Another writer who has come to mind quite a lot recently as I contemplate these ideas I’ve been having about a possible novel, and all the connections I am making between the different books I’ve been reading, is Zecharia Sitchin.
I read most, if not all, of his “Earth Chronicles” books in the last couple of years.
In his life-long research into humanity’s very beginnings, Sitchin was never professionally accepted or his theories given much credit. As it says on Wikipedia‘s article about him: “Sitchin’s ideas have been rejected by scientists and academics, who dismiss his work as pseudoscience and pseudohistory. His work has been criticized for flawed methodology and mistranslations of ancient texts as well as for incorrect astronomical and scientific claims.”
Personally, I think his theories (at least initially) threatened our common, basic beliefs too significantly, particularly in regards to religion and our perceived origins. It was too big a leap. But I accept and will warrant that he may not have been 100% right; after all, he could not have figured out everything – and he was also very subject to his own beliefs, but I also think his theories regarding the origin of our belief in gods and religions are very compelling. However, it did disappoint me to find that when it came down to it, he could not suspend his belief in a “real” God, even though he was unable to satisfactorily show anything that supported that belief in the context of his other “evidence.” He could not give up his ultimate belief in a Higher Being, God to not only humans, but also to these supposed aliens that early humans thought of as gods, and for me, that detracted from his overall assertions. And at this point his viewpoints sadly went from credible evidence to pure faith and fabrication.
But I also believe he had something there of truth. There seems plenty of potential evidence to support an “ancient alien” theory; not all of it makes sense, but a lot of it actually does, in my opinion. Especially when looking at the Old Testament writings alongside the ancient Sumerian and other ancient writings and a lot of things seem very plausible to me.
But I think perhaps humanity is simply not ready to give up its gods and associated theories of its beginnings (although I could be wrong). Nor has science found any evidence of a rogue planet entering our solar system every 3500 or so years. But if this theory were true, how would we really know – if the last time this rogue planet was around was two or three thousand years ago? We wouldn’t necessarily know. We have limited knowledge really about our earliest history or origins; there is no concrete evidence that explains everything. While Sitchin’s theories cannot be proved, much of it cannot be totally disproved either, at least as far as I know. And it does create some intriguing possibilities for a work of fiction if nothing else.