The Girl in the Rain: The Epic Forgotten follows a widow struggling with the loss of her husband who finds his journal, setting her on her own journey surrounding the mysterious girl in the rain. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

It’s difficult to discuss the setup of the beginning of the story without revealing too much about the rest of the story (subsequent novels). I can tell you that the overarching theme that we see in this book (and those which follow) is the desire to rewrite our narratives the way we would like them instead of the alternative, often difficult stories we’re “stuck with.” For Gwenn, it’s her need to find a “fitting ending” for her husband’s story so that she can find closure. It’s important to her that her husband didn’t simply descend into madness, but that he was, indeed, attempting to unravel some deep conspiracy. Though he’s already gone when we begin the story and she can do little to change that, what she can change is how John Chapel is remembered.

This is also central not only to John’s story but the means by which he attempts to cure himself of his malady – narrative therapy. Campbell, his old mentor, believes that he suffers from things left unresolved and that he needs to face these unfinished chapters in his life and find a way to close them in a suitable way. Quite often, we have these things unfinished in our own lives that we never get the opportunity to resolve – whether a lost love, a relationship we wish had gone differently, or even saying something to someone we regret – and it’s important to reconcile these in a way that brings us some peace. For John, Gwenn, and other characters in the story, it’s about finding a way to create a different point of view or a different story. The inspiration for this, I guess you could say, comes from narratives I needed to correct in my own life.

I felt that there were a lot of great twists and turns throughout the novel. Did you plan this before writing the novel, or did the twists develop organically writing?

The Epic Forgotten was always intended to be this grand, sweeping story, covering a multitude of characters, story arcs, and layer upon layer of subtext and nuanced themes. However, in putting pen to paper, there are always some surprises even for the author occasionally. Things happen organically more times than not, and the characters take over the story quite easily, once they’ve been given life and personalities of their own. Some of the best pieces of the story, where we see a stark change, have come from inspiration “on the fly” if you will. This story, as a whole, still remains true to its original drafts but is a far different story in many ways also.

What are some things that you find interesting about the human condition that you think make for great fiction?

This book and the follow-up novels take a deep dive into the human condition and consciousness, touching on some of our worst traits as human animals. There’s fear, pride, lust – (do I need to go into the rest of the “seven”?) all of those elements that drive a story through emotional highs and lows, of course. But there’s also love, and its love that serves as almost a character of its own throughout the story. It’s really the “blueprint” of the story that holds all of the moving pieces and characters together, and the one thing I want people to take away from the story after reading it. Whether it’s selfishly-driven, completely selfless, or somewhere in between – that’s what this is all about. It’s a constant across many cultures and languages, and often changes little generation after generation in our human story, and I want people to feel that no matter what character we’re following or whether we’re immersed in the 12th century or in the modern day with them.

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

Book two is already available. Through a Watery Veil was published in 2013, with the special edition launching in 2022. The story continues with Gwenn, Campbell, and the other characters the reader (hopefully) had grown to love, as they begin peeling back more layers of John’s story. There’s a pretty big cliffhanger at the end of Girl that leaves us doubting everything we’ve just been told by Campbell, and we see a new side of the story told from the perspective of his old nemesis, Henry Marshall. The first book really told us a coming-of-age story about John, Gwenn, Melinda, and their friends. This book brings us forward almost twenty years to tell the reader more about the events leading up to John’s fate, what became of Melinda Malowski, and what happened after that big finale in South Florida with Frank Kovacs and the mysterious antagonist in the last book. The third book, Across Lakes of Sorrow, was just launched in 2020, and the final chapter is being penned as we speak. The title is a surprise, so stay tuned.

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