FEATURED BOOK JESUS IN KASMIR, THE LOST TOMB by Suzanne Olsson ISBN 1419611755 (Paperback)  Includes over 125 photos and pictures with evidence identifying that (1) Jesus survived the crucifixion and has a tomb in Kashmir, (2) the history of Jews in India and their influence of Christianity in India, (3) Jesus had direct family connections to Buddhism, (4) the cultural terrorism that threatens the tomb, and much more. Fortean Times Magazine refers to the author as INDIANA SUE for her uncanny ability to get the facts. Jesus in Kashmir, The Lost Tomb contains both the shocking background history of religions as well as the deliberate destruction of Jesus' relics, along with newly discovered facts that will ripple through our future with chilling consequences, can be purchased from AMAZON It was been both an HONOR and a PLEASURE, for me, to have been employed as Sue's editor in the course of this project. INTERVIEW WITH SUZANNE OLSSON What can you share about the Roza Bal Tomb, the supposed grave of Jesus (or Yuz Asaf) in Srinagar, Kashmir, and its recent fate? It has long been assumed that the legends of Jesus’ grave in Kashmir were a myth, specifically a Muslim myth since these sites are all within predominantly Muslim jurisdictions. To establish the validity of these graves required going back in time before Islam. The Hebrew-Biblical graves do predate Islam. Legends of Jesus in India also predate Islam. One has to conclude the graves are authentic. In fact it is since the arrival of Islam that the graves have faced their worse period of desecration and destruction in 2,000 years. I have tried to keep the book focused on the historical and immediate threats to the graves.  How were you able to get official permission to obtain DNA from the supposed graves of Jesus and his mother Mary? What stopped it from happening? Might there be any chance that you would be allowed back to continue? The idea of seeking DNA first began at the grave of Mother Mary in Pakistan. The idea soon gained momentum among the locals. No one objected and all seemed genuinely interested in establishing the archaeological proofs. Once the archaeologist, Dr. Ahmad Dani, offered to lead the project, there seemed to be no stopping it. At the eleventh hour, while waiting for some final permits, I thought to go on ahead to Kashmir to see if we could extend the project to include DNA from the grave of Yuz Asaf. This is the grave presumed to be of Jesus. While in Kashmir, the events of September 11th (9-11) happened, and one could feel the gradual political and religious shifts in mood and politics. At first, Kashmiris were very open to a joint venture between India and Pakistan, but as political pressures mounted between the two countries, I was trapped. If I left India to return to the project in Pakistan, chances are I could not get back into India again, and they were on the brink of war and their borders shut down completely. I decided to remain in Kashmir instead and focus on the grave of Yuz Asaf. Everyone gave permission. No one objected, at least not until one day, out of the blue, when a damaging article appeared in a local newspaper about the project. The article was submitted by one of the local tomb Directors. He had been left out of the plans and (he assumed) the baksheesh, so he deliberately, and publicly, destroyed the project completely out of jealousy and anger. Will I be allowed to resume the project one day? Perhaps, but to be honest, I don’t feel qualified. I see it being handled by a qualified archaeology-research team working with both local authorities as well as global labs and universities. What inspired you to write this book? I wrote Jesus in Kashmir, The Lost Tomb purely our of both selfish and personal family reasons. The Des Marets family has a genealogy that goes back to Geoffrey, the first king of Jerusalem during the Crusades. He, in turn, traced his ancestry even further back to within the second century AD and to the family of Jesus. These genealogies have been becoming quite popular since release of books like Bloodline of the Holy Grail and Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Due to the fact that we already had an established and verifiable bloodline, we needed only find those missing links of one or two generations to be unequivocally linked directly with Jesus and Magdalene. I wanted the absolute proof, and all clues led me to the grave in Kashmir. Even our family DNA has a strange marker that is strongly associated with Kashmir. While there, I felt like I was on the quest for our true grandfather. What was the most difficult part about writing this book? What was the easiest? Normally, when a writer gets an idea and sits down to write, there are books and libraries at hand not to mention access to internet which is like having ten great Alexandrian libraries at your beck and call. By comparison, I stumbled unsure and unwittingly into the book writing process, very unprepared and unprofessional as the results attest to. I did not have the advantages most writers have at their disposal. I often spent weeks without internet access and was very cautious and limited in what kinds of diaries and notes I kept because these were often snooped through or "lost" entirely. I was living and traveling all around Central Asia for several years, searching out some ancient family links there. During this time, 9-11 occured. By then, I was familiar with, and a part of the culture of, the Taliban and terrorists, not as one of them, mind you, but as the strange woman who was merely a curiosity in their neighborhood. The news about 9-11 was so carefully guarded and screened (blackouts), that I didn't know there had been four planes lost that day. I found out over 2 years later when I returned to the USA. I knew I had something to write, but I didn't know how to approach the book. Adventure? History? Comparative religions? Theories? I had many notes but they were not properly referenced, which meant any scholarly approach would be a problem. To further complicate matters, books began pouring out about 9-11, the Taliban, religions, Dan Brown and the DaVinci Code as well as a few Grail Child wanna be's. The market was glutted and I could not find a publisher. And so I found the rosy path to self-publishing. Eventually, I settled with Booksurge because of their new affiliation with Amazon, but I also experimented over at Lulu because there were no up-front costs. Lulu was also a good way to see the book in print, allowing me to make as many changes as were needed. Talk about typos and editing errors? Oi vey! I must be the Queen of typos and errors. For example, in one version, I refered to Jesse (father of King David) as Jessie, which is the feminine spelling. No sooner had I made all those changes when someone pointed out that the Book of Revelation does NOT have an 's' (Revelations) on the end. You could have fooled me! Thank God, my Nova Scotian cousin, now living in Newfoundland, stepped in to help edit and get the book over more than a few very bad spots. What do you see yourself doing next? My book will probaly be around for a few years, still selling, because it is the very nature of the topic that always revives the theory and interest. When the book and film about the Tialpot tomb made such waves a few months ago, my book was selling very well because the theories overlapped. I am presently trying to get Barnes and Noble to stock my book. I am also trying to get a few well-placed reviews as this always helps sales. I have done several radio shows and one film due to be released soon has a small cameo appearance of me discussing the tombs. These are all positive factors, but still sales have never been more than a few a day at Amazon. But it's not really about the money or "fame" for me. It feels more like a mission than book writing (if that makes any sense). While I am still very actively involved in the hopes and efforts to get DNA from several of these tombs, I am also trying to write the next book on a more personal level. Hopefully with lots of humor, one that will be about my personal experiences with Taliban and others. |
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AUGUST 2007