Exoputians follows a group of genetically created humans who arrive on Earth during the Second American Civil War in an attempt to fulfill their mission of saving the planet from the climate crisis. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

I actually thought first of the thematic elements of the story before fleshing out the details, something I haven’t done since, although I think it worked well for this novel. I wanted to tell a story from the ‘outsider’s’ perspective, and the best way to do that was to create the Exoputian. I am also one of those people that enjoys going ‘all the way’, and seeing America and the planet at large go down a reckless path for ‘glory’ and cash inspired me to push us to the brink of what current scientific predictions are suggesting. And then I added in the really big What If…Aliens came who could save us, but are we worth saving? The existential questions inspire me the most to write what I write, the morally questionable, the ethical hiccups, the confounding arguments the so-called smartest species on Planet Earth creates so as to believe ourselves righteous in the name of ourselves.

I felt that the science inserted in the fiction was well-balanced. How did you manage to keep it grounded while still providing the fantastic edge science fiction stories usually provide?

Thank you for saying that, I appreciate it. I kept this story as realistic as possible, up until a point, as you mention. The science fiction elements are really only there to exacerbate the story that I wanted to tell, and it made the most sense to me to write it as I did. This is a foremost a story of America. I feel as if our world and the Exoputians’ is the same, just pulled further in time and hate and that one tidbit about extraterrestrials…that was where I needed the science to wrap the story up into what I wanted. The Exoputians are themselves a scientific experiment, yes, but they were really created to shine a light upon the darkness that is humanity. I felt that grounding was ‘easy’ as the Exoputians were tossed into a very real and horrible, dirty, gritty road trip through America, as humbling and unscientific as one can get, or feel, in a science fiction novel – I think…

I am also a seasoned traveler and have been to the ends of Africa where people are still using cows to plow fields, to trade as currency, where refrigerators do not exist. I like to intertwine the two worlds, the one of the raw and rugged survival, and the tech-heavy world, both LA and San Francisco fit the bill. These places are current in today’s timeline upon Planet Earth, it shocks, depresses, and confuses me every time. But LA and SF also have the poorest people I have ever seen in my life, in the richest country on Earth, where we build rockets to go to Space, for fun. I find the homeless of LA and the rural poor African as the grounded people in our fast paced world of high speed internet and space exploration. I just tried to add that one giant leap for human/Exoputiankind.

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

Definitely racial strife in America. White Nationalism is awful, extremely dangerous, and needs to be understood as one of the most realistic ways the American Empire falls. I also wanted to explore what it means to be human, I think I strive for that question and answer in all my writings, and if we can define human, is it actually a good thing? I really don’t have the answer but tend toward the skeptic in that argument. I could not write a book about racial strife and the general feel of America without going into politics. Neither ’side’ is right, and I wanted to show that in this story.

Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out, and what can your fans expect in the next story?

As the book is, the story is complete. I am not a series writer and do not intend to be, I generally find stand alone novels (or stories-Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion is a two book set/one story) the best way to tell stories with beginnings and endings, and with meaning.

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