Cinder Rabbit follows a twelve-year-old boy who visits a library to escape the turmoil at home and discovers a hidden passage that leads him to a magical world of talking animals. What influences from classic fables, folklore, fantasy literature, or other storytelling traditions helped shape the atmosphere of the book?

Biblical parables are the basis that help shape the atmosphere of the book. Jesus and Nathan told their parables in a way where the listener got emotionally invested before they were able to see themselves in the story. In this way, storytelling is the ultimate mirror.

How do Ridley and Estella challenge one another’s assumptions and help each other grow throughout the story?

Their growth only happens once they’re vulnerable, and they can only be vulnerable with each other. It’s only then can they allow themselves to fall apart as they trust the other person to hold them together. Whether they realize it or not, they are at their core a couple of kids trying to save the other, because they don’t believe they can save themselves. The reason they resonate as a couple is that people can see themselves in both characters, whether it’s feeling lost or like the world’s moving on without you. At least that is how I see things.

How did your personal understanding of faith influence the themes and moral questions explored in Cinder Rabbit?

I’ve always considered faith to be an action, whereas faith acts as a powerful undercurrent to all the characters’ actions. The moral questions act as both the basis of what the foxes want to carry with them and the life’s questions one might not ever get an answer to. Still, Faith keeps us going.

Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out, and what can your fans expect in the next story?

Cinder Rabbit is only the first in a MASSIVE planned series I have. The next book will be out as soon as I can write it, and Ridley’s sister, Olivia, will become a more significant character.

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