Sour Apples follows a young boy from a small town who navigates childhood and explores all that this time in his life has to offer. What was the inspiration for your story?

A simple structured tree fort growing up fuels my memories of a simpler time, that era and way of life when children bonded friendships and dealt with heartaches over exploring and wonderment. Those times are mere memories for those who grew up back then. Children barely glimpse that type of life anymore. It is a lost civilization. Those memories evoke a very powerful emotion, nostalgia.

Jimmy is a character many readers will relate to. Are there any emotions or memories from your own life that you put into your character’s life?

This is a wonderfully appropriate question. Jimmy and his friends each take with them a characteristic from me and they develop on their own from those attributes. Jimmy is eager, determined, and vulnerable. Dave is cool and confident, a leader. Kevin is enthusiastic but not the brightest, and Chad aloof and chilled. They really are just one person developed on their own from the main elements they hailed from. I also grew up with a tree fort, watched my brother and his friend dissect a snake, and was terrified of the twin girls in my neighborhood. The baseball scenes were all fictitious and based only on my imagination but I grew up in a wonderful baseball environment where I learned to love the sport. Those scenes were merely based on my love of the game.

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

Friendships, new and old, and how they develop. Trust, Jimmy had a wonderful sense of who and what to trust. He was most proud that he knew to trust his instincts. Exploring the unbeaten path, which was every child’s desire. Hating to read, the story opens up on this theme and carries itself along quite well. Jimmy often thought, “You can’t make this up in a book” even though he was made up himself. I truly hate to read, and poked fun of it all but my goal is to change the mindset of many who feel the same way. And let’s not forget girls. At that age, it was a precarious situation. It only took one instant to flip a boy’s mind.

Will this novel be the start of a series, or are you working on a different story?

A series is absolutely in the works. I was writing book two, Just A Bitter Taste, as I prepared for the launch of Sour Apples. It has been completed. It will go through a series of edits and then be submitted to my publisher. Book three in this series leaps forward several years and needs a heavy rewrite. It was the first to be written. Having developed my skills since then it will be rewritten. If an idea for a story comes to light, I have no problem making this a four-book series. The characters will appreciate that, knowing they won’t be dying off anytime soon.

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