Nanite Evolution follows a cutting-edge space yacht that collides with a freighter, leaving they are left stranded while experimental nanites with unknown capabilities begin causing problems; in order to survive, they must find a way to become allies with the nanites. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

First, I would like to thank Literary Titans for the opportunity to share my thoughts. The inspiration for Nanite Evolution stemmed from considering the pace of technological change and what slows that rate of progress. Many discoveries are not intended but occur as a result of accidents. In the natural world, evolution can sometimes experience significant jumps forward in a relatively short period.

Nanites and AI are in the news, and if we project into the future, it will eventually become natural to have a direct interface with nanites from the human brain. Except that such a level of change has numerous ethical and legal implications. You don’t just experiment on humans. That is our resistance. But what if the situation doesn’t have the safeguards? What if the nanites decide? What if the nanites evolve?

To make that situation happen, the setting and circumstances would need to be extreme, which would probably not be what anyone wanted.

I find the world you created in this novel brimming with possibilities. Where did the inspiration for the setting come from, and how did it change as you were writing?

The setting of the future was the natural choice, which led to it being in space. To create the conditions for the story to play out, I thought, what would be a progression from today, and how bad could it be? What extreme would provide the best conditions for the nanites to evolve?

I thought about things like, in 3,000 years, what drives space colonization and what are the political and economic norms that could drive more systematic colonization. Drawing on what we see in society today, I positioned the ultra-rich as the primary drivers of colonization. They have the money. They have the desire. But what would that look like?

Several things changed during the writing. The biggest one was realizing I needed to make the Dunks and some of the others more disgusting to convey the extremes that could happen with unchecked power. I decided to scale back on some of the world building, following the writing advice of experienced authors, to keep what is essential to the story. When there are world details, I wanted them to have a basis in physics to be real.

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

I’m an engineer, and I love physics, but I know the average reader is not digging into how the universe works. I view explaining some of these concepts as having just enough so that the nerds will nod and say, It sounds plausible,  and everyone else will read it and think it is interesting, but I  don’t need all the details. I enjoy offering alternative perspectives on technology and its applications.

What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?

I have two projects that are in active development. The first is the second book in the Pandemic Hacker series. It takes the protagonist from being hunted by bad guys to hunting them. It is set in 2021, immediately following the events of the first book. The first draft is complete, and I plan to release Pandemic Hacker 2 by fall.

The second project is my first book in the fantasy genre. The working title is “The Last Dwarf”. If we don’t have the legendary dwarfs today, there was a point where there was only one left. What was their adventure? I’m also exploring old ideas from traditional fantasy. Things like, why do dragons love gold if they never need to buy things? 

I’m always exploring story ideas and constantly making notes to revisit in the future. This constant stream of ideas that may never be finished is why I have “No limit for your mind” on my website.

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