of the atomic testing ground and are used to the military\u2019s security protocols, but on the eve of this particular test, things seem more than usually tense and secretive.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The adventure which follows is precipitated by something stranger than A Bombs appearing in the Nevada skies, an adventure shaded with danger and death as hostile elements battle to discover and control the truth about what is flying over the desert landscape. It\u2019s science fiction like <\/em>The X-Files is science fiction: an encounter with the unusual in the context of a recognizably real world. If I were pitching it as a movie I\u2019d say think of it as <\/em>Close Encounters meets <\/em>American Graffiti. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For readers who want more information about Hartley and his many novels, please click on the following link:  https:\/\/ajhartley.net<\/a>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Readers who would like to meet Hartley and hear him discuss Trinity <\/em>are invited to a book signing at Park Road Books from 6:30-7:30 pm on Wednesday, June 19, 2024.  This will be an in-person event. Copies of Trinity <\/em>will be available for purchase. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When A. J. Hartley informed me that he was retiring from his career as a professor at UNC Charlotte last year, I was initially worried that he would spend his retirement years honing his beer-making skills in some far-off land.  I am pleased to report, however, that he continues to bring out new novels on a regular basis, and he still calls Storied Charlotte his home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charlotte author A. J. Hartley and his occasional writing partner Tom Delonge have collaborated on several science-fiction thrillers in recent years. Their latest science fiction novel is Trinity, which came out on June 11, 2024. Such collaborations are rare among fiction writers.  However, both Hartley and Delonge bring to their writing partnership long histories of collaborative work in other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[292],"class_list":["post-4233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-storied-charlotte","tag-science-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4233"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4242,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4233\/revisions\/4242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}