This series hews close to history because… I really couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. There was plenty to mine throughout the Cold War, a period in the history of espionage that was about as Wild West as you could possibly imagine. When the emergence of superpowered agents seems almost rational in comparison, how could you not run with it?
That said, I certainly took my liberties here and there over the course of the trilogy. The first book, MJ-12: Inception, had a looser connection to real historical events, but was closely intertwined with real conspiracy-theory lore. The infamous “Truman memo” ordering the creation of Operation Majestic Twelve — which is a very “real” document you can find quite easily with a quick Google search, but is widely considered by historical scholars to be utterly fake — was dated September 24, 1947, and has long been used by UFO enthusiasts as proof of the “Roswell incident.” I decided early on to leverage the MJ-12 myth for this series, so the memo was a major touchpoint. In doing so, I moved the establishment of Area 51 forward a bit to 1948—in real life, it was established as a secret CIA aircraft-testing facility in 1955.
The real-life inauguration of Czechoslovakian President Klement Gottwald in June 1948 served as another touchpoint in that first book, even if the event simply provided a reasonable excuse for the new MJ-12 agents to rendezvous with their potential double agent.
The MJ-12 UFO mythos also informed a huge number of characters in the books — Roscoe Hillenkoetter, Hoyt Vandenberg, James Forrestal, the Dulles brothers, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, just to name a few. Forrestal’s mysterious death in 1949 became a key plot point in MJ-12: Shadows; similarly, that sad event became a rallying cry for real-life conspiracy theorists who claim that he was murdered to cover up the existence of extraterrestrial life.
As the series continued, I shifted away from MAJESTIC-12 conspiracy lore and more toward historical fact. The utter chaos in Syria in 1949, for example, played a huge role in MJ-12: Shadows. There were three coups in Syria that year, the first sponsored by the CIA and the other two well out of the agency’s control. Not only did these events come with an immense amount of drama — the burglary of Miles Copeland’s home in Damascus actually happened — but they felt, to me, like an object lesson in what happens when the United States tries to covertly meddle in other nations’ affairs.
The first successful nuclear test by the Soviet Union in 1949 was the other major touchpoint in Shadows. Again, those events in Kazakhstan gave me an immense amount of material to work with, right down to the structures on site and the people involved. Yes, I did play around with some of the details — Laverentiy Beria was actually the political director of the USSR’s nuclear effort, for example, but it’s highly unlikely he exercised such a direct role in such a critical military project.
Beria, as you’ve just read, was one of the movers and shakers in the Soviet Union in the waning days of Stalin’s rule, and had a good shot at replacing him as Premier after his death in 1953. There are those who claim Beria played a, shall we say, active role in Stalin’s demise; while this hasn’t been proven, Beria’s reputation as a murderous bastard makes the theory plausible, at the very least. Indeed, Beria was responsible for the deaths of millions of innocents in the post-war Soviet Union, and did much to further, and benefit from, the culture of fear under Stalin.
That interregnum period between Stalin’s death and Khrushchev’s consolidation of power is very lightly covered in American history lessons, but the uncertainty and fear felt by the Soviets can’t be understated, and Beria’s eventual purge and execution were ultimately a key turning point in history; had he successfully taken control of the country, the Soviet Union would’ve gone down an even darker path. Khrushchev was no saint, but the glimmers of reform during his rule would never have occurred without him. I would argue that if Beria had won the day, there might still be a Soviet Union today, complete with an ongoing Cold War and nuclear tensions.
While the Kremlin’s internal power struggle made the perfect backdrop for Endgame, there were obviously major liberties taken, and not just Beria’s superhuman abilities. Beria never meddled in the armistice talks in Korea, for example, and certainly did not travel there to do so. His control over the USSR’s nuclear arsenal had waned considerably by 1953 as well. However, the workers’ protests in East Berlin actually did serve to undermine his credibility as head of the Soviet Union’s spying and secret police organizations, and really were used by Khrushchev and others against him.
In the end, I think there are some very interesting things to be learned from the Cold War, especially in today’s geopolitical climate. It’s been nearly thirty years since the end of the Cold War, more than fifty years since the heyday of the CIA’s cowboy covert actions, and more than sixty years since McCarthyism nearly put a stranglehold on individual liberties in America.
But the lessons from these events, and their application to modern American life, I’ll leave to you to determine.
Acknowledgments
Now I’m six books into a career I didn’t really believe I’d have a decade ago, and there are so many excellent people who have helped make this a reality. Naming everyone who has made a positive impact on my career as an author would be an entire extra chapter of this book, and likely interesting only to me. So to all those fellow authors who have lifted me up and made me a part of an excellent, welcoming community within science fiction and fantasy, know that your generosity means more to me than I could ever say.
And to all of the people who have steadily bought my books, reviewed them, told others about them, come to conventions to see me and get books signed, interacted with me online and likewise helped lift me up, I see you and deeply appreciate your time and your enthusiasm.
As we wrap up the MAJESTIC-12 series, I want to thank everyone at Night Shade Books, former and current, who helped bring all my novels thus far to bookshelves. Cory Allyn has been my editor for five novels now, and has been an excellent editor and collaborator in making these works better than they would’ve been. Richard “Shecky” Shealy is still, and likely will always be, the best copyeditor an author could ask for, given that enforcing continuity over three books is exponentially more difficult than a single novel. Jason Katzman, Ross Lockhart, and Jeremy Lassen are also to thank for making all this a reality.
There are also plenty of family and friends and coworkers who have supported me throughout my authorial career, giving me the encouragement and support I need to keep going. I want to give a special thanks to Linda Johnson, the absolute best boss I’ve had in more than a quarter-century of being in the workforce. Her unwavering support at work — and in life — is a big reason why I can write books and you get to read them.
This book is dedicated to Sara Megibow (at long last!), my agent and my friend. She is a tireless advocate of my work, and greets my ideas with just the right mix of enthusiasm and grounding. I’m proud and humbled to have someone like her in my corner.
Finally, as always, none of this would be nearly as much fun without my wife, Kate, and daughter, Anna. Thank you both for all your love and support and patience.
Here’s to the next adventure.
Michael J. Martinez
March 2018