Nina’s Whisper follows a successful pediatrician who becomes entangled in a tumultuous relationship with a woman that descends into a harrowing exploration of manipulation, abuse, and partner violence. What are some things that you find interesting about the human condition that you think make for great fiction?

I find the everyday-ness of being human really interesting. When I write, I get excited about figuring out how to turn the mundane into a moving story, almost in the way Tracy Chapman’s song Fast Car does. It’s just actual lived experience, but told in a way that resonates emotionally. I also think the contradictions we all hold as humans make for great fiction. Telling a story that forces people to choose where they stand on an issue or situation, through the contradictions of a character, is something I find super interesting. I strive to do that in a compelling way and move people the same way music does.

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

Themes that were important for me to explore in Nina’s Whisper were what abuse can look like emotionally, and the wide spectrum of what domestic abuse actually is, outside of just “this person hit that person.” I wanted to help people understand that you can be in an abusive relationship and not know it, because of how you define abuse or because of what society paints as a picture of abuse, which is typically a man abusing a woman.

Writing this book, and me personally living through the actual experience, because it’s based on real-life events, I realized that abuse is something that’s hard to see when it doesn’t look like the stereotype we see in media or everyday narratives. There are high rates of domestic abuse in same-sex relationships, and it doesn’t get talked about enough. I think it’s important to show the spectrum of how these issues present themselves. For me, exploring my lived experience was important for my own healing, but also to help someone else out there, someone who this book may free, who this book may give clarity to.

What is the next book that you are working on, and when can your fans expect it to be out?

I have a book with my agent right now – it’s a historical nonfiction children’s book. I also have an unpublished book that’s written in the same tone as Nina’s Whisper—very character-driven and emotionally resonant. I’ve been working on that one, called Start Where You Stand, for three or four years now. It’s almost ready, but not quite. I think it has strong potential for a film adaptation, which I also hope Nina’s Whisper will have one day. I have a nonfiction book under contract right now, that will be out in the Spring of 2026 and hopefully I can start promoting that as soon as the publisher gives me the greenlight – this book is in the vein of some of my other scholarly work like Encyclopedia of Black Comics. 

I also publish a comic strip called Rent Free on my website. If I can stick with it, that could definitely become a collection in book form. That would probably take a couple of years, but I’m excited about the possibility.

And finally, I just pitched a middle-grade book to a publisher this month. It’s about an introspective young kid in Philadelphia trying to find himself and embrace who he is—despite all the signals telling him to be someone else. It’s a coming-of-age story that takes place over the course of one day.

So, I’m always working on something. I enjoy having books in different stages of the process. Just to recap: I’ve got a book that my agent is pitching, a book under contract coming out in 2026, one that’s 85% finished and almost ready to be pitched, one that I know won’t be ready for a couple of years, and one that’s already been pitched to a publisher but hasn’t gotten the green light yet. I’ve realized I’m in a mature place in my writing career, where I can see the beauty in having multiple projects at different stages of production so I can stay ready.

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