The Secret of Charley Grace follows a fourteen-year-old girl who discovers her DNA may hold the secret to disease resistance and extraordinary longevity, making her the target of powerful forces that want to control this knowledge. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

My stories are always drawn from the news. The Secret of Charley Grace came after reading about the worldwide stir that was created when a Chinese researcher named He Jiankui edited the genes of twin girls before they were born to remove the possibility of being infected by HIV. For his breakthrough bioengineering efforts, He was found guilty of conducting “illegal medical practices” and sentenced to 3 years in prison. As the pandemic overwhelmed the world, I wondered what might happen if a husband-wife team of Chinese researchers were to attempt to protect their unborn daughter from COVID and other diseases and extend her life to twice the normal limit. Would the Chinese government be willing to share her revolutionary biotechnology with the world? Or would they seek to cover it up and prevent its dissemination at all costs?

Charley is highly capable but still emotionally vulnerable. Why did you choose a fourteen-year-old girl as the person at the center of such an enormous international struggle?

I tried to imagine the confusion and fear of a teenaged girl who, while very intelligent, fluent in multiple languages, and trained in martial arts, is yet unaware of who she really is, or why her parents have seemingly abandoned her, and why people are desperate to capture or kill her. Forced to flee from the only home and family member she knows, the target of threats she has no knowledge of and with no one she can trust, Charley’s unique genetic gift is the crucible that will test not only her character, but that of everyone else in the novel.

Greed appears in several forms throughout the novel. What interested you about exploring how different people might respond to something as potentially valuable as Charley’s genetics?

Since before Biblical times, greed has been a powerful universal force causing unhappiness and criminal behavior. With the addition of today’s social media to traditional media, we are constantly exposed to millionaires and billionaires, physically attractive celebrities, and the false promise of fame and fortune if we only buy the right lottery ticket, invest in the right stock, or attract enough followers. Biotechnology offers not only incredible benefits, but also enormous profits. The desire to achieve incredible wealth can unfortunately lead to mistakes, such as COVID-19, or unethical objectives, such as the design of deadly bioweapons.

Beneath all the action, how important was the question of Charley’s right to determine her own identity and future, and does her story leave room for further exploration of the scientific and personal consequences of what she represents?

I believe Charley’s story is just beginning. Her right to live her life as she chooses, free from the threat of capture or death, is improbable due to the nature of human beings and their institutions. To own or control revolutionary scientific knowledge like Charley’s edited DNA, or nuclear weapons technology, or artificial intelligence, is to own power. Power, however, corrupts.  Regulating such power is the role of government, but without transparency, governments can be corrupted.  A free and unbiased media is perhaps the only tool we have to monitor the potential dangers we face. Yet, as we have seen, even the media can become corrupt. This situation will continue to produce conspiracy theories — which provide a rich trove of storytelling possibilities for writers like me! — but increases conflict and decreases peace of mind for everyone.

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