The big theme is gravity and light, also that of the poetry collection he's writing. He's working on a major novel, too, set in Corby and intended to complete a trilogy focusing on different aspects of what it is to be male. As he takes a final sip of his white wine and rushes off to his next interview, I realise that talking to John Burnside is an exhilarating but slightly depressing experience. A self-taught polymath and a stunningly good writer of poetry and fiction, he is a chastening reminder of the possibilities of the human brain ­ and how few of them most of us explore.Christina Patterson is the Director of the Poetry Society. Ancient documents which cast doubt on Christianity; tunnels discovered under the Sphinx; Atlantis found under Antarctica; the world scheduled to come to an end in 2012: at first glance, this could be a new book by Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval, or any of the other "cult archaeologists" who flood the shops with their startling reinterpretations of history. Although these authors take their theories deadly seriously, most readers treat them as entertaining fiction.

And that's what Stel Pavlou aims for in Decipher, a thriller based on some of the wackier ideas to surface in the last decade or so.Once every 12,000 years the Sun goes ballistic, throwing off its outer layer in a firestorm and gravity wave which engulf the planets, including Earth. Dinosaurs are wiped out, Noah's flood occurs (in just about every ancient mythology), and the North and South Poles swap ends. According to Mayan mythology, the end of the world will happen in 2012. Early in that year, a ruthless US oil and energy exploration company discovers large amounts of priceless Carbon 60 beneath Antarctica, unfortunately rather too near to a Chinese base. Meanwhile, indecipherable inscriptions are found in vast tunnels beneath the Sphinx.

Earthquakes, volcanoes and violent weather are getting worse daily, while America and China are on the brink of lobbing nuclear missiles at each other.An engineer, a geologist, a complexity theorist and a linguistic anthropologist (with his pretty but level-headed research assistant) are brought together with senior US military and a CIA "Remote Viewer", or psychic spy They must tie all the threads together and save the world. Everything hinges on the anthropologist deciphering the message left by the ancient civilisation of Atlantis.There are some great elements to the story, but the whole thing is too big, too overblown and far too long to sustain its momentum. This could have been an excellent science-fiction novel of ideas. The plot offers a fascinating blend of science, mythology, language and much more. But in casting it as a thriller, Pavlou has succumbed to the twin temptations of melodramatic writing, and of pulling too many rabbits out of his hat. The finale in Atlantis staggers beneath one wonder after another (including murderous golems that resemble the dead loved ones of our heroes), making it impossible to maintain suspension of disbelief.A sense of reality is the main thing lacking.