In 1986, Douglas Preston, who had just turned 30, bid farewell to New York, where he had lived for eight years, packed all his belongings into his Subaru SUV, and drove across the United States to Santa, New Mexico. Fee devoted herself to writing.Before that, he had been working at the American Museum of Natural History, and he also wrote a book "Dinosaurs in the Attic", introducing those strange collections that were locked in the storage room most of the time. An omnivorous college student, Preston took extensive minors in mathematics, biology, physics, anthropology, chemistry and astronomy before deciding to specialize in English literature.He has been an editor and chief writer of the Natural History Museum all the way to coordinating publications. He has not only tempered his pen skills, but also gained insights, laying the most solid foundation for future creations.After moving, Preston began to conceive a murder mystery novel set in the Museum of Natural History while researching his new book "Searching for the City of Gold", and sent the writing proposal to the editor of "Dinosaurs in the Attic" Lincoln · Childe.

A year younger than Preston, Childe made his mark in New York publishing at an early age.Coincidentally, both of them graduated from the Department of Literature, and both went to little-known schools.Childe has a soft spot for horror novels, has edited several selected ghost stories, and is a self-taught programming master.By the time the proposal was received, he had left publishing to become a systems analyst for MetLife.He thinks that there are too many mystery novels on the market, and it is not easy to stand out. It is better to rewrite a high-tech thriller, and proposes that the two co-write it.

No one expected that this combination of "former museum curator + former publishing house editor" would become the golden partner of thriller novels that are most popular among readers in the contemporary era. Their first work "Predator Factor" is like meeting each other. With the American Museum of Natural History's exhibition halls spanning more than ten blocks and the gloomy underground storage room as the background, it tells the story of a failed South American jungle expedition and an imminent adventure. The world aboriginal culture theme exhibition was unveiled, a weird aboriginal god statue that is half human and half beast, and a murderous killer who is elusive.They have created many wonderful characters, such as the FBI agent Pendergast who has the style of modern Sherlock Holmes, the middle-aged police officer D'Agosta with personality, and Margot Green, a naive but brave and intelligent doctoral student in biology.

The characteristics of Preston and Child's works have already taken shape here: they can always construct unimaginable horror cases that seem to be intervened by supernatural forces, and then explain them with creative scientific theories, mixed with urban legends , Legend of the Lost Treasure and other elements of adventure novels.Preston's natural science background allows him to write about biotechnology, genetic engineering, or pathology with ease; Childe is good at creating a thrilling atmosphere, knowing when to add bloody scenes, and when to use atmosphere to scare readers to death.

The book became the most successful high-tech thriller of all time.Immediately after the paperback was released, it climbed up the major charts, sold copyrights in more than ten countries, and sold one million copies in the United States alone. In 1997, the film of the same name was released (Chinese translation is "The Third Type of Terminator"), and "Predator Factor" was sent to the top of the New York Times list. However, the publishing process of "Predator Factor" was very tortuous, and the success of the two did not happen overnight.The first thing to overcome was geography: Preston and Childe were thousands of miles apart, making it difficult to see each other, let alone create such an intimate, personal craft.They gradually worked out a unique way of cooperation: Childe, who was an editor, was responsible for the outline of the plot, and Preston wrote the first draft, which was then handed over to Childe for revision.Of course, there were countless discussions, disputes, and negotiations. In addition, the two had their own full-time jobs. It took four years to write the first draft alone, and they really never met. They used phone calls, emails, and faxes as communication channels. .

After the manuscript was completed, they ran into walls everywhere. Thanks to the unswerving confidence of the agent Harvey Ringer, they did not give up.Eighteen months later, Rob Gleeson, editor of the science fiction publisher Tor, signed the rights, and the pair spent more than a year revising it.From Preston's conception in 1987 to the official publication of "Predator Factor" in 1995, it has been a long eight years. Afterwards, Preston and Child continued their efforts and successively completed the sequel "The Hunter of Canal City" and the medical thriller "Dragon Mountain" with an independent plot. Then they left Klinger, the agent who discovered them first-hand, and switched to a larger brokerage under the company.

With the previous best-selling foundation, the new big-name agent easily found Warner Publishing Group and spent a lot of money to make them a super-best-selling brand.At the beginning of the cooperation between the two parties, Preston and Childe wrote three more action-adventure works: "Crushing Tide", "Thundercloud", and "Ice Rock". Although these works have strong marketing efforts from major publishing houses, their sales are hard to compare with the peak of "Predator Factor".The story is wonderful and wonderful, but there seems to be something missing.Preston and Childe thought for a long time, and realized that the reader's favorite is Detective Pendergast and the Museum of Natural History, so they decided to let this handsome detective come back to investigate the century-old murder hidden in the museum. This is 2002 The Curious Files.The story describes that a construction project dug up an ancient curiosity-seeking filing cabinet, and what was unearthed was a terrifying underground human laboratory, which contained thirty-six murdered and then cruelly dismembered corpses.Detective Pendergast approached Museum of Natural History archaeologist Norah Kelly, and the two delved into the museum's dusty archives, investigating a large cemetery beneath Chinatown and a spooky mansion on Riverside Drive.What they are looking for is the mysterious doctor in New York 130 years ago, a medical genius who was fascinated by living body experiments.At this time, the same brutal murder and dismemberment tragedy broke out in New York City. What is the connection between the series of deaths a century apart?

Compared with the urban background of "The Hunting Files", the "Still Painting of Crows" released the following year moved the story stage to an isolated Kansas town, where the local sheriff and Pendergast jointly investigated a series of horrific murder rituals.They went deep into the nearby underground caves, found a private brewery during the prohibition period, and pursued the real mystery behind the serial killings: Who was the murderer of the local massacre in 1856?What twisted and sick secrets have four generations of Kansas families been hiding? In 2004, Preston and Childe published "Brimstone Secret Killing" (the Chinese version is published by Chongqing News Agency in mainland China), which made Pendergast and police officers D'Agosta team up again to handle the case. Fans of "The Predator Factor" saw the reunion of the two after a long absence, and Pendergast's humorous and calm line "It's all the same, my dear Vincent", and they couldn't be more moved.Ten years have passed since the two first partnered. "Brimstone Killing" also opened a new trilogy that can be called the pinnacle of the two authors' writing careers: the wise and brave Pendergast not only has to challenge even more incredible mysteries, but also fights with his ultimate opponent, criminal genius Dio. Guinness fights to the death, and he is Pendergast's younger brother.

The second part of the trilogy, "Dance of Death" (the Chinese version of the People's Literature Society in mainland China), fully integrated the worldviews of Preston and Childe, and various characters appeared one after another. Margot Green, Ph.D. , archaeologist Nora Kelly, reporter Bill Smithback, hardcore policewoman Laura Hayward and others gathered in the Museum of Natural History.It's a pity that this is not a happy reunion, but the beginning of a tragedy, because Diogenes has officially made a gauntlet to compete with Pendergast, and his gauntlet is to murder his brother's relatives and friends.Detective Pendergast, who was always calm and at ease in the past, as if nothing was difficult for him, will finally fall into an unprecedented desperate situation against Diogenes, who is evenly matched and even taller... "Predator Factor" in the United States Fifteen years after its publication, it was finally translated into Chinese to meet Chinese readers.The twists and turns are not inferior to Klinger's repeated setbacks back then.

The first time I heard the names of these two authors was from my editor friend Dong Yang in the winter of 2004.At that time, he had just entered Facebook Publishing House, and he highly praised the method of "Predator Factor" combining supernatural cases and scientific explanations, and entrusted me to inquire about the whereabouts of the copyright.At that time, I was not very interested in the description added, and I couldn't find relevant information for a while, so I put it aside. The next year we went to New York to participate in the book fair together. Before leaving, he mentioned "Predator Factor" and brought the English version he bought.I flipped through it, and the name of the agent Harvey Ringer was written in the front of the thank you letter, and he had only rejected my agency request a year ago!I revived the book again with the mood of giving it a try, but Klinger readily agreed to meet and invited us to his office.In this way, I talked about the agency rights of "Predator Factor", "Dragon Mountain" and "Ditch City Hunter", and I also knew the ins and outs of Preston and Childe's debut and their subsequent job-hopping.Talking about this past incident, Klinger will inevitably feel aggrieved, but isn't the performance of this pair of partners in the literary world the best proof of his unique vision?

On our last day in New York, we made a pilgrimage to the Museum of Natural History.This is the largest natural science museum in the world, with an astonishing number of collections, far exceeding the capacity of the exhibition space. The museum can only draw up themes regularly and take out a small part of them for display.Naturally, we have no chance to see the treasures in those storage rooms. We can only imagine the deep underground "dinosaur cemetery": Mei said it is the place where the most keel fossils gather in the world.The exhibition hall is like a labyrinthine. We couldn't see it all until our feet broke, and we had to catch a late flight.However, the endless stories in the museum have left a deep impression on our hearts. What is about to be staged before your eyes is a wonderful journey that is long overdue but never too late; a story that is equally dramatic both in front of and behind the scenes; a pair of writers with their own specialties and complementary partner. ※The imperial unit conversion formula involved in this book is as follows: 1 inch = 2.54 cm 1 yard = 0.9144 meters 1 foot = 0.3048 meters 1 pound = 0,4536 kilograms 1 square foot = 0.09290304 square meters