One evening in the spring of 1980, a skeptical Mark Gibbs went along with two friends to Waterloo Spiritualist Church in Liverpool where a visiting medium was due to speak. On his way out, Mark was abruptly pulled to one side by the medium who claimed he had a special communication. According to the message received, Mark’s mission was to write “whatever it is you discover.” An even more skeptical Mark Gibbs went home suitably baffled, and quickly forgot the whole thing.

Educated as a computer scientist, and employed by the British government, in 1988 Mark turned his back on a life of relative security to travel the world. Following his passion for unsolved mysteries, he spent countless hours in Europe’s galleries and museums deciphering the cryptic imagery of Renaissance art. In awe of what he had uncovered, but keeping the results of his research confidential, he went to America to study for a Master’s degree in Religious Education in 1994.

Leaving theological seminary as a formally trained biblical scholar, Mark started a business selling Asian antiques to support himself. During this time, he met and married his Balinese wife, living together with their children in Ubud, Bali, since 2001. Mark says that reading the Da Vinci Code one day sparked a recollection of what the medium in Liverpool had told him twenty seven years earlier. Finally, then, he began to write.