Area 52 follows twelve-year-old Sally as she investigates the mysterious disappearance of legendary creatures, encountering eccentric aliens, secret institutions, and dangerous mysteries while learning to trust her abilities. What inspired the setup of your story?

I have always been fascinated by mythology, aliens, UFO’s and the otherworldly. I wanted to explore the idea that, just like any other animal group, the creatures of myth would, if real, be studied and protected like any other endangered species. Once I had established that relationship with humans, it stood to reason that there would be those looking to exploit those creatures. So it is at this intersection of preservation versus exploitation that the story finds its setup.

Sally’s intelligence often clashes with her fear of inadequacy. What inspired you to explore perfectionism through a young heroine navigating extraordinary responsibilities?

We put a lot of pressure on our younger generation. As a parent, I always try to guide my daughter as best I can through adolescence, but anyone who has a child in middle school and above will attest to the fact that the pressures of academia, study, excellence, and future career decisions are very real. You have to get good grades to get into a top school. You have to go to a good school to get the best education, and with the best education (in theory) you provide a platform to make a career in your preferred field. This is societal pressure. However, the individual puts pressure on themselves to live up to those expectations, whether societal or familial. There are young people who are smart, capable, and conscientious, yet they may lack the social skills or self-confidence which are intangibles that can’t be prescribed purely in a classroom. Sally has the smarts and the ambition; she is socially mobile and agreeable, but she is aiming for the very top, and that comes with standards that she isn’t confident she can meet. I felt that writing Sally this way would be an effective link between the fantastical in the story and the reality of the reader. I wanted a three-dimensional protagonist who young readers could relate to, a mirror to the obstacles they face in their own lives in pursuit of their dreams.

Doctor Whatsit serves as both Sally’s inspiration and a source of pressure. How did you approach balancing admiration, affection, and expectation in their relationship?

Doctor Whatsit is an amalgamation of several people in my life. I had teachers who were hard but fair. Their expectations of me were sky-high, but they understood that it took time, experience, and gumption to meet them. Doctor Whatsit is the personification of ‘tough love’ in my eyes. Her ambitions for Sally are almost as large as Sally’s herself. There is an inverse trajectory for their lives. Sally wants to be like her aunt, and her aunt yearns for a more normal life. We meet Doctor Whatsit at a period where her commitment to her career is wavering, and yet her niece is pushing hard to emulate her, so there is an internal conflict between personal choices and the stewardship she believes she owes her niece. The love and affection is real, Sally is the closest thing the Doctor has to a daughter and so there is always the conflict of protection versus proaction. How do you encourage someone in a pursuit once you know the consequences?

Your mythical creatures and aliens have distinct personalities, social customs, and everyday frustrations. How did you develop their individual identities beyond their fantastical abilities?  

That’s a good question. I begin with creating the physical characteristics or abilities and work backward. The Thistlians protrude spikes from their bodies. Why? It is a defense mechanism. Why? If you keep asking yourself these questions as an author, you will find your imagination will take you to some interesting places. In The SiP Saga Chronicles, which are the companion short stories to the main Saga, I go into more detail about the alien races. A case in point in ‘The Royal Wedding,’ we learn about life on the Hollar homeworld, the origins of Hello and Hiya, the two tiny red aliens with impossibly loud voices, and that the volume of your voice points to your social status in society on Haull. The louder the voice, the higher the status. This lends itself to social commentary and creates an interesting dynamic between characters in different social strata. The SiP Saga Chronicles is available for newsletter subscribers and will be coming to all podcast platforms in audio form in January 2027.

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