When author K.J. Gillenwater of Cody, Wyoming, a self-described sci-fi junkie, was looking for inspiration for a new series of books, she leaned into her career at the National Security Agency (NSA) for the Navy.

“I realized that I should make a Russian linguist character, because I was a Russian linguist in the Navy,” Gillenwater said. “I put together the Voynich manuscript, which is real, and my Russian linguist background and married it into this story.”

Her first attempt at the story dissolved into cyberspace when her computer crashed and she lost her first draft.

“That deflates you,” Gillenwater said. “But I came back to it about ten years after I dropped it, and I'm really glad I did.”

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Even though much of Gillenwater’s work at the Cryptological Center at Fo

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