Gabriel Farago’s latest Jack Rogan thriller is a medical adventure that deals with the dark matter of the human genome and a visionary scientist with the power to change the future of medicine. Sounds like Sci Fi you think?  Well it's not. It's had approval from top cancer researchers.

Jenny: Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Gabriel  tells us about the virtual reality game that’s helping make dark science real to ordinary people  - and why he thanks Dan Brown for his writing career.

Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode

Where you can take Professor K's  virtual reality tour

Why world class cancer researchers praise Professor K

How Dan Brown helped Gabriel's career

Where he'd take fans for a mystery literary tour

The four contemporary writers he most admires

And the mind attitude that's the secret to his success

Where to find Gabriel Farago:

Website: https://gabrielfarago.com.au

Facebook and Twitter https://twitter.com/gabriel_farago

https://www.facebook.com/gabrielfaragoauthor/

What follows is a "near as" but not word for word transcript of our chat with links to important mentions.

Jenny: And now, here's Gabriel.  Hello there Gabriel, and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.

Gabriel:  It's an absolute pleasure to be here and thank you for asking me.

Jenny: It's lovely to think of you sitting in the Blue Mountains in Sydney right now, is the weather good?

Gabriel: We had a little bit of fog this morning but yes it's good.  I'm sitting right on the side of the Blue Mountains, on the edge of a World Heritage National Park, and I write in my attic here so it's an absolutely wonderful setting for a writer.

Author Gabriel Farago in Budapest

Jenny: Beginning at the beginning . . . .Was there a “Once Upon A Time” moment when you realised you had to write fiction or your life would be the lesser for it?  If so what was the catalyst?

Gabriel: Looking back on my life that's a difficult one to answer  I don't believe it has been one particular moment  It's been more of a journey than a moment.  I have had a very long legal career. I've been a barrister for many years, running court cases and I have met some very interesting people who were inspiration for taking up writing. However my interest goes back much further than that. I have a literature degree and I have been interested in books going right back to when I was a boy in Austria.

Jenny: I see.  You’ve now published three historical mysteries in the Jack Rogan series, but did you start with Jack?

Gabriel:  Yes, I started with Jack. My first book, The Empress Holds the Key, was a very ambitious project and was ignited by my interest in ancient Egyptology and the church and the scriptures and how all of those mesh together in the past. So that book took me ten years to complete. I was still practising law at the time, so it's been a gradual process.

The Empress Holds The Key - Gabriel Farago

Jenny: Your most recent book, The Hidden Genes of Professor K, introduces us to a visionary scientist with the power to change the future of medicine.  One of your colleagues at the Garvan Institute has described it as a journey into the "dark matter of the human genome" - and I'm very interested in your connection with that institute - it's an internationally recognised cancer research facility in Sydney and several of the scientists there have contributed to a foreword for the book.

Gabriel:   Yes they have and I think it's appropriate that I tell you a little of how that came about. A writer should only write about things he knows about and is interested in and medical research has been an area...