About Chris Hejmanowski

Q&A with Chris Hejmanowski

Q. What inspired Collider? Can you tell us what happened?

A. Several years ago, on one of our Navy moves, I drove from Norfolk, VA to Jacksonville, FL. I had a car full of garage supplies and a chocolate Labrador retriever, and was doing everything I could to stay awake on this eleven-hour trip. As my mind wandered, I came up with the basis of this story, which is a father who is willing to do anything for his little girl. From there, it was a matter of filling in the gaps, which I did with subject matter from a side interest of mine, physics.

Q. What is the theory behind these "wormholes?"

A. Wormholes, at this time, are theoretical, connecting a realistic black hole with its counterpart, a white hole. This Schwarzchild Wormhole, as the theory goes, would likely be infinitesimal, and very unstable. These fleeting entities would allow very little to pass. Some physicists think we may be able to transmit data through an Einstein-Rosen Bridge, but it is highly unlikely that anything of substance (such as a person or a spaceship) could traverse such a structure, if they exist at all.

Q. What is dark matter?

A. No one really knows. As the name implies, this "matter" seems to make up the majority of what our universe is made of, or at least held together by. Its effects can be seen and measured in the way our galaxies and their light behave, but as of yet we are unsure of what this substance really is. All we know is that without it, much of what we can see would likely fly apart and not exist as we've come to know it.

Q.Your novel talks about the real-life research facility CERN. Can you tell us anything else about the scientific discoveries or significance CERN has in explaining our existence?

A. One of their objectives is to identify the Higgs-Bosen particle. In physics, all forces have a particle, which carries, or manifests, them. The force of electromagnetism is manifested by photons, the nuclear force holding protons and neutrons together, is through gluons, and the gravitational force is via exchange of gravitons (theoretically). The Higgs-Boson particle, which has yet to be detected, is theorized to give these fundamental particles their mass, which allows for all the forces we can detect. The CERN collider is aiding in the search for evidence of this particle in the experiments conducted there.

Q. What is the difference between white holes and black holes?

A. Black holes are present at the center of most, if not all, galaxies. They are the matter-gobbling monsters we hear about on the Discovery or Science channels. Their gravitational pull is immense, and nothing (save Hawking Radiation) can escape once it's crossed the event horizon. White holes, on the other hand, are thought to be more of a source of creation, spewing matter outward …sort of the antithesis of a black hole. In a Schwarzchild Wormhole there is theorized to be brief and wispy connections between the two, from one universe into another, with one black hole serving as the source of the others white ...and vice versa. The Big Bang could be considered a variety of this, though no one has yet witnessed or detected a white hole, they are theoretically, or mathematically, possible.

Q. What's in store for your reader next?

A. I like to let ideas percolate a bit in my head before I start writing. I find that if I start too soon, I often write myself into a dead end, coming to a concluding chapter too soon and having to start over. With that said, I am currently writing another novel about a small band of diversely trained Special Forces soldiers in the Middle East. Their objectives are given to them one step at a time, without their true goal being revealed until it's too late to avoid it. Their direction, as they know it, comes from the President of the United States himself, but there is a shadow figure of higher authority manipulating his strings. It sets the wars in the Middle East on a much larger historical stage; fulfilling prophecies many religions felt were already understood.