A Bad Place to Be a Hero follows three people who by chance end up together and have to work together to survive, even when they don’t like each other. Where did the idea for this novel come from, and how did it develop over time?

“Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” is my favorite movie of all time, and I think a lot of those elements show in the book. From the very start, I wanted to create a cast of characters who are “alike in all the wrong ways”, and have to work through their differences as well as their own personal hangups to achieve a common goal. While the events that bring them together are random to an extent (since there wasn’t really another way you could force them to cooperate), I did also want to make it at least partly their own fault─so that all of them can feel like a victim in the situation, but can’t fully claim to be one.

Your characters are wonderfully emotive and relatable. Were you able to use anything from your own life to inform their character development?

There’s definitely a lot of me in both Corlis and Lokenn. Thessa is perhaps the farthest from me in temperament, but her conflict with Corlis was a great chance for me to do some reflection. Not sure how much of it stuck, but I do try to say “Thank you” more often.

Did you plan the tone and direction of the novel before writing or did it come out organically as you were writing?

The very first thing I pinned down about the novel was “Unlikely heroes save the world and no one thanks them”. I ended up narrowing the scope to a much more personal scale, but the overall tone is very much the same.

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

The direct sequel, A Bad Time to Meet the Family, is already in the works and will hopefully be ready for release in early 2023.

Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads