What was the inspiration for the setup of your story? How did the idea of something buried beneath a landfill possessing an intimate knowledge of human memories first develop?

This story started with an article. I remember reading about a lab-grown synthetic cell, something scientists had built from scratch, piece by piece, and thinking about how strange and quiet that kind of creation is. No explosion, no warning. Just something small, sitting in a controlled room, waiting to see what it might become if anyone ever let it. That idea stayed with me longer than I expected it to, and eventually it found its way to the one place I always knew it belonged.

That place was the Landfill. I lived on Staten Island for over twenty years, and it was part of the view the whole time. It was where the city sent everything it was done with, and then it closed and the city began turning it into parkland. I chose a landfill reclamation project as the setting because buried places hold the secrets of a community. I kept thinking about what stays under a hill like that. People throw away objects with years of their lives soaked into them, like a coffee mug or a child’s shoe. I put the two ideas together: a small made thing, left alone in the dark, with all of that to learn from. It would know how a kitchen smells at six in the morning. It would know what a mother sounds like when she calls you in.

Underneath it all, I wanted to look at how the past can reach into people’s lives in ways they cannot explain. Staten Island has a distinctive identity, and I wanted to tie it to the creeping dread of something hidden beneath it. That is where Anthony’s story started.

What drew you to Staten Island as the setting for What the Ground Remembers, and how did its history influence the development of the story? 

Staten Island is the borough New York forgets, and that made it the right place for this story. The city has always sent its leftovers here, and the Landfill is the largest example. I wanted the reader to feel the Island as a real place, with neighbors who know each other’s families and streets that carry old names. Those details come from living there. The history shaped the plot directly. A place that spent decades receiving what everyone else discarded gave me the idea of a place that remembers what it was handed. I fictionalized the names and locations so I had room to build, and I kept the feel of the Island as true as I could.

How does the novel explore the relationship between memory, identity, and the emotional connections people form throughout their lives?

Memory is what makes the threat personal. The thing under the ground reaches people through the objects and the family history that mean the most to them, and it shows them home. Anthony’s identity is built from his family and his neighborhood, so the thing that wants him uses exactly those. I wanted readers to ask what happens when the warmest memory you own becomes the lure. I also wanted to ask how much of who we are comes from our families. Anthony thinks he knows his, and then he learns how far back their story goes, and how much of it lies under his feet.

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

My next book is OMNI Book Two, the sequel to OMNI: The Convergence Protocol. The story picks up where the first book left off. I’m aiming for next year, and I’ll announce the date through my author page and Rivera Press as soon as I have it.

I also have a novel in the works set in the Bronx, where I grew up. It follows a man cursed by his girlfriend’s mother, and what the curse does to his life. After that, I plan to go back to Staten Island. The borough is a city in its own right, and there are more stories above the ground than any of us know. I intend to go find them. 

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