Tiny Glowing Screens

Book "Three" interview

Jazka Prickett

Campus article

Professor William Oelfke, the author of Three, teaches astronomy at Valencia College's Winter Park campus. According to Dr. Oelfke, a Valencia College professor, he has seen more mistrust of science in politics and a growing conflict between different world religions.  Oelfke has a passion for astronomy and teaches it on the Winter Park campus. He has now been able to display his passion in his first new book called, “Three”. He titled it Three because it reflects the many ways that three appears in the story, from the Holy Trinity to chrono-dynamics in physics. His war-gaming scenario relates to the war on terrorism and it completely realistic, though fictional. In addition, all the locations and their associate venues mentioned in the book are real.

He would like for the readers to grasp that love and understanding can lead to peace and cooperation between disparate ideologies. That it’s the only way all earthlings can live together in one community on this small planet. He wants people to consider the power of humility and compassion. That regardless of your faith, if you approach others with love and compassion, you can work together and accomplish great things. If you act out of hatefulness and revenge, you will only cause pain and destruction. Religious fervor can swing either way, and so we must always remember to carefully examine our motives before we act.

This is the hard cover copy of the book Three. 

The book is a science fictional about a professor of History and World Religions, Oliver Saxon. He is also an analyst for Homeland Security. He is not trained as a police officer or investigator, but uses his knowledge to track down three dangerous conspirators. In the process of understanding this conspiracy, he overcomes some of his own misgivings about faith and religion. He finds out that his close friend, Peter Newbury, a famous theorist at Fermilab, has died. His work eventually intertwines with his personal investigation of his friend's death.

The reader is invited to join Oliver and his co-worker Maxine Phillips as they try to find out why Peter was murdered. Through Oliver's knowledge of the Holy Bible, he is able to decipher the reasons behind Peter's death. Maxine and Oliver use their talents to track down the overly religious men who think Science is an act of Satan.

He was able to write this novel on many of his own interests and activities, from singing to the study of symmetry, to taking part in funeral Mass, to studying the nature of gravity waves.

The book he just finished reading is The Martian by Andy Weir. He is now starting to read Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. Neal Stephenson is a physicist and he identifies with his point of view and his humor. His books are science-fiction compared to his interest in writing factual mystery/thriller novels, but his attention to detail is inspirational.

Oelfke’s is currently beginning the next novel about Maxine Phillips and Oliver Saxon that begins where Three ended. It will focus more on Maxine and an ancient family curse. It will be entitled Reunion. After that, he plans to complete the series with a third story about Oliver and Max. Beyond that point, he might try to find ideas for a second series with new characters.

He learned how to give voice to each of the characters in a novel so that they are identified by their speech mannerisms. Also, that dialog is the best way to draw a reader into the story. The narrator can tell the story but the characters live the story through dialog.

This novel strongly supports both religion and science. Both science and religion represent mankind’s best attempts to understand God’s creation and man’s place in living in and learning about the universe.

Dr. Oelfke says, "The books that have most influenced my life the most include the Bible and works of fiction that deal with the strength of the human spirit:  classics like The Last of The Mohicans, and Moby Dick."