Mystical Force: Vol. 1 Stranger in a Strange Land follows three groups that are all battling for the good of the Earth in their own way and with their own view of good vs evil. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

The origin of the series actually revolves around a character who will be introduced later in the series, the “chosen one” I’ve hinted at. I wish I could explain more about this but that would be giving away spoilers. For now I’ll simply say, there were many different inspirations for the story. The main question was ‘how did the character of Shi-ria end up on Earth?’ I came up with various ideas, but none of them seemed to work. When I hit upon the idea of Scarlet Knightwalker having seen the future and trying to prevent Shi-ria from coming, only to have Zolida ensure “destiny will be fulfilled”, suddenly all the pieces seemed to fall into place. One of the themes I’ve always been fascinated by is the idea of ‘fate vs free will’ and how people seem to believe they’re polar opposites; a belief that I do not share. Fate is simply life/the universe/God (call it whatever you like) providing the circumstances to enable us to live the life we choose. The question is whether you make that choice consciously or unconsciously. In a way, Mystical Force is the story of conformity vs individuality. Our heroes are the type who think for themselves and make their own decisions based on their own knowledge, instinct and intuition. By contrast, the Order of the Cross consists of the type who blindly follow their religious dogmatism without question. We see this conflict represented through the character of Sister Rose, who loves Tokijin and (in her heart) knows he’s not evil but is constantly being told that he’s a servant of the devil, simply because the Church says so. As is often the case in reality, which do you choose? Do you listen to your higher self and know the truth? Or do you blindly follow what others say and live your life in ignorance, assuming the events of your life (be it good or bad) to just be random chance?

I enjoyed that this story takes place on Earth with characters from other worlds being brought here. Why choose this place and time for the setting of the story?

It seemed appropriate as we seem to be on the cusp of evolving right now from our old fear based society to one of love. When you look back through history, the issues of prejudice, racism, sexism, religious intolerance and so on, you see that many people today are beginning to realize that our current way of thinking (politics, religion, economics) do not serve us and aren’t taking us where we, as a collective society, say we want to go. While some of us embrace this shift in consciousness, others still surrender to fear and desperately try to fight progress; or worse, actively try to force society to regress to a more primitive stage of development. By having the series introduce characters from more evolved societies interacting with the characters on present day Earth, it shows the audience that change isn’t something to be feared but to be embraced. Like Star Trek it shows that we can make the world a better place. A world free from prejudice and intolerance. Where the goal in life isn’t to make the most money, but to make the most of living for everyone.

What was your favorite character to write for and why?

That isn’t a fair question. It’s like asking a parent “which child is your favorite and why?” But if I must choose, I would say it’s Shi-ria, with Mystic being a close second. I think they’re both great examples of what we can be as a people. Both are strong and wise beyond their years. They’re the type of characters you don’t want to mess with but at the same time they also have the compassion and wisdom to know when to stand and fight and when not to. Sometimes it takes more strength to put down a weapon than to pick it up. Sometimes it takes more courage to stop a fight then to start one. There are some out there who don’t agree with those statements, who think compassion is weakness and refusing to fight is cowardice. The truly wise know that we are all one, that by hurting another you’re actually hurting yourself. To quote the Beatles song Within you, without you: “When you see beyond yourself then you may find peace of mind is waiting there.”

What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?

Since Mystical Force is a series, I’m currently working on the next volume. When I first published Mystical Force, I wasn’t aware of Literary Titan. Thus volumes 2 (Angels and Demons) & 3 (The Kolri and the Koldar) were already out before I discovered Literary Titan. That’s why I did the review for volume 1. Otherwise it would be like asking you to review a TV series when you haven’t seen the pilot episode. Without the introduction, without context, it makes the story much harder to follow. I guess reviews for those books are next on our to do list! I’m currently working on volume 4 (Many are 1, 1 is 0). It should be out sometime in the spring.

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