Magenta Skies follows Reo and others as they fight to gain control against the first inhabitants of Titan. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

The set up of this story has been years in the making, a solid idea that has grown over the past decade or so. I start with a concept or theme, then build around that. I tackle every book differently, but for this I separated it into essential parts. The first being to develop a plot that has its own looming presence within the narrative. The next, to develop characters and carry some over from the prequel novel. Then lastly, find a way to inject the story with an intense sense of realism. To execute this, my inspiration came from my personal love of anime, sci-fi, and psychology, utilising all forms of media for my research; from tv shows to movies, books, fiction and nonfiction alike, soaking everything up to form a cohesive plot that fits with the overall lore.

Reo is an intriguing and well-developed character. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?

Thank you for saying so.

To develop Reo there were a multitude of factors I had to consider. One was his internal struggles as a disabled teenager with special abilities – navigating his way through a futuristic world. The other was showing his overwhelming grief, and how that presents itself externally. A further contribution to Reo’s development was his identity, highlighting the source of his powers. All characters should deal with some form of conflict. For Reo this comes from his own blood, his heritage, his ancient ties to the supernatural, which in turn affects his actions and decisions throughout the novel. Then came his desire for revenge. This propels him forward, giving him a sense of purpose, even in the midst of his suffering.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

For me theme starts with the challenging questions. What impact does trauma have on a person’s life? What happens to a person that feels rejected by family or society? If the world were at an end, and we needed those same people to save us, how would that come to be?

Honestly, this was the hardest book I’ve written, because to find those answers I could not plot the development of the characters, but rather, let them take the wheel. I remember watching a tv show called Mind Hunters, where the FBI agents create a psychological profile of the serial killers they interview. This fascinated me, as I’m sure it did many others, but I couldn’t understand why. Yes the tv show is well made, well written, well directed, etc, but there is something quite interesting, yet equally menacing, when facing evil and asking why it would cause such harm to innocent people. If you’ve ever watched an Ed Kemper or Jeffrey Dahmer interview you know exactly what I mean. What they did was horrific, but when they were asked why they committed such acts, their answers were even more haunting and tragic, because in another life would things have been different? Some believe people are inherently evil, and the very nature of evil is to harm others, but I realised there are many variations of the word, some universal, some personal. I wanted to explore this further in a Dark Fantasy/Sci-Fi setting. As you can imagine, this led me down the rabbit hole of what we as a society depict as immoral, what level of it do we tolerate, what acts are redeemable and what are not. Instead of the serial killer being incarcerated and that being the end of their journey, I sought a deeper understanding. Consequently, I had the mammoth task of trying to present these philosophical questions to the reader, connecting these damaged characters to gigantic, manmade creatures known as Kyojins, and seeing how that would play out if the human race needed such unstable people.

What can readers expect in book four of the Universe Of The Trinity Arc series?

I will be re-releasing a standalone novel that is tied to this universe, set on Earth in 2006. As for book four, all I can say is, expect the unexpected!

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