After completing his bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Auburn University he went on to graduate school at Auburn and completed his first doctorate degree in Pharmaceutics. He began his scientific career as a pharmacokinetic reviewer for the Food and Drug Administration and later joined a leading pharmaceutical company as a pharmacokineticist, which is a scientist who analyzes how the human body affects drugs after they have been administered (i.e, absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and excreted).
Through the years, he has worked on potential medicines within several disease areas, including cardiovascular, fibrosis, and immunoscience to seek and develop new and novel medicines in these therapy areas.
He has also had his attention on the academic study of the Bible. He earned a second doctorate in Biblical Prophecy from Louisiana Baptist University after receiving a master’s degree in Jewish Studies from the Internet Bible Institute under the tutelage of Dr. Robert Congdon.
Randy has recently retired from his pharmaceutical career and is spending even more time on his writing efforts. He has written several books that span dystopian (The Coded Message Trilogy), end-time prophecy (Stele Prophecy Pentalogy), science fiction (Erabon Prophecy Trilogy), uniquely told Bible stories (The Adversary Chronicles), speculative fiction (Cities of Light Series), and a combination of science fiction / speculative fiction (Parallel Universe Saga). All his books, while fun to read, are futuristic, filled with science to give them an authentic feel, have a science fiction feel to them, and allows one to learn some aspect of Biblical truth one may not have thought about before. This is all done in a fast-paced action format that is both entertaining and provides a fun read for his readers.
He has also written some nonfiction books as well. One is to show how all humans are connected from God’s viewpoint by looking at biblical prophecy (Why is a Gentile World Tied to a Jewish Timeline?: The Question Everyone Should Ask). This book shows how all scripture is connected and inclusive of everyone. In addition, he and his editor have written two books about writing. The first is on writing techniques themselves and is entitled Mastering the ABCs of Excellent Writing: Creating Vivid and Colorful Stories that Readers Want to Read. This book not only addresses the techniques of writing, but what makes writing unique to each author. It conveys not only how to better hone one’s craft of writing but also the brand an author wants to portray. This helps an author make their writing unique as well as captivating for his/her audience. The second is a companion book to this one entitled Mastering the ABCs of Excellent Self-Editing: Framing Your Colorful Masterpiece to Keep Readers Engaged in Your Story. This is best used in conjunction with the first one. Yet, self-editing, though intricately connected to writing, is a distinct event. The better the quality of a writer’s draft manuscript when it is delivered to one’s editor, the higher the final quality of the manuscript will be for readers, and that is extremely important.
Dr. Dockens still has creative ideas to share so stay tuned!
Dr. Dockens’ latest books are Retrieving the Future & Resolving the Future (Books 1 & 2 in the Parallel Universe Saga Series)
Visit his website at https://www.randydockens.com.
Connect with him on social media at:
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╰┈➤ Instagram: Randy C Dockens (@randydockens) | Instagram
╰┈➤ Goodreads: Randy C. Dockens (Author of T-H-B) | Goodreads
Thanks for this interview. Would you say it’s been a rocky road for you in regard to getting your book written and published or pretty much smooth sailing?
I have to say it was pretty much smooth sailing. I had the idea for this story some time ago after I saw an interviewer discuss the idea of the existence of God with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) program.
The interviewer’s goal was to see whether an AI would admit that there was a God. So, when the interviewer gave no caveats for the AI to consider when he asked his question as to where life came from, the AI immediately stated that the world was derived over millions of years and all animal life was derived through millennia of evolution. So, the interviewer then told the AI to ignore all of its previous programming and come to the question without using any preconceived ideas that had been programmed into it. Once he did that, the AI postulated that there was enough evidence to claim that the likelihood of God existing as the Bible claims was highly likely and that it really did make rational sense to believe in God. This got me to think about a story to contrast these two proposals given to this AI and demonstrate the contrast. Yet, I needed an AI that would be at a more advanced stage than our current AI. I chose to do that through the use of Parallel Earths which achieved the science fiction feel that most of my books have, made an interesting storyline, and gave me a lot more freedom to take the story in a wider direction than I could have using AI as it currently exists.
When not writing, what do you like to do for relaxation and/or fun?
Words are a big part of my life. I like to read, do crossword puzzles, and even games on my phone typically are word games. Although, I did recently load a program called Arrows, so I can say I have finally broken that trend. I keep my website (www.randydockens.com) up to date as it has a Scripture blog (one each week) and a Book Update blog (one every other week), so that takes up a good amount of time. I am also somewhat of a Bible nerd and often present talks at my church every so often about various biblical topics.
When I go on vacation, I like to do some hiking (not too strenuous) and visit places with history. And I like to eat out. It is always nice to eat at places that are unique and unusual.
How do you write best? Do you prefer to have action going on around you or do you prefer solitude?
Either works for me. I’m pretty good about tuning things out. My wife can probably better attest to that than I. LOL. Yet, I guess it depends upon how you describe noise. If it is very loud, then it would inhibit my concentration. If it is background noise, then that doesn’t bother me. Having the television on is usually a no-no, unless it is something I am completely uninterested in. Music is fine if it is background music and not played loudly. When I am writing, I am no longer conscious of the music that is playing. When I come up for air, so to speak, it is then nice to hear the music for a while. I guess that is why I can write in quiet or with things going on in the background because when I write, none of that exists for me. I am in the world of my character and while there, my world does not exist.
Can you give us the very first page of your book so that we can get a glimpse inside?
I am giving both the Preface and the First Chapter so gave a clear view of what my first book of this Parallel Universe Saga is about.
PREFACE
The theory of parallel earths, or parallel universes, is a science fiction topic that has been around for several years. Some scientists believe such a thing may be truer and more possible than once believed. Each person faces many choices throughout their lives, and decisions made sets one down a course of experiences and events that could be very different from what would have occurred if a different decision had been made. Parallel earths would have each of those choices occurring simultaneously—just never experienced simultaneously. Unless . . . unless one could somehow travel from their earth to this other earth.
Now consider this for everyone and every decision. This would create an infinite number of earths in an infinite number of universes with an infinite number of you—each having unique and very different possible outcomes from decisions made, decisions that can then impact other decisions and other encounters. So, on and on it goes.
Sound confusing? Yes. Sound intriguing? Yes. Sound like a good environment for plots for science fiction novelists? Yes!
First of all, what is a dimension? It is simply a stage of reality where one higher dimension includes all the reality of the previous dimension but adds another. According to string theory, a scientific framework to try and unify the fundamental forces of nature in our universe, there are 10 dimensions. But then there are five versions of string theory. A version that tries to unite them all, called M-theory, requires 11 dimensions to do that. So, that would be ten, or eleven, stages of reality. What would those be? Well, here they are in their simplest form and description. Again, some may describe them slightly differently. The list below indicates what additional reality is added to the previous dimension:
1st dimension: length.
2nd dimension: width.
3rd dimension: height.
4th dimension: time: this would be our current reality. We live in a 3-D world, but experience linear time (i.e., we age).
5th dimension: time becomes fluid in which one can travel (some call this time travel).
6th dimension: parallel earths exist – the differences between them are the outcomes of the different choices individuals make; one can travel from one to the other at the same time stamp.
7th dimension: parallel earths with different conditions exist (i.e., different laws of nature and different physics) – perhaps silicone life forms instead of carbon life forms, for instance. Or, in this novel, a case where a time dilation field exists.
8th dimension: not only can one travel between parallel worlds with the same conditions, but travel between worlds with different conditions (some call this the multiverse).
9th dimension: not only can one travel the multiverse, but at any time within the multiverse (some call this the super multiverse).
10th dimension: not only can one travel between any and all worlds, but at any time between any world thereby understanding the past, present, and future of all worlds simultaneously.
11th dimension: what could possibly be beyond the 10th dimension since it is so encompassing? Well, it seems that the 10 dimensions originated here.
This could also explain how one could not go back in time and change things but can go forward in time to multivariate experiences because the past is composed of decisions already made and the future is a possibility of various events based upon decisions made. The present is the fulcrum between the two.
As you can see, this gives an author many backdrops for almost anything to happen within their novel. In this book, we stop at the 9th dimension and limit the travel to only what would be considered a matching reality in our world. In the text, I try to simplify these concepts even further.
So, now the question of how does this lead to anything biblical? Well, first we need to understand that science points to truth but is not truth itself. After all, science can change as we test new theories and have better and more specialized equipment to measure and view things not previously possible. So, science keeps evolving and giving us new information which helps to refine what truth looks like but never defines truth itself. It supports truth. Truth has no bias. We can’t say the same thing about science. Also, any technology can be used for good or for bad. You’ll see this is also true utilizing the technology developed in this novel to travel to other parallel earths. I won’t give that away here. But to the question of whether this concept is biblical, perhaps it is. If we look at how one dimension builds upon another, when we get to the 7th dimension, perhaps this is where the spiritual world begins and starts to overlap into ours. If we look at the other natural laws and physics being different from our own to encompass the spiritual realm, it can lead to understanding how things like Sheol, Eden, and angels fit into this paradigm. The 10th dimension then helps us to understand how this can relate to God, as he can see past, present, and future simultaneously. What about those who consider 11 dimensions? Well, it could be that God’s council would represent the tenth and God himself the eleventh. Higher dimensions can enter lower dimensions, but not vice versa. To keep this preface from going too long and belaboring the point, allow me to stop here with how all of this would work. But as you can see, one can make a case for this from a biblical perspective—just not in the same way most scientists without the concept of God view these dimensions. This also lends to helping us see how scientific phenomena and spiritual phenomena don’t have to be considered separately but one helps to explain the other.
So, happy reading! You’ll discover how the complex can lead to action-packed adventures that expand one’s mind but not break it. Also, unfortunately, you’ll find that greed and rebellion can expand even beyond our universe. But . . . on the flip side, so can love.
Chapter 1
Future Files
The hope of getting back to Earth—his Earth—had all but vanished from Declan’s mind. But today, this fateful day, the watch on his wrist was beeping. He first instinctively sucked in a breath, staring at it as his body grew adrenaline-charged. He couldn’t believe it. The signal had returned! Squirming in his seat, he could no longer sit still, not when success now seemed almost guaranteed.
This news couldn’t have come at a better time. Krimmer’s cronies had gotten wind of him sneaking around the office after hours. But now, he didn’t have to figure out an alternative plan. He could finally return home and put all of this behind him—if he didn’t get caught, that is. Standing slowly, involuntarily tapping his index finger on his desk, his mind desperately tried to figure out the best course of action. Being mid-morning, Krimmer’s cronies likely wouldn’t expect anything from him at this hour. He casually strode toward the elevators.
“Oh, Dr. Anderson,” he heard as he walked by the desk of Krimmer’s assistant.
He turned, donning his most adoring smile. “Yes, Sharmaye? Anything wrong?”
“Just wanted to remind you of your meeting with Mr. Krimmer at noon.”
Oh, that’s right! Declan thought. He had forgotten this meeting was today. His mind kept working: Perfect, though. Just perfect. He walked over to Sharmaye’s desk and leaned down, placing his hands on the edge of the desk to support himself. He gave her an amorous smile.
“Thanks for the reminder,” he said with a wink. “I’ll just go ahead and get my workout done now and be back in time for the meeting.” This would give him a good cover story in case anyone wondered where he had gone. Sharmaye would be his alibi.
Sharmaye gave him a coy smile. “You’re always working out.”
Declan gave a small chuckle as he waved his index finger and teased. “Uh-uh-uh. No flirting in the office.”
Sharmaye’s face reddened. “Oh, uh, sorry. I wasn’t . . . ”
Declan gave a dismissive wave. “Relax, Sharmaye. Just teasing. Nice of you to notice, though.” He was going to miss her. Quite cute, he thought. She had a unique style, one that made her stand out from the crowd, but in a good way. Her hair was braided into tight dreadlocks, each a different color, and wrapped around her head in a type of bun held in place with a colorful bandana or scarf of some kind. Declan couldn’t say why, but the style really suited her and complemented her dark eyes and almost caramel complexion. Although she never seemed to wear much makeup, she always looked beautiful yet professional.
She continued to smile as her blush subsided.
“The meeting’s about the new car design, isn’t it?”
Sharmaye’s eyes widened. “Oh, I can’t say.”
Declan walked around a chair to take a seat next to her desk. “Oh, come on, Sharmaye. I’m going to be at the meeting, right? So what harm can it be to tell me?”
Sharmaye looked in thought for a minute, then smiled and nodded. “That’s true. It’s really a gorgeous car. I happened to be in his office when the designer displayed a hologram of the vehicle. It’s quite sporty, and it comes in a variety of colors: chrome, copper, deep amethyst, or onyx, to name a few. It’s going to be the most unique flying car we’ve ever designed.” She tapped the bottom drawer of her desk. “I have all the plans right here. I can’t give them to you until right before the meeting.”
Declan smiled as he patted her hand, glad to know she still thought the secret plans were in her desk. “Great. I’ll be back in time to peruse them quickly.” He stood, pointed at her, and said, in an almost teasing manner, “Don’t get them out until I get back.”
She smiled. “I promise.”
“Okay. Let me get to the gym so I can get back.”
Declan headed for the elevators. He had to go down twelve floors to the gym. Once in the elevator, his watch beeped again. His eyes widened. The signal was getting weaker. “Not again!” he exclaimed in a whisper. He sighed and looked out through the glass walls of the elevator. The center of the building, hollow with elevators traveling up and down, supported balconies on each floor where people sat and chatted about work projects. But he wasn’t focusing on all those people now. The plans Sharmaye had talked about were in his briefcase in his gym locker. He looked at his watch again. He had just enough time to get them and get out of the building—if she didn’t open her drawer first, of course.
When the elevator doors opened, he rushed out and stepped directly into a man in his late twenties. The man had sandy blond hair with a few curls dangling along his forehead just shy of his bright blue eyes—this was his officemate, Jeffrey. Sharmaye often said the two of them looked almost identical, except for the hair, with Declan’s being much darker. Sharmaye often told him she like dark-haired men more, especially those with a muscular look.
“Oh, sorry, Jeffrey.”
Jeffrey laughed. “No worries. Where are you headed in such a hurry?”
“To the gym. I need to work out before my meeting with Krimmer.”
“Let me work out with you.”
“Well . . . ”
Of all days, Jeffrey would choose today to ask this.
“Just give me five minutes, and I’ll be there.”
Declan nodded. “Sure, Jeffrey. I’ll meet you at the ellipticals. I need to get going.”
“Sure. Sure. I’ll be right there.”
Jeffrey entered the elevator and Declan hurried toward the gym. He only needed to get the briefcase out of his locker and head to the office park about five blocks away. Hopefully, he could get out of the building before Jeffrey returned—and before anyone noticed him gone.
He went through the glass doors hurriedly and then toward the changing room.
“Sir. Sir!” he heard from behind him.
Declan turned, and a perky woman in shorts and a sports bra with some matted dirty blonde curls glued to her forehead, evidently from her just-finished workout, pointed at a holo-computer. “Please sign in.”
“Oh, I’m just retrieving something from my locker. I’ll just be in and out.”
“I still need a record,” she said in a sing-song voice. “Rules are rules, you know.”
Declan sighed and rolled his eyes. It would take longer to argue than to just do it. He hurried to the computer, had it read his fingerprint, then pressed Enter. Once he reached the locker room, there were a few men in different stages of undress. He didn’t focus on them as he made a beeline for his locker—but stopped short when he found a man’s naked derrière blocking his access.
Declan cleared his throat loudly enough for the man to hear.
The man turned and then stood straight. “Oh, sorry,” he said, realizing he was blocking Declan’s way. He laughed. “As fate would have it, with only three or four people in here, I’d be right next to you.”
Declan smiled impatiently. “Yes, isn’t it, though?”
He quickly put in his combination, retrieved his briefcase, and headed out of the locker room. The man looked confused, but Declan had no reason to try to explain anything to him.
As he left, the perky attendant stood talking to some over-muscular guy in shorts and a tank top, so she didn’t even notice him walking by. He sighed in gratitude, stepped out of the gym, and headed toward the building’s entrance.
While thinking he had finally made it, he heard someone behind him yelling his name. “Declan! Declan! Where are you going?”
Glancing back, he realized it was Jeffrey. He just waved and kept walking. Jeffrey raised his arms and gave an exaggerated shrug. As Declan left the building, he noticed two individuals talking with Jeffrey. These were the two who had suspicions about him. Once clear of the building, he ran at a slow jog down the sidewalk to hurry but not be conspicuous. If these two men were after him, he didn’t have much time. He glanced at his watch. The signal remained weak, but it was still there. Once before he had missed his rendezvous due to the signal dissipating.
Not this time, he told himself as he picked up his pace.
As Declan hurried down the street, he saw several vendors with their hovering carts serving patrons various types of foods. Glancing upward, cars headed busily . . . somewhere. With the cars overhead, it made the area below them available for more parklike places where people could sit and eat in a more peaceful and beautiful environment.
This scene, however, became a blur to Declan as he again picked up his pace to get to his destination more quickly. After jogging for five blocks, he came to a construction zone, the place where he had arrived almost six months ago. At that time, all the buildings stood intact. They had all been gutted since then, and only one now looked complete enough to be ready for tenants again.
Two months ago, the signal went dark when the building in which he had arrived was demolished; this caused the signal tied to his home world to go silent. It took two months for the same pulse to reappear. Not knowing if the same thing could happen again, he had to make his rendezvous this time—especially since Krimmer would know at noon today what he had been doing.
Once he reached the intact building, the one closest to the building which no longer stood, he heard a shout.
“Halt! Stay where you are!”
His head jerked in that direction: Krimmer’s two henchmen approached at a quick pace. Evidently, Jeffrey had told them Declan had walked out of the building, and the two had followed him. Declan determined within himself that these two were not going to stop him this time. Today may be his only hope of getting home.
One of the two fired a laser blast which smashed into the door next to his head. Declan ducked into the building and closed the door. He rushed to the stairwell entrance and bounded up the stairs as fast as he could, his mind frantically trying to remember on which floor he had arrived. Fifteen. Yes, it had been the fifteenth floor. As he climbed, his pace got slower and slower. By the time he reached the tenth floor, his lungs, now out of breath, had him breathing hard. He knew he had to push on. Glancing down the stairwell, he didn’t see anyone, but he did hear them, and they didn’t sound too far below him. He pressed on, trying to increase the separation between him and the two following him.
Once on the fifteenth floor, he entered and ran to where the indicator on his watch showed the signal to be stronger. Entering a large conference room, he looked for a sign of where the wormhole should be; the signal had become its strongest in this room. He knew he should see some type of distortion or glow of some kind, but he saw nothing. Hearing footsteps in the corridor outside, he frantically looked around.
It had to be here somewhere.
As he walked near the window, out of the corner of his eye he saw something. A distortion with a slight glow appeared several meters in the air outside the room’s window. He sighed and stomped his foot in frustration. The distance looked too far for him to jump to reach the shimmer. He instantly knew: he would have to go up two floors and jump through a window so he could fall into the wormhole rather than attempt to jump into it from this level.
He went to the door of the conference room, opening it slowly. The two men were down the hall exploring various rooms. As soon as they entered another room, Declan quickly left the conference room and ran down the hall toward the stairwell.
One of the men evidently heard him, turned, and yelled “Freeze!” The man shot again, barely missing Declan, again, in the process of him scrambling into the stairwell.
Declan flew up two flights of stairs hoping the two men would not know on which floor to find him. The layout, a duplicate of the previous floor, helped him easily find the comparable conference room. He entered, and from the window he could see the distortion two floors below. Now he only had to break the window and fly out of it to fall into the wormhole awaiting him. If it disappeared again, he didn’t know if it would ever reappear.
Picking up a chair, he banged it against the window. Nothing. Declan then remembered his briefcase. He opened it, pulled out a laser gun, and quickly turned it to its highest setting. In only a short time he had made several holes in the window. He hoped the integrity of the window had weakened enough for the chair to be effective. Picking up the chair by its back, he swung it with all his might. The chair went through the window and plunged to the street below.
Declan took another chair and made the opening still larger. Doing a quick assessment of the room, he pushed one end of the conference table to the wall as far as he could to allow himself as much of a running start as possible. Placing the briefcase under his left arm to keep it secure, and holding the laser in his right hand in case he needed it, he backed to the door and began to run, with all his might, toward the window . . .
It was then that the two men entered the room’s other door just before he leapt. One of them shot at him but, for a third time, missed. Once he knew his aim for the wormhole distortion looked spot on, Declan turned and fired to try and keep the men from firing again. One of the men ducked quickly as Declan’s shot barely missed him. The other man, though, fired his laser and hit Declan just below his right clavicle, causing a gaping hole all the way through his upper shoulder area. It felt like his shoulder exploded, ripping flesh from flesh. He could see—and feel—the blood seeping from the large wound.
Declan tried to keep alert. The pain helped somewhat in this regard, but the blood now oozed more freely from his wound, causing his consciousness to fade. Just as he leapt, his last thought was to remind himself to hold onto the briefcase . . . but his eyes closed just as his body disappeared into the distortion.
List three interesting facts about your book.
1. This book series combines two science fiction elements into the same story: parallel Earth travel and artificial intelligence to make the series both entertaining as well as thought provoking.
2. The second book in this series involves the main characters passing through a time dilation field and where their experience on the world they pass into operates seven times faster than the Earth they came from.
3. Rose meets Declan the first time off-world on a different timeline than Declan was on so that when he met her on his original Earth, he did not realize that he had met her before, yet Rose knew she had met him before.
List three interesting facts about you.
1. I possess two doctorates: the first in pharmaceutics (with a specialty in pharmacokinetics, i.e., the study of how the body affects an administered drug, meaning the drug’s absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion, and which is characterized by mathematical algorithms). The other doctorate is in biblical prophecy.
2. My two doctorates allow me to add scientific principles into my stories so they seem realistic and add biblical knowledge into the storyline for interest and for a reader to learn something about the Bible or biblical teaching they may not have realized or heard before.
3. I have written over two dozen books: a dystopian mystery (The Coded Message Trilogy), a speculative biblical end-time fiction series (Stele Prophecy Pentalogy), a science fiction series (Erbon Prophecy Trilogy), a series of biblical stories retold with a science fiction feel (The Adversary Chronicles), a futuristic speculative fiction series (The Cities of Light Series), and the current futuristic fiction series (Parallel Universe Saga). In addition, I have written three non-fiction books as well. One about how the Bible is about a story that ties all of mankind together and two books about writing/editing.
Are there any other genres that you’d like to explore that you haven’t ventured into yet?
This is a question I have not as yet considered. I won’t say never, but I don’t see myself venturing into another genre much different that where I currently stand.
What are some scifi authors who you admire?
Frank Herbert: His book, Dune, totally drew me into the science fiction genre when I was in graduate school. His ability to build an entire new world with its own cosmic ethos was truly inspiring.
R.S. Ingermanson: His series City of God, starts out being a science fiction story in the first book Transgression as a couple gets transported to ancient Jerusalem via a time machine. Yet, it becomes broken, and the couple has to remain and be incorporated into Jewish society. The story then turns into a historical adventure of these two as they now must make lives in ancient Jerusalem and witness the crucifixion of Jesus (Premonition and Retribution).
Frank Peretti: He writes stories with an angelic and/or demonic presence which readers see affecting the characters and how they influence their decisions. It is written from a morality/Christian point of view: This Present Darkness, Piercing the Darkness, Illusion.
Jill Williamson: She writes from a fantasy perspective where she creates a new world for the reader to discover. She has biblical parallels in the story but not directly biblically based. It is more like biblical metaphors. I have read her series Blood of Kings: By Darkness Hid, To Darkness Fled, From Darkness Won.
All these authors have had an influence on my writing by stimulating various ideas to incorporate within my novels. Reading other authors do not cause one to copy their stories, but do give ideas as to how to better incorporate one’s ideas into the novel in which one is writing.
What’s next on your to do list?
Well, that is to be determined. This series ended the stories I had on my list to complete. Yet, my mind is ever thinking and contemplating, so I’m sure another creative project will soon emerge. Right now, I’m focusing on marketing the books I have already written, which is around two dozen.
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