Blood Dagger: Thomas Berenford Chronicles follows a warrior visiting a small fishing village to relax who winds up being pulled into several jobs involving what he calls pest control. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

The story was inspired by one of my favorite movies, The Godfather. I imagined Berenford in a turf war between competing crime syndicates. Instead of mob bosses and their families, the story includes madams, magians, and an assassin that’s part man, part centipede. And violence, lots of it. One of my goals is to experiment with different genres.

I find the world you created in this novel brimming with possibilities. Where did the inspiration for the setting come from and how did it change as you were writing?

Big reveal here! The setting for Berenford’s travels takes place in a world that’s 100% geographically identical to this world. Same oceans, seas, rivers; same continents, mountain ranges, and valleys. The human element is completely different, of course. With that foundation, I followed the character’s footsteps, going east to west, and placed him on what would be, in this world, the southern United States. New Orleans, to be exact. Changes did take place as I was writing. Lore was added, plot points were written and rewritten, and characters revealed.

Your characters are well-developed and engaging, keeping readers hooked on your story. What character did you enjoy writing for? Was there one that was more challenging to write for?

Berenford was fun to write, especially when he struggled, which was often. Readers are attracted to heroes and heroines with flaws. The hardest character was the centipede demi assassin. His voice changed a few times. The danger with a character that demonic was to portray it in a trite, superficial manner. I’m not sure I succeeded.

When will book 2 be available? Can you give us an idea of where that book will take readers?

Actually, the next book will be the third book released, but since The Thomas Berenford Chronicles have not been written in order, I hesitate to call it book 2. In any case, The Broken Coil will tentatively be released at the end of 2024. It will take readers westward, with vistas of mountains, prairies, and blue skies that go on forever. And monsters. Sounds like the western genre, doesn’t it? With monsters!

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