The Price of Rebellion follows an inventor who discovers his technology has been twisted to create a pervasive surveillance network controlling elected officials. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

When I lived in Chicago, I used the “L” to get around the city. One day, I noticed I was the only passenger in a packed car that didn’t have their nose buried in their phone. The thought struck me that I could strip naked and no one would notice. Yet cameras hung from the car’s ceiling—so someone could always be watching. That led me to wonder how much we’re watched, recorded, and tracked without realizing it, and how much more unavoidable that surveillance will become over the next 25 years. We’re already tracked in so many ways, and it’s only going to become more sophisticated—and more unavoidable. If someone used that technology for nefarious purposes, how could we fight it? How could we protect those we love?

That’s what led to my series.

I also wanted to explore the implications of good intentions. The main character, Dray Quintero, thought he was helping society by creating a surveillance system for the nation’s police departments to fight crime. But his system and the underlying software is used in ways he hadn’t anticipated. He has to fight against his own creation and those who yield it throughout the series.

Are there characters in your books that have similarities with you or people you know?

I try to avoid instilling characters with any of my traits, as I want them to be separate and distinct, though I’m sure they contain shades of me.

Having said that, while I’m not aware of my characters having similarities, I did have an inspiration for my main character, Dray: both of my grandfathers. They inspired me to make him an engineer as they both had been engineers. One had been a metallurgical engineer and the other had been a chemical engineer, both successful during their careers. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor during WWII, both tried to enlist but were turned down as they were more valuable using their skills. My father’s father ended up building battleships for the US Navy, and my mother’s father worked at a bombmaking factory in Texas during the war. Their knowledge, dedication, and abilities inspired me as I created Dray.

Are you a fan of the Dystopian genre? What books do you think most influenced your work?

Yes I’m a big fan of the genre. Two of my biggest influences were 1984 by George Orwell and Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. Both looked at the world in different ways, and both stories resonated with me long after I finished reading them. The Stand by Stephen King also influenced me and is still my favorite of his. While The Price Of trilogy doesn’t envision a world as dark as King’s, at its core, my trilogy also has a small group of heroes trying desperately to defeat a vastly more powerful enemy.

When will book three be available? Can you give us an idea of where that book will take readers?

The third book begins a short time after the end of The Price of Rebellion. Dray and his daughter are in a terrible position. They’ve lost and are trapped. But they find hope in an unlikely place. While they have a nearly insurmountable task ahead of them, they learn how strong they truly are and what price they’ll have to pay.

I’ve completed the rough draft, so I know how the story ends—and who survives.

I’m starting the editing now, so I expect the last book will come out in the next twelve months or so.

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