Ore Wars thrusts humanity into a high-stakes battle for survival and diplomacy in a solar system where aliens and political ambitions challenge our place among the stars. What inspired the political and social parallels between the story and historical colonial struggles?

Firstly, I wanted to point out that we like to believe we may be alone in our solar system, but there may be seemingly unlikely places where intelligent alien creatures may be living in stealth, even though they might not have originated there. Secondly, aggressive imperialistic expansion driven by greed for wealth and power has not ended on Earth and is expanding into near space. When the means is developed to exploit the unfathomable wealth in metallic asteroids like Psyche, I think all hell will break loose between the superpowers on Earth.

How did you develop the unique voice of Blacky, and what does his character represent in the narrative?

Blacky is an intelligent alien spy who knows as much about his own people as Earth’s people. He has observed that the same proportion of good to bad people exists in both species. Blacky and his partner Jade are good people, and they believe that a lasting peace treaty can be negotiated between the good subsets of both species. They prove to be naive, and ultimately blackmail must be used to bring the two sides to the negotiating table. In that sense, the book may be a bit cynical. But the many wars on Earth I think support the notion that many of our human leaders are corrupt and driven by selfish greed. God help us all if we encounter an alien species with the same weakness.

What challenges did you face in balancing action with the novel’s rich political and cultural world-building?

I wanted to hold the reader’s interest without overloading them with the technical and political aspects, which are considerable. I attempted to develop characters that most people could relate to, based on their own life experiences. And the action scenes hopefully provide a bit of fun along the way.

When and where will the book be available?

The book is about to be published by Pegasus (UK), and will soon be available on Amazon in paperback and ebook formats.

Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon

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