“A Vision of Fire” marks Gillian Anderson’s debut as a writer. The book, written with Jeff Rovin, was released last October. There is no Mulder and Scully, of course, but I just could not stay away from a sci-fi book written by Gillian Anderson.

“A Vision of Fire” is the first of a three-chapter story titled “The Earthend Saga”.

The account is set in New York, present time. The main character is Doctor Caitlin O’Hara, a child psychiatrist treating children with serious psychic disorders. Caitlin O’Hara is a mother (of a deaf child), she is a single, independent, strong woman. It is virtually impossible not to visualize Gillian Anderson playing this character when one proceeds reading.

At one point, the woman finds herself having to treat Maanik, the teenage daughter of India’s UN Ambassador who, having witnessed an attempted murder to her father, began experiencing psychosis and visions. Besides, the girl seems involved in a series of inexplicable phenomena. The events take place at a delicate time for international relations, the world seems on the verge of a terrible war and Maanik’s father is directly involved due to his position in the UN.

While she tries to find a cure for Maanik, with the help of her friend Ben – the ambassador’s interpreter – Doctor O’Hara finds out that many other kids in the world suffer from the same disorder of the Ambassador’s daughter. And so she begins travelling around the globe in order to find a possible cure.

All of these phenomena seem to be connected, or caused, by an artefact of unknown origin but powerful enough to kill. Meanwhile, on that same artefact, on its origins and features, an organisation – called “The Group” - is secretly leading an investigation.

The ingredients for a good story are all there: a girl with an unknown disease, a mysterious artefact, a world about to fall apart, a love story, strong and well portrayed characters and seemingly inexplicable phenomena.
The book reads in one breath and – to borrow from the TV jargon we are familiar with on our website – the cliff-hangers in between chapters keep the reader glued to his chair till the very end. Naturally, since it is only the first chapter of a saga, at the end of the book the reader will not be given all the answers to the many questions arisen during the story (something to which "X-Files" fans are pretty used to anyway).

The intention, as Gillian Anderson openly said during the book presentation, is to get “A Vision of Fire” to the big screen, sometime in the future, and to play the role of Doctor O’Hara herself.

We do not know how much of the story is actually penned by Gillian – who has said to have written the book during her long plane commutes between sets – or by Jeff Rovin. What is clear is that Gillian seems to be very at ease in the sci-fi genre, even in written form. And it is quite probable that her past experience on the X-Files must be credited for it.

Speaking of which, it could be just a coincidence, of course, but it is nonetheless worth noting that the surname of a colleague of Doctor O’Hara is indeed “Carter”.

“A Vision of Fire” can be purchased on Amazon (also as an e-book for Kindle and as an audio file – read by Gillian Anderson herself) at this address: http://www.amazon.com/A-Vision-Fire-Novel/dp/1476776520/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0


Translated by Giusy