Rumors of Love follows a man and his adopted daughter whose mission to deliver painful news to a family in Honduras turns into an international adventure involving a hidden community of giants. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

The opening scene you mentioned follows closely on the heels of the previous book in the series entitled Black Pearl. In that book, a courageous 19-year-old mission volunteer (Raquel) has sacrificed her life to save Kennedy Musket, age 13, an adopted daughter of the Musket family. Raquel’s family does not know what happened to Raquel because her sacrificial death had taken place in another land. The Muskets, after a year-long search, have finally located Raquel’s family in Honduras. Thus, Kennedy and her adoptive father (Cody Musket Jr.) travel to Honduras to share with Raquel’s family the circumstances of Raquel’s sacrificial death.

After a long and tearful conversation, Raquel’s father, who is pastor of a small Honduran church, fills Cody Jr. in about a lawless “Socialista” (Marxist) movement which is growing rapidly in an effort to take over the nation and eventually the world. That’s when the book changed direction and took me into places I had never planned–a dramatic combination of political conflict, covert rescue missions, family drama, and a teenage love story.

For readers new to the series, what aspects of Cody Musket’s character and history are most important to understanding Rumors of Love?

The Musket family saga began in the year 2014 with a struggling former US Marine (Cody Musket) who has become a professional athlete, but who carries dark military secrets and suffers from debilitating PTSD. After he meets Brandi, an investigative journalist, a single mom and woman of great faith and courage, Cody’s life turns around. He and Brandi marry and form a covert operation for the rescue of children and abused women, and this outreach carries the Muskets through the next three generations. Rumors of Love is the sixth installment of the series, which stretches into the year 2042. Eventually, Iran joins the Socialistas and forms a military alliance with an ancient race of giants. This brings on a thriller ending that I would never have imagined.

How do you balance futuristic elements with the emotional and spiritual themes that remain at the center of the story?

This intense drama plays out on a stage 20 years in the future. The sci-fi technology depicted here could likely be commonplace by that time, but the needs of mankind will never change. The search for love, compassion, forgiveness, and the battle between good and evil are ongoing.

Can readers expect more adventures with Cody Musket and his family, and what kinds of challenges might they face next?

Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t drive myself to come up with these stories on a regular basis because I’ve never been confident with that approach. Instead, I wait until inspiration for a new story enters my mind out of seemingly nowhere, and that’s the truth, as crazy as it sounds. That’s the reason why I have written only 6 books over the past twelve years. Usually, a good storyteller can find a story to tell. But sometimes, the story must find a storyteller, and that means that I spend a lot of time listening for the next one to come knocking on my heart’s door.

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