Waves Toward the Pebbled Shore follows a physicist and her husband as they face a planetary crisis that becomes something personal and morally complicated. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

The protagonist of Waves Toward the Pebbled Shore, Māori physicist Aroha Whakatane, was a character in the second book of my trilogy, The Loss of What Is Past. In that story, Aroha works with its protagonist, Kapono Ailana, on some clandestine experiments involving antimatter and tachyons. When Kapono decides to use those technologies for an ethically and legally dubious personal project, Aroha calls him out on his arrogance and irrational behavior. I thought it would be interesting to weave a story in which the proverbial shoe is on the other foot—where Aroha is tempted to use the same technologies for what she believes is a very good reason, even though her actions would be not only a felony but would also violate the most sacred beliefs of the Māori. As the story unfolds and the planetary crisis looms, Aroha must decide between her deeply held beliefs—and fervent objections from her husband and father-in-law—and her responsibilities as a mother and Earth’s chief physicist.

How important was it to portray a scientist whose cultural identity and family relationships are just as important as her intellect?

It was crucial. I strive to pen characters who, although they may be brilliant scientists, are vulnerable and relatable … people like you and me, and far from perfect. Aroha and her husband Rangi Ngata are two of Earth’s leading physicists. But they’re also lovers, spouses, parents, someone’s daughter or son, and friends to many. Their values and behavior are largely shaped by Māoritanga—the traditional culture, way of life, and belief system of the Māori. Thus, I knew that their cultural identities, and those of the other Māori characters in the novel, would have to be integral to the story. Fortunately, I had invaluable help from two consulting editors from New Zealand on the Māori and Kiwi aspects of my book, and I researched the novel in New Zealand in early 2026.

The novel explores antimatter, tachyons, artificial intelligence, and time travel with considerable technical detail. How much scientific research went into building the world?

Quite a bit, although I was able to borrow significantly from the universe I’d created for the first two books in my trilogy. I want the science fiction in my stories to be science-based as much as possible and seem plausible to readers—at least to the point they may think, “Yeah, I can see how that could happen.” I include my references in the back of each novel, so readers can see that, for example, there really is such a thing as Quantum Drive. But I don’t want the science to get in the way of the story such that readers are overwhelmed by technobabble. I try to make my novels approachable to people who may not have a scientific background and may not even particularly like sci-fi stories. Now, since this story begins in the mid-22nd century and ends at the dawn of the 23rd century, I had to make a few guesses as to what technologies like AI and antimatter would look like then. And, as for the time travel … as the frosh roommate of the protagonist of the first novel of this trilogy told her once, “There are some things in science-fiction stories we just need to accept.”

Do you see Waves Toward the Pebbled Shore as a standalone story, or do you imagine returning to this world? 

Waves is the conclusion to the trilogy I began with The Lightning in the Collied Night. But I wrote Waves to stand alone, so that readers who haven’t yet read the first two books of the trilogy can start with Waves, then loop back to the other books if they wish. As for returning to this world … I hadn’t planned on it. But then, I didn’t plan on a sequel to Lightning, nor a trilogy! If I do return to this universe I created, it would be with a new story set in the 23rd century and (almost all) new characters. I hinted at who the protagonist for such a story could be in the last entry of the Timeline of Events in the back of Waves. I don’t have a story flushed out yet, but I do know that this protagonist would find that, as Bob Dylan sang, the times they are a-changin’ … and not always for the better.

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