Shadows of the Anunnaki, inspired by the writings of Zechariah Sitchin, concerns the ancient astronauts, the Anunnaki or gods of old, from the planet Nibiru. The novel brings to light another group of beings the gods brought with them. To Earthlings the Alad Udug Lama were shadowy beings who accompanied the Anunnaki and dispensed good fortune. But who were they really? Why were they created? And what was their secret mission here on Earth? In this first book of the Shadows trilogy, these beings step out of the mists of time into a historical fantasy filled with political intrigue, adventure and romance.

My father and I are frustrated archaeologists at heart. When I was a teenager, he and I would get archaeology magazines and pour over the articles and pictures for hours. We could imagine ourselves there at those sites digging for the past in an effort to understand the present. However, I always felt archaeologists only had one side of the story. They had their expertise to draw upon but how do you truly understand the engineering of ancient structures if you aren't an engineer yourself? How can you understand rock weathering if you aren't a geologist? And how do you really determine the importance of the cosmos from the ancients' perspective, if you only have a minor grasp of the heavens above?

Enter Zechariah Sitchin's works. When I first read The Twelfth Planet, I was blown away. It's not just that he takes the same point of view that I do of history and myths...that if one reads them more like news reports and less like stories, one sees a different picture of the ancient world. Sitchin did what I always wished I could do. He went back to original texts and translated them himself not relying on the translations of others. He brought in experts from varying fields to examine ancient artifacts and locations and got a much broader outline of ancient civilizations than any archaeologist has done to date. The bibliography at the end of his books reads more like the works cited at the end of a scientific treatise. He thought like I do.

So when I saw the obscure translation of the Sumerian name - Alad Udug Lama, benevolent spirits who accompany the gods and dispense good fortune - I decided to take his tack on the matter. What did that translate to literally? Male protective spirits and female spirits of good fortune (udug being spirit). And I asked myself who could they really have been?

And from there I built their story. Using Sitchin's framework for the ancient "gods" or Anunnaki, I delved deep into their past and into the shadows to find these support beings. And wherever I turned my searchlight, new vistas opened to me that I had never dreamed of before, and new possibilities for the "gods" of old emerged.

Origins on Nibiru is the first book in a trilogy that documents the lives of these hidden beings. It is the book to give them life and color and place. In this and future books you'll discover how they came into being and for what purpose and how Anunnaki politics altered their purpose and their lives forever.