The Forsaken Planet follows an ordinary young man from suburban New England whose world is shattered when alien ships invade Earth, leading him to enlist in a different alien army to learn how to protect those he loves. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

I had many inspirations. It really evolved from my love of epic fantasy and anything space-related, and wanting more books that blend the two. I started this story over twenty years ago while in my teens. I had read Ender’s Game only a couple of years before, and that was a major inspiration, especially towards the combat simulations in this book. Wheel of Time was another one. Its themes of the ordinary, innocent farm boys and girls becoming heroes, as well as its lore and the connection to the ancient past that the struggle during that series is linked to, that all rubbed off onto my own work. Lastly, the mini-series Band of Brothers is a big one. That is my favorite show of all time and it directly influenced many of my war-training scenes. 

A lot of time was spent crafting the character traits in this novel. What was the most important factor for you to get right in your characters?

The most important thing was to make them all diverse and different enough from one another. It is a grand story I have in store, one that only grows as the series expands. I needed to ensure that I laid a solid foundation for each character, as many of them have their own POVs and larger parts to play in this conflict as the series progresses. I think the roots I laid here will help them better stand on their own down the road, when it’s their time to shine. 

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

It was critical for me to express the importance of family and the bonds of friendship. My story centers around these ideas and eventually asks some hard-hitting questions regarding them. We all want to protect those we love. But what if by doing that, we are putting others in harm’s way? That is a central theme as the series progresses, and it was the main focus of this installment to fully mold that bond, loyalty, and love between not just the core group of characters but those they meet along the way.

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?

This is the first book in the series, and book two (The Son of the Prophets) is already out. There is also a novella linked to the series (A Princess of Oldir), which can be read for free by anyone who signs up for my Readers List (newsletter) on my website. And book three (The Dark Element) actually comes out this month on May 20th, 2025.

Readers can expect a lot of the same. A story centered around Colt and Company and their loyalty towards one another, one with the intense combat sequences you grew to know in TFP, along with the mysteries of the past and prophets ever-growing. However, it all expands tenfold more than it did in book one, with the addition of many new POVs in books two and three, as well as events taking these characters away from one another, across the stars to multiple other planets, and to war.

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