Dissonance Vol IV: Relentless follows the plight of humanity in its fight against alien invaders and the daunting task of rebuilding a decimated world. What was the initial idea behind this story, and how did that transform as you were writing the novel?

I really felt there was no continuation of the story after Dissonance Volume III: Renegade. I honestly thought I was done. But ultimately, I confess that I left the door open to a sequel with some elements at the end of Dissonance Volume III: Renegade, it was probably inevitable that I continue it. Additionally, I have some rather rabid fans that pressed me to continue it. They were, ahem, relentless. I knew that if I did another one, I wanted to incorporate elements of the backstory of the gorgons, why they came, and more specifically, where they were from. Those were unsolved mysteries from the previous five books. Additionally, I knew that I wanted to structure the narrative along the lines of a CTU episode of 24 with Keifer Sutherland, fused with some hard sci-fi verbiage and research such as that from Contact, Deep Impact, Armageddon, etc. I wanted there to be a sense of impending dread. There were also characters in Dissonance Volume III: Renegade that really required some more final closure than I had previously afforded them, and so Dissonance Volume IV: Relentless was my chance to bring that closure to pass. It evolved…it turned into one heckuva thrill ride of tension and growing pessimism, and the stakes grew ever higher as you went. Additionally, there were elements of the gorgons that I still felt I could flesh out that would give some of the previous story some incredible weight, retroactively.

What was one scene in the novel that you felt captured the morals and message you were trying to deliver to readers?

I am personally a big fan of verbal jousting between two pivotal characters. The dialogue between the new president Cardona and the deposed president Graham was utterly fascinating to me…utterly motivating to me…and utterly thrilling to write. I loved how they played off each other. I loved the dynamics of the final fight, and how Cardona uses the gorgon’s own power against them.

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?

Again, I just felt really compelled to write a la 24 with Jack Bauer, and wanted it to be a political thrill ride juxtaposed with an inbound repeat gorgon threat. I think setting it in a demolished Washington DC that was being rebuilt (as the rest of the world was) was a great setting. It’s also so tragic: in the middle of rebuilding, here they come again. That overwhelming sense of disappointment and dejection resulting from such a revelation played throughout, and I think I handled it pretty well. That disappointment and dejection would have played the same anywhere I had set them on the planet. It would be planetarily felt and shared.

Where do you see your characters after the book ends?

I think they’re done! I’ve wrestled with this and genuinely feel that the story is over. I mean, how many times can gorgons repeatedly attack Earth before we have to turn inward and start exploring our poor management of our defenses and perhaps just roll over and give up? It would grow entirely repetitive. I did the story, I did two prequels and a sequel. Dissonance is done, and I’m VERY proud of it. VERY proud of it. It’s an incredibly robust hexalogy and I’m so privileged and humbled that I got to be the one to write it!

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