Bio: John T. Cullen is a freelance author, novelist, and journalist living in Southern California. He is the author of more than twenty books, including A Walk in Ancient Rome (nonfiction/Ancient History) and Lethal Journey (noir historical thriller based on a spectacular true 1892 crime). In 2009, the History Channel flew John to Yale University from his home in San Diego, to interview him for Episode 6 of a 12-part history of Christianity to air in spring 2010. John is the first person in history to plausibly translate and explain the ancient mystery of the Sator Arepo inscription found in ruins all over the Roman Empire. He made his discovery in 2007 while researching for his nonfiction/virtual tour book for a general readership, A Walk in Ancient Rome.
A Walk in Ancient Rome is garnering rave reviews from academics, bestselling authors, and critics alike. It has never been done before: a complete virtual tour, for the lay or academic reader, of the entire imperial capital in 150 in the age of the Antonines. It is the height of the empire--the shining noon of the Roman Peace. John takes you through all fourteen Augustan districts, 'showing' and explaining sights usually only known to specialists. To understand Rome, you have to see the mosaic of its thousand parts, which then rise together in a luminous whole that transcends the sum of its parts. John writes nonfiction (mainly history, some science) and nonfiction in several genres (SF, DF, H, suspense, mainstream). A member of International Thriller Writers, he will be releasing Lethal Journey, a thriller novel based on a spectacular true 1892 crime, in September 2009. He has published science fiction, fantasy, thriller, and historical novels you can sample at his author website. He is the publisher of Clocktower Books.
What really happened during that early twilight zone of human existence--after the last Ice Age, but before people started writing things down? We live in an epoch called the Holocene, which began about 12,000 years ago, and of which we know relatively little except for the past 6,000 years since writing was invented. But there are mysterious megaliths around the world, and strange cities built by skull cultists who kept their dead around--and other evidence that all is not what we may think. Wi... more info>> (Published: 2009)
Words: 19723 - Reading Time: 56-78 min. Category: History
Here are 22 of the world's tiniest nations, many full of whacky surprises: one nation's army consists of a marching band and a few cars; another nation consists largely of bird poop; and a third of these midgets is basically a shopping mall. Don't miss the fun. Entertaining and informative nonfiction for today's reader on the go. (Published: 2003)
When Adolf Hitler promised the German nation he would make them in to a thousand year Reich, a Third Reich, he was not just chattering. He was a shrewd manipulator of public opinion, who recognized the suffering of his adopted people (he was Austrian, not German) after their massive losses and defeat in World War I. He made many promises, including a return to the original First Reich--the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. This article traces the history of the First Reich, and its surpris... more info>> (Published: 2009)
Words: 7757 - Reading Time: 22-31 min. Category: History
The inscription is found in ruins around the former Roman Empire: Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas. From a military headquarters at Dura Europos (in modern Syria) to a sports complex in ancient Pompeii to the towns of Manchester and Cirencester in Great Britain, the mysterious saying appears to have been an aphorism or a spell of extraordinary importance in Classical Roman society. Since at least 1880, generations of scholars have been working to solve it, in various disciplines, and until now nobo... more info>> (Published: 2009)
Words: 13549 - Reading Time: 38-54 min. Category: History
In the first of twelve articles, we walk from the ancient port of Ostia to the imperial city of Rome, now (150 A.D.) under the enlightened rulership of Antoninus Pius. ### For the first time ever: here is a complete walk through ancient Rome, for the lay reader, through all fourteen Augustan districts. It's a virtual tour, told as if we are really a group of tourists walking through the thronged markets and alleys of the imperial capital in 150 A.D. Learn about Roman history, religion, and custo... more info>> (Published: 2009)
Words: 19729 - Reading Time: 56-78 min. Category: History
Charles Dickens was one of the top three investigative journalists of his century, besides being a famous novelist. We explore the surprising and often shocking background that makes him as relevant today as he was in the Victorian world. London's rookeries were even more notorious than the Five Points section in Gangs of New York. (Published: 2003)
Words: 6200 - Reading Time: 17-24 min. Category: People
The stranger who drifts into town has nothing, but he brings a heavy past. Slowly, he insinuates himself into the town's life, forming a bond with the alluring young divorcee who happens to be town librarian. Then the drifter's shadow personality begins to assert itself, and we begin to wonder who he really is. (Published: 2003)
Words: 12000 - Reading Time: 34-48 min. Category: Mainstream
Kanon, a fugitive felon unjustly imprisoned, escaped from Prison Hammerkill and found refuge offworld. Now he returns--a lone knifeman on a secret and deadly mission in Terraform City. The world he returns to is nominally ruled by the (human) Authority, but, in reality, hideous unmen rule the dark streets at night. Kanon's life is saved by an enigmatic sylph named Rin, who lives in an ancient bishop's tomb deep in the necropolis--where the shadows run from themselves. Together, he and she challe... more info>>
Words: 7687 - Reading Time: 21-30 min. Category: Dark Fantasy
The author proposes a dramatic new conjecture to explain dark matter, dark energy, and the accelerating expansion of the universe. These three baffling mysteries are signaling the need for a new revolution in cosmology. Only a century ago, the great debate was whether the sun was the center of the universe, and if the Milky Way was the entire universe. Edwin Hubble helped confirm, only in the 1920s, that our galaxy is one of many, and that the universe is expanding. This article traces the histo... more info>> (Published: 2009)
Dead Move is a scholarly analysis of a famous San Diego/Coronado cold case that baffled investigators for over a century. John T. Cullen's book offers the first complete, plausible explanation of this complex and enigmatic case. In addition to this painstaking, detailed study with over 100 footnotes, you can now read a gripping historical fiction/noir thriller (Lethal Journey) about the same story. Lethal Journey delivers the most exciting and compelling aspects of both this analysis and of the ... more info>> (Published: 2007)
Classic dark SF in the tradition of dim, monstrous shapes that slither through the night. Delightfully chilling, and hugely creepy science fiction in the tradition of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "They Walked Like Men" and "The Thing." It's a summer movie in book form--especially great to take to San Diego and read on vacation. Carefully researched for plausibility, so that the horror is science fictional, this novel explores the terrors of the Fifth Kingdom. The buildup of terrifying su... more info>> (Published: 2007)
Words: 95216 - Reading Time: 272-380 min. Category: Science Fiction
Seth Lambert is a slightly soiled but ever powerful and dashing operative for Continental Mogul Insurance. An aging 40ish surfer in Southern California, he has cornered a niche in occasional huge death insurance investigations that keep him in drinking money. This time, it's different. Is the victim dead or vanished? And then there is Sandy, the attractive cop who goofed a little bit but wants to make up for lost time. (Published: 2003)
This isn't just a recipe. It's therapy. Fresh crusty pizza in less than an hour, with your bare hands, from scratch. Amaze and impress your friends. Discover the joys of mastering great cooking skills today. (Published: 2003)
Words: 4000 - Reading Time: 11-16 min. Category: Self Improvement
Ray and Louise (Lolo) are two victims of separate, random murders. They meet in Dark San Diego, the parallel world between the living and the dead. It is a spirit world, unseen by the living, but it is every bit as real. In the spirit world are ghosts, vampires, ghouls, seraphs, angels, centaurs--all manner of beings from classical and green mythologies. A few living persons can speak with the dead--shamans like Johannes Rector of the News Compass bureau, which specializes in solving paranormal ... more info>> (Published: 2009)
From ancient Roman religion, and from studies of Ice Age and Neolithic people, we learn that the great religions of history (and pre-history) have more in common than we thought. In many Christian churches, for example, the motifs of bread and wine along the communion rail directly relate to the Neolithic miracles of grain and fermentation. The earliest kings were scapegoats, ritually killed to atone for their people's sins. Ice Age caverns of more than 20,000 years ago were animist cathedrals i... more info>> (Published: 2009)
Welcome to Alders, a very old town in New England where Halloween is a very special night. It's a little town with big secrets and dark stories. The story of the hair ribbon is such a story. Whether you journey through town on the Low Road along the Beelzebub River, or the High Road across Devil's Hill, you are strongly advised not to walk under a ladder or cross paths with a black cat. If you are wandering along the river some dark autumn night, don't be surprised if you hear the distant scream... more info>> (Published: 2005)
In the far distant future, when man's ancestral home is no more than a haunting myth, a shattered man labors in the guts of galactic bridgeways--and comes upon a wondrous instrument from ancient Earth that exposes him to irredeemable evil but also shining hope. (Published: 2003)
Words: 5000 - Reading Time: 14-20 min. Category: Science Fiction
When a man loves an airplane, it's a matter of calculations. When a man loves a woman, everything is up in the air. "Have Blue" was the most top-secret U.S. military project since the atomic bomb project, and in 1973 the fate of the world hung on what would eventually become known as the F117-A stealth fighter. This is a historical techno-thriller with a strong romantic story line, loosely based on the first days of that project. The hero, a young engineer with a fascination for aerodynamic nose... more info>> (Published: 2002)
One of the most valuable historical records left to modern topologists of Rome are the so-called Regionary Catalogs. What we have are barbarized copies of a mysterious ancient document called the Notitiae (also, in slightly different versions, the Curiosum). These documents are loaded with vital statistics and lists of important monuments regarding the Imperial capital in the late empire period. While they are a fountain of information about lost monuments, and streets that people once walked an... more info>> (Published: 2005)
Words: 12396 - Reading Time: 35-49 min. Category: History
Tom Brock is wealthy and successful, but he has a huge hollow space inside, dating to childhood violence and terror. Psychologist Sherri Rossi has feelings for Tom, even at their first meeting during a sad accident. He becomes not only a love object but a project and a challenge to her. As she interviews people who have figured in Tom's life, the nature of his shattering background starts to become clear. But the ultimate secret, and its grim resolution, remain locked in Tom's head. (Published: 1997)
In the far future galaxy where humans are a hunted and oppressed race, Jory O'Call is a poet and house slave in the great hall of an alien lord. When he falls in love with the lord's beautiful daughter, it's a death sentence for all involved. Barely escaping, Jory finds terror, chaos, and bloodshed along the fabled glowing road of Shur ... a universe of danger, adventure, and unending surprises. (Published: 2002)
Words: 28500 - Reading Time: 81-114 min. Category: Science Fiction
The tragic enigma of the Beautiful Stranger instantly became a national crime-mystery sensation in 1892. It also became the subject of a famous ghost legend at the fabulous Hotel del Coronado, persisting to this very day. Solved at last, the enigma proves that truth is far stranger than fiction. It is not only a story of passion and violence, conspiracy and betrayal. It is an epic tragedy that transcends times and cultures, and strikes as hard today as it might have in the 19th Century, had anyo... more info>> (Published: 2009)
On Holy Mother Mars, the [terraformed] climate is failing and mankind seems doomed. The young monk Brother Farr is startled by a sneak visit into Graniston Domes by wild-eyed exile Shan the Heretic, who tells of the looming assassination of the Popess. Moments later, Shan is killed by temple police, and his secrets die with him. An assassination of such magnitude will throw the entire planet into turmoil unless the renegade Duke Balesso can be stopped. [NOTE: contact with Earth was lost ages ago... more info>> (Published: 2005)
Words: 67281 - Reading Time: 192-269 min. Category: Science Fiction
Science fiction and dark fantasy combine in an ominous, glistening dystopian tale about the perpetual war between two futuristic nations: West Gotha and East Gotha. Tedda, a West Gotha citizen, has committed a terrible crime that she cannot even remember--because her memories of the crime and of the love affair that led to it have been selectively wiped clean. Did she have an affair with the handsome East Gotha spy, Captain Alton Hedrock? She may have been a great mathematician for the fatherlan... more info>> (Published: 2005)
Words: 68418 - Reading Time: 195-273 min. Category: Science Fiction
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