I was a war correspondent in the Balkans and the Middle East for 13 years. I wrote a book called The Spiders of Allah ( http://www.amazon.com/The-Spiders-Allah-Unbeliever-Frontline/dp/0312565852 ) about my time covering religious wars in Iraq, Israel and Palestine. My experience as an atheist covering the craziness of jihad created a fascination with the human imagination and the elaborate lengths it will go to deny death,  even to the point of setting up death cults. That. combined with a love of science fiction, led to Cronix, where god and evolution mix  to lethal effect.