Smuggler’s Love follows a space smuggler navigating a web of intrigue and ruthless gangsters who is trying to keep himself and the woman he loves safe from assassins and other unsavory types. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

So the Reese Daniels Smuggler series is a prequel novella/novelette series for my Epherium Chronicles novel series. I wanted to use as a way to get readers engaged in the events before the novels started, especially the alien invasion. Reese Daniels is such a fun character and I wanted to use his stories as fast-paced action-packed adventures to paint more of a picture for the sci-fi world I had created. With Smuggler’s Love, readers get to experience more of the intrigue in Reese’s life, both from the criminals and from the law enforcement members of EDF Security.

What was the inspiration for the relationship that developed between Reese and Irina?

When I created Reese’s character, he was a free spirit, but he has a protective side. Ever since the tragic death of his parents, he’s been extremely protective of his younger sister and when it comes to relationships, they never really last. In the previous story, Smuggler’s Guilt, Irina Almora enters his life, unexpectedly and presenting a connection he wasn’t prepared for. In Smuggler’s Love, that relationship blooms, but he falls into the same pattern of wanting to protect Irina and she’s someone who has grown up in a life surrounded by dangerous people. It’s an interesting and powerful dynamic which presents challenges for them both. Mix in trouble from both their pasts and you have a wild ride ahead.

The science inserted in the fiction, I felt, was well-balanced. How did you manage to keep it grounded while still providing the fantastic edge science fiction stories usually provide?

As an engineer, I always want to present a sense of realism in my writing. Having the science in science fiction enhances the story, much like The Expanse series and books like Old Man’s War present. The trick I have found is to not to get trapped in exposition to explain it. Give the feel, the effect, and the visual then let the reader’s imagination take it from there.

I hope the series continues in other books. If so, where will the story take readers?

I have several more books in this series planned. The next is called, Smuggler’s Loss. Reese, still struggling with the loss of Irina, takes on a new risky set of jobs that put him in conflict with a new enigmatic group called The Collective. His sister, Gracie, will have a much more involved role in this story and characters like Grimm, Jax, and Maya Greywalker will return.

Readers can also follow some new stories about characters from Reese’s first adventure, Smuggler’s Valor. The Marine cadets he saved have graduated and begin their first mission in a story called Titan’s Hell: A Black Watch Regiment Story. It is part of a newly released anthology on Amazon titled, The Expanding Universe Volume 10.

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Relationships and smuggling are tricky business, and for Reese Daniels tricky is a steep slope to disaster.
Enter Irina Almora, niece to mobster Gideon Almora, the same man Reese helped bring down a few months ago. While on a simple delivery to Mars, Reese and Irina become the targets of assassins, security, and other unsavory types who want Irina for who she is and what she knows.
Short on friends and his enemies list growing, Reese must navigate a tangled web of intrigue and ruthless gangsters to keep them both alive.