Author Archives: Literary-Titan
Heroism
Only Breath & Shadow follows a blind and war-scarred English veteran living in Vienna as Austria slides toward Nazi control, who becomes the unlikely protector of endangered Jewish children. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The inspiration for the story came about in part from Sir Nicholas Wynton. I remember him being on Esther Rantzen’s That’s Life in the late 1980s, and it was the first time I became aware of the Kindertransport programme. Sir Nicholas managed to bring 669 Jewish children from Czechoslovakia to England. As I researched the period, I found that nearly every country in the world had put strict limits on the number of foreign refugees that they allowed in. In England, the British government agreed to allow an unlimited number of child refugees to be given temporary refuge in Britain as long as there was no recourse to public funds. It was therefore left to Jewish groups, charities, and individuals to help Jewish children escape the persecution of the Nazis. However, while the children were permitted into the country, their parents were not. I therefore wanted to write about the heroism of the people who went to Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia to save countless children.
Christian begins as a man defined by loss. What did his journey toward purpose mean to you?
Christian’s early life was defined by his ability to paint, and his blindness stripped away what he perceived as his purpose in life. When Christian takes care of four Jewish children, he is given a new purpose. What it meant to me was that there is hope in people, not in society or in systems of religion, but in you and me and the kind acts of a stranger.
The novel suggests indifference is more dangerous than blindness. What does “seeing clearly” mean in a world where truth is actively denied?
I think that seeing clearly begins with asking whether what we are being told makes sense and whether it contradicts our moral compass. I believe that we are living in a difficult period of history, where disinformation and misinformation are now commonplace, and this concerns me. It is of note that the use of disinformation and misinformation was something that the Nazis were masters of.
I hope the series continues in other books. If so, where will the story take readers?
Thank you. I’ve had some ideas for books and even started writing some ideas and outlines. One idea. which I started 6 months ago, centred around the overthrow of the Iranian Government in 1953, with Basil Drewe’s son being trapped in Iran. Another idea was about the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti, who appeared in my first two books, Of All Faiths & None and A Remembrance of Death, and his alleged affair with Rosalind. However, at the moment I am taking a break from writing.
Author Links: GoodReads | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Website | Amazon
Christian Drewe a man blinded at the Somme sees the moral decay that Nazism brings to Vienna more clearly than the sighted world around him.
At the start of the novel Christian Drewe is a man without purpose, believing that his blindness defines him. But when the Nazis march into Austria, everything changes. When his Jewish friends are arrested and sent to the camps, their four children are left behind with no one to protect them.
Christian is their only hope.
In a city crawling with informants and watched by the Gestapo, he must do the impossible: hide the children, outwit a ruthless Nazi officer, and plan an escape from a world closing in around them, all without sight.
As danger tightens and time runs out, Christian is forced to confront a question he can no longer avoid:
How much can one man risk to save innocent lives?
Only Breath & Shadow is a powerful and deeply human story of courage in the face of unimaginable darkness.
Perfect for readers of All the Light We Cannot See, The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Nightingale, this unforgettable novel explores sacrifice, love, and the strength to act when it matters most.
Forgiveness is Key
Second Chance Highway follows a young woman fleeing an abusive relationship with her infant daughter, who drives west in search of the mother who abandoned her and discovers that escape is just the beginning of healing. Why was a road trip the right structure for this kind of emotional and spiritual journey?
Ginny was stuck, but because of her supernatural encounter with TC, she realized she needed to be in another place, both physically and mentally. How better to get to your destination? You take a road—preferably one that leads you to the correct destination. I took a road trip to gather information for this novel. We planned nothing. We simply climbed into the truck and took off, much like Ginny did. Frankly, I’ve never had a more rewarding experience.
Faith is central to the novel. What role do “unexpected helpers” play in Ginny’s transformation?
They play the role of being the hands and feet of Jesus, so to speak. They help her overcome doubts, fears, and the trauma that led her to the destructive relationship with her abusive fiancé. God put them in her path just to keep her on the path He sought for her.
The relationship between Ginny and her mother carries a lot of weight. What drew you to that dynamic?
Thankfully, my mother never abandoned me. She is an excellent mother. However, in my years as a writer, I’ve met people who struggle with past, very deep wounds caused by people who were supposed to protect them. In some cases, these traumas have led to self-destructive behaviors that have kept them, at least for a while, from pursuing the call on their lives. Forgiveness is key to wholeness and healing. It’s a message I discuss a lot—probably to remind myself of my own unforgiving heart.
I hope the series continues in other books. If so, where will the story take readers?
I’m writing another book now, but it tells the story of another fictional character, Lulu, who is grappling with the effects of a disintegrating family.
Author Links: GoodReads | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Website | Amazon
Ginny Carmichael feels trapped in her abusive relationship until an otherworldly visit ignites her determination to break free. With her baby daughter in tow, she embarks on a courageous road trip that not only takes her away from danger but also leads her to unexpected kindness, genuine connections, and profound forgiveness.
Along the way, she meets a compassionate waitress, a spirited aunt, and ultimately her estranged mother, who may hold the key to her healing. As Ginny approaches her destination-and the truth about her worth-she discovers that escape was never the destination. Wholeness was.
Second Chance Highway is a poignant tale of faith, friendship, and the path to restoration and redemption, and is the sequel to the award-winning Always Think of Me.
Double Jeopardy
How to Organise Inclusive Conferences and Workshops is not a conventional handbook on conference planning; rather, it is a serious, humane argument about what professional gatherings reveal about power, access, and belonging. Why was it important to state upfront that no conference can ever be fully inclusive?
I open the book with a statement that I felt had to come first: no conference or workshop can ever be fully inclusive. I chose to say this immediately, before anything else, because I wanted readers to understand that what follows is not a promise of perfection but an invitation to honest, sustained effort.
The reason I state this so plainly is that human needs are varied, complex, and dynamic. Some needs align, others conflict, and many shift over time. No amount of careful planning resolves all of these tensions, and I think it would be dishonest to suggest otherwise. I draw on Silverman’s concept of access friction to name what I had observed repeatedly in practice: that decisions made to improve inclusivity for one person or group can simultaneously create new barriers for others. Placing posters close together at a poster session reduces the distance some attendees must travel, yet risks sensory overload for others. Offering a hybrid format widens participation for people who cannot attend in person. However, this approach can unintentionally make the online participants feel quietly marginalised by the people able to physically attend. These are not failures of imagination or care. They are structural realities of human diversity, and pretending otherwise would undermine the very honesty this book depends on.
I also wanted to reframe what I was asking of organisers from the outset. Inclusivity, as I understand it, is not a destination. It is a continuous practice of asking, listening, adapting, and responding. That is why I deliberately chose not to offer checklists or quick fixes. I wanted readers to sit with the discomfort that inclusive practice can never be completed, and to commit to the work anyway.
Underlying all of this is something I feel strongly: the barriers people face, whether disability, caregiving, visa restrictions, or financial hardship, are not incidental. They are rooted in systemic inequality. Naming the impossibility of full inclusion is my way of insisting on moral seriousness rather than goodwill alone.
Which “invisible” barriers do organisers most often overlook?
There is often a particular kind of exclusion that happens in events that consider themselves inclusive. It is quieter than a missing ramp or a broken lift, and it is far more common.
The first is the hidden curriculum of professional gatherings. McCalmon, Ugiagbe-Green, and Mohammed-Chapman in Chapter 7 show how conferences reflect unwritten rules about tone, language, and behaviour that quietly privilege those already at home in institutional settings. People who are unfamiliar with these norms are not excluded loudly; they simply fade into the background, their contributions going unrecognised within spaces that claim to be open. They frame their chapter around three questions that sit at the heart of inclusion: who decides, who gets to rest, and what changes as a result.
Closely related is the invisible burden of advocacy. Clarke and Gagné in Chapter 2 show how the responsibility for arranging accommodations almost always falls on the person who needs them, consuming time, energy, and emotional resources in ways that function as a hidden form of exclusion others in the room rarely see. They argue that this begins earlier than most organisers realise, pointing to calls for papers and registration systems as gatekeeping mechanisms that routinely create accessibility barriers before a disabled scholar has even decided whether to attend.
There is also the question of time. Chapter 9, by Donald, Yarovaya, and Georgiadou, draws on research into timeism to show how rigid conference timelines marginalise people who need different rhythms of engagement, creating hidden hierarchies that go largely unacknowledged. People who need flexible arrangements often invest the most time simply to secure basic access, a form of double jeopardy that proactive design could dismantle.
Finally, there is the exclusion embedded in financial structures. Castelle and Ho in Chapter 6 are direct about this: affordability is rarely treated as an accessibility issue, yet cost is one of the most consistent barriers to participation. Tiered pricing, bursaries, and scholarship access, as modelled through the Cannexus conference, are not peripheral gestures but structural responses to a barrier most organisers leave unexamined.
What does it mean to design with disabled participants rather than for them?
For me, designing with disabled participants rather than for them is, at its heart, a question of power and not just practice.
The disability movement’s foundational principle, nothing about us, without us, runs as an ethical thread through the book. Clarke and Gagné in Chapter 2 establish this from the outset, arguing that accessibility must be built into every stage of conference planning rather than retrofitted in response to individual requests. They are clear that when diverse voices are not centred in planning and governance, professional development spaces risk reinforcing the very exclusionary norms they claim to challenge. Cook, Brown, and Beaumont-Bilsby in Chapter 3 extend this through their own lived experience as a wheelchair user, a neurodivergent pracademic, and an inclusive service design specialist. They argue that disability representation on organising committees is not a nicety but a structural necessity, and that systems which appear neutral, such as standard venue designs and funding structures, often reinforce exclusion precisely because they were not designed with diverse ways of moving, thinking, and participating in mind. Decisions made without disabled voices embedded in the planning process tend to produce accommodations that are reactive, inconsistent, and poorly communicated, turning participation into what they describe as a negotiation for survival rather than an opportunity for genuine engagement.
Paul Vincent, Soltani, and McAteer in Chapter 4 are direct about the limits of well- intentioned innovation: live captioning and hybrid formats have improved access in measurable ways, but without sustained investment and disabled input at the design stage, these solutions lack consistency. Crucially, they challenge the assumption that offering a remote option excuses an inaccessible venue. Face-to-face interaction matters, and disabled participants deserve access to it.
McCalmon, Ugiagbe-Green, and Mohammed-Chapman in Chapter 7 reframe the question entirely, asking who gets to decide what inclusion looks like in the first place. They argue that true inclusion must be grounded in justice and the redistribution of power, not merely representation or legal compliance. This means examining whose voices are prioritised in programme design, who carries the emotional and physical labour of making an event run, and who is asked to advocate for their own access while others simply participate. Designing with rather than for, in their framing, is ultimately about shifting that burden from individuals to institutions.
Lin-Stephens, Maze, Lau, and Chen, in Chapter 8, bring a different dimension through their Sustainable Professional Development model, which insists on co-creation with local partners rather than importing solutions from outside. Their experience organising the APCDA conference across Asia shows how cultural contexts shape what inclusion requires, and how assumptions embedded in Western-centric design can themselves become barriers.
Chapter 9 by Donald, Yarovaya, and Georgiadou synthesises this by framing inclusion as a shared responsibility rather than a service delivered to people who need it. The call is clear: when disabled scholars, international participants, caregivers, and others from underrepresented groups are genuinely welcomed and recognised rather than accommodated at the margins, it strengthens a shared sense of belonging for everyone in the room.
Which practical changes tend to have the most immediate impact on inclusion?
The question of which practical changes have the most immediate impact is answered most compellingly through the practitioner voices running through the middle and later sections of the book.
Foote, in Chapter 5, makes the strongest case for proactive communication as the single highest-impact step. Her accessibility package, a detailed, screen-reader-compatible document sent to attendees before the event, covers everything from parking routes and flooring types to lighting conditions and session engagement expectations. The insight behind it is simple: people cannot request accommodations they do not know are available, and they should not have to disclose a disability to access a well-designed event. Placing fidget toys on all tables rather than just in sensory kits, and reserving easy-access seating for anyone who wants it without requiring justification, are low-cost changes that normalise inclusion rather than marking it as exceptional. Foote also recommends providing later start times, earlier end times, and sufficient transition time between sessions, noting that this benefits not only attendees with mobility requirements but anyone who needs time to process information or prioritise self-care.
Castelle and Ho, in Chapter 6, demonstrate what this looks like at scale. The Cannexus conference treats financial access as an inclusion issue, not an afterthought, using tiered pricing, bursaries, and targeted scholarships to widen the pool of who can realistically attend. Their hybrid model, offering nearly full access to keynotes, workshops, and networking online, has proved especially beneficial for caregivers, people managing health conditions, and rural or international participants.
Lin-Stephens, Maze, Lau, and Chen, in Chapter 8, drawing on their experience organising the Asia Pacific Career Development Association conference, add that feedback mechanisms are themselves a practical inclusion tool and one that is frequently overlooked. Seeking input from people who did not attend, not just people who did, is how organisers begin to understand the barriers that prevented participation in the first place.
Donald, Yarovaya, and Georgiadou in Chapter 9 offer a useful frame for all of this: small, intentional actions matter. Inclusion does not require waiting for institutional policy or a new budget cycle. It begins with what an organiser chooses to do next, and those choices, made consistently and with the people most affected in mind, are how larger structural change builds momentum.
Anything else?
I’d just like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to the book. When I was first approached, the publisher asked if I would be the sole author. I am genuinely pleased and grateful that they agreed to my leading an edited collection instead, because it brought together far richer insights from a wider range of lived experience.
Finally, I’d like to thank the entire team at Literary Titan for the opportunity to share these additional reflections. I hope How to Organise Inclusive Conferences and Workshops will have a meaningful impact as we work together to build a more inclusive and sustainable ecosystem. Thank you.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website | LinkedIn | Amazon
With strong relevance to ongoing global conversations surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion, the book encourages constructive dialogue and provides innovative advice. Situated within contemporary career discourse, it is grounded in sustainable career ecosystem theory and aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Chapters cover a diverse range of inclusion-related experiences, prioritising respectful representation of individual narratives and affirming the importance of linguistic and cultural sensitivity. By offering strategies for inclusive event planning, it underscores the importance of proactive allyship, co-creation, and advocacy in dismantling systemic barriers to promote an inclusive and sustainable ecosystem for all.
How to Organise Inclusive Conferences and Workshops is a justice-oriented guide for those committed to cultivating genuinely inclusive environments, including academics and other professionals involved in planning and delivering these events. It is also an essential resource for students and scholars in education and business and management.
Quiet Recognition
The Worry Whisper follows a young girl who is anxious about reading aloud in class, and with the help of her little brother and grandmother, she learns how to manage her feelings. When did you first imagine the “worry whisper” as a bird?
The idea of the “worry whisper” as a bird came to me quite naturally—and, in many ways, from my own childhood.
I was an anxious child. I didn’t have the language for it then, but I remember how it showed up in small, everyday moments. I would overcompensate in ways that felt automatic—talking really fast when I was nervous, or doodling when what I actually wanted was to be quiet and still. There was always this subtle hum in the background, something I couldn’t quite name but could definitely feel.
When I began shaping the story, I wanted to give that feeling a form—something a child could see and relate to without fear. A bird felt right. It can appear unexpectedly, perch close by, and make itself heard in different ways—sometimes softly, sometimes more insistently. That’s what worry felt like to me. Present, persistent, but not something that needed to be chased away.
More than anything, I wanted children to understand that worry isn’t something to silence or fight. It’s something to notice, to understand, and to gently learn how to live alongside. The “worry whisper” as a bird wasn’t a single moment of invention—it was a quiet recognition of something I had known all along.
What inspired you to reframe worry as something to listen to rather than fight?
That shift came from both lived experience and reflection over time.
For a long time, I treated worry as something to get rid of—as if the goal was to silence it completely. But the more I paid attention, the more I realized that fighting it often made it louder. It would show up in different ways—restlessness, overthinking, that urge to rush through things or fill the silence. The resistance didn’t quiet it; it amplified it.
Over time, I began to see worry differently—not as an enemy, but as a signal. Something in me was asking for attention, for care, for a pause. When I stopped trying to push it away and instead listened, even briefly, it softened. Not because it disappeared, but because it felt acknowledged.
That perspective is what shaped The Worry Whisper. I wanted children to learn early what many of us figure out much later—that emotions don’t need to be battled to be managed. When we listen, we create space. And in that space, we regain a sense of steadiness and choice.
Why was it important that Aarya didn’t “defeat” her fear by the end?
It was important to me that Aarya didn’t “defeat” her fear because that’s not how emotions actually work—especially not for children.
Fear doesn’t disappear in a single moment of courage. It comes and goes. It changes shape. And sometimes, it shows up again right when we think we’ve moved past it. I wanted the story to reflect that reality in a gentle, honest way.
Growing up, I often felt like I was supposed to “get over” my anxiety—to be braver, quieter, more in control. But what I really needed wasn’t to defeat those feelings; it was to understand them. To know that I could feel nervous and still move forward. That both could exist at the same time.
With Aarya, the goal wasn’t to eliminate fear, but to change her relationship with it. She learns to notice it, to listen to it, and to not let it decide what she can or cannot do. That felt like a more meaningful kind of strength—one that children can return to again and again, long after the story ends.
What conversations do you hope this book sparks between children and adults?
I hope The Worry Whisper opens the door to quieter, more honest conversations—ones that don’t rush to fix, but instead make space to understand.
For children, I hope it gives them language for what they’re feeling. That they can say, “I think my worry whisper is talking,” instead of shutting down or acting out. And for adults, I hope it’s a gentle reminder to pause and listen—not just to the words, but to what sits underneath them.
I also hope it shifts the dynamic from problem-solving to connection. Instead of “How do we make this go away?” the conversation becomes “What is this feeling trying to tell us?” or “What might help you feel a little steadier right now?” Those are very different starting points.
And perhaps most importantly, I hope it normalizes these experiences. That a child sees they’re not alone in feeling this way, and an adult recognizes that what looks like resistance or avoidance might actually be a child asking for support—just not in words they’ve learned yet.
If the book can help even one family move from reacting to understanding, from fixing to listening, it has done what I hoped it would do.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website | Unscripted Growth | Instagram | Amazon
In The Worry Whisper, eight-year-old Aarya Bloom feels a quiet flutter in her chest — like a small bird tapping gently from inside. Tomorrow, she must read aloud in class. She loves stories. She loves words. But what if she makes a mistake? What if her voice disappears?
With the help of her playful little brother Kiyan and the gentle wisdom of Grandma Bloom, Aarya learns that worries aren’t enemies to fight — they are whispers reminding us that something matters.
Through lyrical storytelling, warm family moments, and beautifully relatable emotions, this heartfelt picture book helps children:
Understand what anxiety feels like in their bodies
Develop emotional awareness and self-compassion
Build confidence in speaking and trying new things
Practice calming techniques through reflection and imagination
Perfect for children ages 4–8, The Worry Whisper is ideal for:
Kids who struggle with performance anxiety or school fears
Parents looking to support emotional regulation
Classrooms teaching social-emotional learning (SEL)
Bedtime conversations about courage and resilience
Part of The Bloom Series, this story gently reminds young readers — and the adults who love them — that bravery isn’t the absence of fear. It’s learning to listen kindly… and still fly.
Includes reflective questions for children and a thoughtful message for adults to continue the conversation beyond the final page.
Because sometimes, a whisper can’t outshout a good laugh.
Generational Curses
Release & Be Free is an erotic anthology where desire becomes a gateway to healing, self-discovery, and freedom. Did you set out to write erotica with a spiritual dimension, or did that emerge naturally?
Great question. The answer is both. I was introduced to erotica writing by WAPUnleashed Publishing’s Facebook group years ago. I remember reading people’s stories and a comment, a woman said that they were just about sex, nothing else. And I was like, hmm. So I prayed on it and allowed God to work through me so we could create an erotic story with meaning, depth, and purpose. Which was very natural to me because all my writings have that spiritual element in them, no matter the genre I’m writing in. It’s intentional. Release & Be Free: An Enlightening Erotic Anthology was no different, the way it came out though, each story or scene was different, though, and inspired by my imagination, my life, personal experiences, and observation, all with divine assistance of course. For instance, “Mow Me Down,” I enjoy mowing lawns, and I started to connect with how lawn mowers cut grass that continuously needs to be cut, and that reminded me of generational curses, because I was going through learning and breaking some of my own at the time.
What did “liberation” mean to you when you began writing this collection?
Since Release & Be Free: An Enlightening Erotic Anthology is a collection of works written over numerous years, they all stem from my journey of wanting to be free to be me, like I was when I was in middle school before the noise, distractions, choices, and changes that growing up brought. Freeing myself from old habits, mindsets, and choices so that I could be the best Mother to my children, a good wife, focused on fulfilling my purpose without getting distracted, and loving myself in the way of support and encouragement that I’ve done for others for decades. Liberation also meant healing and forgiving, too. Ultimately, liberation meant I already have divine permission to be. Who I was. Who I am now. And who I am becoming. Daily.
The collection often treats body and spirit as inseparable. Were there specific experiences or influences that shaped that perspective?
I love this question. From my studying of the definition and etymology of spirit, along with years of living my life, helping others, and most importantly being open to higher learning from God. I’ve been shown that they are not separate. Spirit is inside of us, it is us, and one of the things that I was shown and that I teach is that the spirit is just one of our human functions, so to speak, that the body listens to, or follows, or chooses from. Our body follows the direction of our brain with our thoughts, our “heart” with our emotions (feelings), and our soul or spirit. The two need to be aligned, like one in thought, feeling, words, and spirit. When you are, your body follows, and that means less confusion, internal battles, or wars within yourself. More purposeful, intentional, and balanced living, from the head to the feet. We have our own spirit, or I should say the Creator’s spirit in us, which is why we can connect, sense, or see the spirit of others.
How has this book changed you as a writer, or what did you learn about yourself through writing it?
Release & Be Free: An Enlightening Erotic Anthology has joined the journey of me owning myself, being proud, and authentic about who I am and the work God has given me to do when it comes to intimacy. To help people remember and understand that sex is more than just sex. It is an exchange of energy; it has purpose, value, and importance. Therefore, it should be respected and talked about as such more, so that it won’t be abused anymore and used to hurt others.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website
Envision and Sculpt
Talisman: Halcyon centers around a man who has already experienced loss and betrayal and now faces an almost insurmountable conflict involving the multiverse and the search for truth. What is the most challenging aspect of writing a series?
I think, as a pantser, the biggest difficulty comes from not necessarily knowing the entire story or character arc. To be frank, I had NO idea I was going to wind up in the multiverse in Halcyon. Ha! I really didn’t. It just grew and ballooned into something far beyond my own comprehension, and I was running alongside the story, panting, just trying to keep up. I’m so pleased with how it turned out, however. You have to have at least an idea of where to take the characters. For me, one thing I really longed to do was to tie this series into my other series and standalone novels. Through references, common characters, etc., you can link them, but that doesn’t mean that this story will serve its own ends as a standalone. It has to be robust and weighty enough to do that. And where that comes from is really allowing you to get heavily invested in the lives and purposes of the protagonists. I think by the end, it all worked out pretty well. I’m pleased with it.
Many of your characters wrestle with identity across timelines or realities. What draws you to the idea of “alternate selves” as a storytelling device?
The idea for the alternate selves was there initially when I first toyed with going into the multiverse, which in and of itself wasn’t really until I was about a quarter of the way through writing Halcyon. I thought more along the lines of “Wouldn’t it be neat if…” as opposed to “I’m intentionally going to do __.” But yes – when a character is forced to come face to face with themselves, there’s a primeval awakening that happens in that confrontation. You either awake to purpose or you awake to despair, I think. It really depends on who that character is and what they decide, within themselves, they must do. My characters awoke to purpose because of the greater conflict they were embroiled in. Any time you incorporate a doppelgänger, there needs to be a closure that happens that allows both selves to depart in peace, having accomplished their mission and resuming their independent life. The multiverse allowed me that, but it was still difficult to envision and sculpt. I very much enjoyed the challenge!
Was there a particular scene or moment that changed your understanding of the story while you were writing it?
Absolutely. There is a character in the story that I really needed to complete an arc that was painful. There were also elements at the very end that I wasn’t sure it were necessarily ’safe’ to travel down… tie-ins with other novels of mine that would definitely bridge the gap and allow more of the “Aaronverse” to take shape, but would they inherently violate the canon of those stories in the writing of this one? I really wasn’t sure. The best I could do was to honor them each with good storytelling. The arc of the character, and the subsequent arc of the story as a whole, really helped me to see the larger picture of what I was writing. I think that’s the luxury of being a pantser: your eyes are opened in the writing just as much as your readers’ eyes will be opened in the reading.
Can we look forward to more work from you soon? What are you currently working on?
Definitely! I am currently working on my first overtly horror novel, Blood Echoes, set to be released in May. It is a standalone thriller. I do not have any plans to revisit the Dissonance hexalogy or The End or Talisman trilogies, but I do have hopes of constructing a fantasy novel to honor my primary literary inspiration, J.R.R. Tolkien. We’ll see if I’m finally courageous enough to do that, wink wink…. 🙂
Author Links: GoodReads | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Website | Amazon
Liam “Foxy” Mayfield never asked to be the Last Iskander, nor to wield a power that can tear the omniverse apart. But then he, Arion Peridifyca – the haunted hunter of the Iskander legacy – and Onyx Sleater, now the cosmic nexus Soteria, discover their grief has been weaponized by the alien Aeterium Axis, and their uneasy alliance becomes the only hope for countless worlds.
As Arion struggles to unite the 743 Iskanders he once betrayed, Soteria’s growing powers make her both a beacon and a battleground for the hearts of her companions. Liam, caught between love, loss, and the terrifying force of the Iskander’s Justice, must decide what he’s willing to sacrifice to end the Axis’s reign of servitude. Their journey leads to the Great Convocation on Proxima Centauri b, where ancient crimes are confessed and a fractured army must choose unity or vengeance. With a monstrous Grievefiend lurking in the multiverse guarding the key to their enemy’s stronghold and betrayal lurking in the shadows, the trio faces a war not just for freedom, but for the very fabric of reality.In an omniverse where grief is currency and trust is fragile, can three broken souls rewrite fate itself—or will their pasts consume them before the final battle begins?
Righteous Anger
In Silence follows a woman who is no stranger to violence, who returns home to find the dynamic she once knew vastly different, and finds herself opening her heart in ways she never intended. Where did you find the inspiration for Zara’s traits and dialogue?
I think there was an aspect of Zara that mirrored my own experiences (I was not almost murdered in the snow, but I have had multiple times when I thought I was going to die for health reasons). The difference was that I gave Zara the support and comfort I was never brave enough to reach out for. I think part of Zara’s silence was inspired by my own when I was at my most frightened. I refused to seek out comfort or help because I thought it made me weaker, and I think you can see that in Zara.
The story widens from a tight survival narrative into something closer to a sweeping character drama. How did you manage that expansion in scope?
A part of me wanted to write this thriller and have the bad guy get what he deserved in the end, with a lot of action and righteous anger. When I took a step back, I realized that, in real life, you can spend months or years (like Zara did) fighting for justice, and then it takes like ten minutes to wrap it up, and it usually happens without drama. I always knew I was going to write the capture of the bad guy in a somewhat unsatisfying way, but I wanted to give the readers Zara’s story, not just her survival.
The novel balances brutality with tenderness. How did you ensure one didn’t overwhelm the other?
By asking my betas where it felt like too much, and by keeping in touch with how the scene made me feel when I listened to it versus when I read it. Some parts may feel slightly overdone, but I think those were the ones I decided were worth it because, in the end, it is fiction, and I get to do what I want.
Was there a particular scene that was especially difficult—or especially important—for you to write?
Honestly, I’ve gotten some comments along the lines of Zara’s family being too much. And, while I can agree that it does prolong the story, it was necessary for me. My family is such a huge and important part of my life, and I was kinda tired of reading books where the found family was found because the real family was terrible. I wanted to write something where family mattered as much as action, without dramatizing the family. The last chapter also kinda hurt. I reworked it so many times, trying to come up with a different ending, but it just didn’t happen.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website | Amazon
In darkness, I was seen
Bella had expected things to be different when she came home for her grandma’s funeral, but nothing could have prepared her for how different it would be.
Not only had her grandparents taken in a local Park Ranger, their lives had been filled with people and traditions Bella is no longer a part of.
Despite her surprise, Bella is immediately taken with the ranger whose scars run deeper than the eye can see. Her sympathy and grief war with her desire to know everything about the mysterious stranger.
Before she can learn more, the man who haunts Zara’s past returns, and Zara descends into silence.
With bodies piling up and threats escalating, will Bella’s attraction put her in danger, or will it be the lifeline Zara so desperately needs to keep her past from pulling her back into the shadows?
The Weight of Our Choices
Vendetta: Legend of the Iron Warrior, Vol. 3 follows a fallen hero who is pulled back into a war between heaven and hell, forcing him to confront his past, his faith, and his failures as he decides whether redemption is earned through power or sacrifice. How does Vol. 3 deepen or challenge Travis’s sense of identity compared to earlier books?
Volume 3 peels back the layers of The Iron Warrior like an onion. Volume 1 is the introduction, where we get introduced to him and gain an understanding of who he is. Volume 2 takes it another step up, where he must confront the darkness in him. As challenging as those obstacles were, there was still very much left in the man underneath the armor. Candace attacks him at the levels that no one is supposed to know about. His darkest secrets are exposed. So that leads to the question he has to face throughout the book. What happens when every bit of you is exposed? There is truly nowhere for him to run. It’s one thing to be a public figure, but it’s another when every part of your being is displayed for the world to see. Now he must choose if he should try to be the man he is expected to be or be the broken man he is without worrying about what everyone thinks. We all face that challenge in life. If we are truly aware of ourselves, can we choose the higher choice all the time. And at what point do we break down from the weight of our choices?
Candace Loveless is driven by something deeply personal. What makes her more than just an antagonist?
Candace was introduced in Volume 1: Slaying Paradise. Every scene with her became so much more. It sounds weird, but her voice was so easy to hear. There is so much life in who she is. She felt powerful. Candace is a fully realized person. Because there is so much to her, she can’t fall simply into one category. She is a well-rounded woman with so much more story to tell.
The novel reframes greatness as service rather than glory. When did that idea become central?
That was born in the moments when service is spoken about. Many of us chase greatness and the glory that comes with it. We’ll do things in hopes of attaining that attention, but when you truly look at what makes those who are great, you see service. Unapologetic service to someone or something else. They are unmoved by what they do, and their works capture our attention. It’s their service to others and what they give that we are drawn to. Those who serve the most, who give the most, are the greatest because it shows us what is possible. They become the ones whom we can strive to be. They become the example. Greatness for the sake of glory is worthless. Service is greatness. That is what’s remembered.
What does this volume reveal about the long-term journey of The Iron Warrior?
The Iron Warrior has been tested inside and out. Volume 3 was originally meant to be the end of the story, but Candace changed that. She brought so much to the table that the story with her deserved to stand on its own. The second half of this story literally takes us to hell, Brimstone, where it will end. We’re going to follow The Iron Warrior, who is almost a completely different man from whom we met in Slaying Paradise. It’s taking a man who is potentially at his most reckless and throwing him into a place where his nature will be right at home. A volatile man in a place where there are no limits. What’s the worst that can happen?
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
A new enemy, Candace Loveless, knows every secret Travis buried and is determined to destroy him from the inside out. His reputation is destroyed. His allies begin to question him. His faith is pushed to the breaking point.
Now, Travis must face an enemy who knows his past, exploits his weaknesses, and forces him to confront the man beneath the armor.
Vendetta: Legend of the Iron Warrior Vol. 3 delivers cinematic action, emotional conflict, and supernatural warfare in a dark superhero noir fantasy readers have compared to The Batman and City of Bones.
