blink-182’s Tom DeLonge releasing new sci-fi novel
'Trinity' hits shelves on June 11th.
blink-182 guitarist and longtime UFO enthusiast Tom DeLonge is venturing off again into the world of science fiction with his new co-written novel, Trinity.
Teaming up with frequent collaborator AJ Hartley, the book delves into a "seminal UFO event" loosely inspired by purported sightings near a nuclear testing site. Set for release on June 11th, Trinity promises to transport readers back to 1962, capturing the societal zeitgeist of the Cold War, space race, and budding social change, all through the lens of young protagonists grappling with identity and purpose.
On the novel, DeLonge says: “This story takes place around a seminal UFO event that I believe happened. Although the location may have been changed, the importance of what I believe transpired remains. AJ and I wanted to capture a sense of what it was like to be in this pivotal moment in American culture in 1962: the cars, the space race, the beginnings of social change, but also under the pressures of Vietnam, the Cold War and a new skepticism about government secrecy.
“We wanted to see all this from the position of young people who are struggling to find a sense of themselves and are, for various reasons, misfits, even outcasts, battling for a sense of self and purpose,. We took a whole lot of truth and encased it in a cool and rebellious story to help explain the enormity and complexity of the subject.”
The book's synopsis provided by To the Stars Media offers a glimpse into the central plot: “It’s 1962, in Trinity, Nevada, a small town on the edge of the desert, home to a military base serving the nuclear testing grounds. Van Lopez and his brother Andy have enough to do keeping their truck running and the local criminal gang happy to be concerned about nuclear tests. Van has dreams, or—he’s not sure what to call them—that he cannot explain or forget, but when he sees mysterious lights in the sky, he struggles to make sense of what now feel like his earliest memories.
“On the day of the atomic test, the nuclear blast brings down something over Trinity that wasn’t supposed to be there—something not of this world. Now Van is running for his life, pursued by a murderous Soviet agent and government forces bent on keeping all he has seen—and all he has remembered—from getting out. Romances and rivalries come to a head as he fights for the things he cares about most, and in that final battle he may have to make allies of his oldest enemies.”
This isn't DeLonge's first foray into storytelling beyond music. He previously collaborated with Hartley on the UFO-centric Sekret Machine series, which is currently being adapted for television.
Tom also touched upon the possibility of a blink-182 movie, similar to Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour concert film, during a recent interview. While acknowledging the challenges of attracting audiences to movie theaters for music-centric films, DeLonge humorously concluded, "They might come for the dick jokes. So maybe we focus on that?"