A Winter of Chains follows a man that escapes imprisonment only to wind up in a worse situation while trying to gain his freedom. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?

For a few years leading up to this book, I’d been reading histories about slavery and the Australian penal colony. I guess the topic just got stuck in my head and I needed to get it out in my own way.

With Everything that Ford endures, he goes through a lot of personal growth. Did you create an outline for the characters in the story before you started writing or did the characters personalities grow organically as you were writing?

Half and half. I outlined the main characters’ growth for this book, but they’d also appeared in previous books, so they had personalities of their own already. Those personalities guided the action.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

Freedom and friendship. The working title was Tiers of Freedom, but in the end I felt like that was hitting the nail too squarely on the head. I went with A Winter of Chains, because it possessed more poetry in its allusions.

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

I’m working on the fourth book of the Beyond Barlow series. It should be ready by the summer of 2023 with any luck!

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