Interstellar Sex Wars and the Blind Detective follows a renowned blind private investigator who is drawn into a case in which the fate of sentient life hangs in the balance. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

There are two interconnected inspirations for the story. The first is to introduce a credible blind hero into popular literature. If I can inspire some young blind men and women to pursue professional success, good. The second inspiration is to challenge readers to think seriously about enormously important issues (within the context of an exciting sci fi/fantasy mystery). I think many folks in the modern world have lost their way. It is my personal belief that good and evil really do exist and that there are transcendent forces at work in our unbelievably complex universe. I also believe that certain animals will be intellectually augmented in the future and that it is possible that self-aware and autonomous artificial intelligence will be developed. Exploring the ethical and practical implications of these issues, without getting preachy, while keeping an exciting story moving along, is a project.

This book is filled with intriguing characters. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?

Well, the point of the blind hero is hopefully self-evident. Beyond that, since intellectually augmented animals are in our future, I am fascinated as to what they would be like. As a retired forensic psychologist with a specialty in neuropsychology, I thought it would be possible to imagine what it would be like for a dog, a porpoise, and a chimp to receive such augmentation. I believe that my characterizations of the augmented animals in my stories provides a credible description of their cognition, personality styles and relationships with human beings. And then there is the question: what on earth might a truly self-aware and autonomous AI be like? With that, much fun did I have though it could not avoid getting a little scary.

What scene in the book did you have the most fun writing?

With regard to “Interstellar sex wars and the blind detective” I most enjoyed the scene where the octopoids sing ‘amazing grace’ to their astounded human counterparts. In my second book, “Demons, the great white north and the blind detective,” my favorite scene was the debate in the cave concerning the existence of the soul between the humans, the intellectually augmented animals, the AI and, of course, the demon from hell. That debate includes info from Plato, Jung, parapsychic research and research on dreaming. It was a chore to write it while keeping the story moving, and all but one of ten reviewers thought it worked. You cannot please everyone.

Do you plan on writing more books in this universe?

I must write more books from this universe. It is far too much fun to stop now.

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