MICHAEL CRICHTON (Cry-ton), one of the Fathers of Modern Techno-Thrillers, MAY HE RIP

I am often asked who my favourite author is and my knee-jerk reaction is Stephen King. I grew up in the era of Carrie, Cujo, It and many other King books often read late at night, scared out of my mind. However, in the 1990’s when our son Justin grew up in our home we discovered Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park. We watched this video (yes at the time it was a video) so many times when he was young, we imitated several of the actors and their famous lines such as, “Shoot her, shoot her, shoot her!” I was then reminded of reading The Andromeda Strain by Crichton. It was one scary book about extraterrestrial microorganisms that clotted blood and humans died within two minutes. Little known fact, this was Michael’s worst fear – massive epidemics. If you are not familiar with Michael Crichton’s career he was a medical doctor – in fact a graduate of Harvard – who chose not to proceed with a medical license in order to continue his career as a writer. His book Prey about nanotechnology and novel Sphere which begins as a scientific movie that parlays into a psychological thriller examining alien spacecraft discovered on earth and believed to be over 300 years old will keep you up at night if you consider the underlying themes and messages contained within the written words. The techno-thriller of writers dealing with medical science, science fiction and concentrating on conflict between humans and machines or biotechnology kept the writing world full of possible alternate realities. Michael experimented with astral travel, aura viewing and clairvoyance and came to believe they included real phenomena that scientists too easily dismissed as paranormal. If your curiousity is peaked, a must read is Crichton’s memoir Travels. Michael you were ahead of your time! RIP Mr. Michael Crichton. You are missed but know your influence still continues.