Mystical Force: Volume 2 Angels and Demons follows the story of a human and a demon that fall in love and must figure out how to survive in a world where their love is forbidden. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?

There wasn’t so much a specific incident or event that inspired me, it was more the general idea of prejudice. I’ve always like works such as “Star Trek” or “X-men” which used aliens, mutants or other species as a metaphor for our relations with each other, be it race, gender or sexual orientation. It always amazes me that even in this day and age there still seems to be this divide in our world, this attitude of “our kind against their kind”. Many people are beginning to realize that we are all one, that race, religion, gender, sexual orientation ultimately don’t matter. Unfortunately there are still those out there who still see those who don’t conform to their rigid, dogmatic views on such matter as enemies. It’s especially hypocritical when religion preaches such intolerance. It’s amazing (and frankly sad) how much shame we as a society, have created around love, yet we have no problems with violence and hatred. As the character Jimomaru says in the book, “[People] claim to value freedom of speech yet when someone says something they don’t agree with, they’re quick to do everything they can to silence them! They claim to value the right to choose, yet are intolerant of those who make different choices than them!”

What were the morals you were trying to capture while creating your characters?

1. That we are all one and that by teaching people to fear and hate those who are different we are essentially teaching people to fear and hate ourselves. We’re only giving others more reasons to fear and hate us.
2. That we were given free will to use it, not to blindly follow the teachings of others. That’s the main thing about the series. You’ve got characters like Shi-ria, Mystic and Noonien who make their own choices in life, they decide for themselves what’s right and what’s wrong. By contrast you’ve got the Order of the Cross which teaches blind dogmatism, “This is the way God wants it! Don’t question it, just accept it!” This is essentially the inner conflict that Sister Rose has to deal with throughout the series. The Order continually tells her one thing while her heart, her conscience tells her something else.

Can you tell us where the next book goes and where we’ll see the characters in the next book?

Volume 3: The Kolri and the Koldar, was actually published before I found out about Literary Titan, so it’s already available. That one specifically focuses on Shi-ria and the Taman Knights. We get to see her home world of Thalia and learn more about the Taman Knights as well as their dark counterparts the Koldar Warriors. It shows more about Shi-ria’s religion and the contrast between it and Sister Rose’s. It’s like comparing Catholic nuns to Shaolin monks. Also, Volume 4: Many are 1, 1 is 0 has just recently come out. Which introduces a new character called 0 (Zero), a mad god with omnipotent powers who loves causing chaos for his own amusement.

Hollywood is knocking and they want to make your book into a TV series. Who do you cast as the leads?

To be perfectly honest I’ve never really given it much thought. Personally I’ve always wanted to do it as an animated adaption, in a Japanese anime style. I know that many people in America (and my country Canada) are still stuck in this idea that animation = children’s program, thus many would insist that Mystical Force is inappropriate for children, no matter how many times you tell them it’s not targeted for kids. I’ve always been concerned about letting the Hollywood studio system get their hands on my work. It’s the same old story, “We love your series, but we feel the only way to make it a hit is to change everything about it.” The last thing I want is a bunch of suits changing Mystical Force to the point where the only thing the TV series and the books have in common are the title. As far as who should play the main characters, I’ve never really thought about, “Oh [celebrity X] would be perfect for Shi-ria. Oh [actress Y] would make a great Sister Rose.” Maybe I’m the exception instead of the rule, but I watch movies and TV shows because I’m a fan of the work itself, not because it stars [insert celebrity name here].

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