Jigsaw: Powder Keg flips between timelines, ancient Persia, WWI and WWII Europe, post-Holocaust Italy, 1950s Alabama, and even Victorian England, while weaving together a massive, complex tale of shadowy global conspiracies, time travel, and supernatural battles. What was the inspiration that created the fantastic journey these characters go on?

I wanted to write a book that especially focused on the events leading up to Pre World War One not normally dealt with in great detail in general high school history textbooks. Jigsaw Powder Keg, like all my books, is designed to appeal to and educate readers from mature middle school level on up. The other historical and religious/mythological events covered in the book like those in Ancient Persia, Post Holocaust Italy, and 1950’s Alabama are also not regularly known and I wanted readers to be aware as well as see our major characters in action. The scene with the time-traveling dog, Nicki, uncovering the identity of Jack the Ripper, was kind of a back in pilot to my Adventures of Moly: Time Traveling Dog series.

I felt that the action scenes were expertly crafted. I find that this is an area that can be overdone in novels. How did you approach this subject to make sure it flowed evenly?

Great question. I generally outline the chapters and map the action sequences out before writing the first draft. For me, dialog is also a great mover of the action. I am also greatly aided by a very good line editor, Natalie Bavar, who is a great partner in smoothing out and polishing these scenes.

Did you find anything in your research of this story that surprised you?

That the photographer, Gordon Parks, who was being persecuted in 1950’s Alabama was not widely known. I actually found out about him while doing a reading activity with second graders in the elementary school where I am an Instructional Assistant and I thought after reading about him that this would make a great scene in the book with the Antonia and Rene characters.

Another area that kind of surprised me was that the Italian-Libyan War revealed to other powers at the time that the Ottoman Empire was truly “The Sick Man of Europe” and Italy’s defeat of it motivated other powers like Serbia to take advantage of that situation in the resulting Balkan Wars which also led to World War One.

Can you tell us more about what’s in store for Temporal Guardian Foundation and the direction of the next book?

The next two books in this story arc are out. The first is Jigsaw Sonora which deals with our time-traveling heroes thwarting an attempt by Global Harmony to take the United States out of World War One by staging a border war, an attack on Wall Street, and a Zeppelin bombing raid over Tucson with a bioweapon. The second, Jigsaw Shadow Ball deals with the Guardians saving the creation of The Negro Leagues and the integration of Major League Baseball with Larry Doby and the Cleveland Indians. The final book in this arc, Jigsaw: Temporal Apocalypse is coming out in 2026 and will deal with the end of World War One in Bulgaria and the post-war conflicts and incidents in Russia/Poland and Fiume.

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