Please visit my website at http://alterranlegacy.com
2. When did you decide to become a writer and why? I was at a stopping point in my career and took some time to think about what I really wanted to do. I loved the creative parts of my job (starting internet companies/building web applications) and wanted to do something where I could spend most of my day actually making something that had a positive impact on people's lives.
3. As a reader, what is your favorite genre? Sci-fi.
4. Who is your favorite author? Tough one. I like too many to list!
5. Your bio also says that you spent two years researching The Atlantis Gene. Where did you look for inspiration? News articles, strangely. I've always been fascinated with human origins and the breakthroughs in understanding how the human genome has changed over time. I started with a mystery that really intrigued me: 70,000 years ago, the human race almost went extinct. From that population bottleneck, humanity exploded in number and range. Some crucial change in brain wiring occurred that gave us a competitive advantage over all the other hominid species alive at the time. That little mystery got me thinking and The Atlantis Gene took shape from there.
6. Did you have an interest in ancient history before beginning your research? Definitely. Even as a kid, I was really into history.
7. In a Kirkus article published in July 2013, you are quoted saying that you had spent only about $18 on marketing. Yet your novel has developed quite a following. To what do you attribute your success? Do you think that readers are trying to make sense of our lost past? I think so. I think people are naturally curious about where we come from, how civilization got to this point so quickly, and where it all might go. Those questions are at the heart of the series, and it offers some answers that are fun to think about.
8. Why do you think the ancient Atlanteans had technology even more advanced than we have? I will have to direct readers to The Atlantis World for that answer. :)
9. The Immari resemble the Illuminati. Did you intend a religious connotation? I didn't. I actually wanted to use made-up organizations to avoid any issues (as others have had by naming actual organizations). I try to learn from others' mistakes (as well as my own!).
10. Autism is important to your story. Has your research led you to believe that this condition has a role to play in human evolution? I worked closely with several Autism research organizations in my past career, and I think we're on the cusp of a major breakthrough in our understanding of Autism. I personally believe Autism is simply a difference in brain wiring and that the human mind periodically adjusts its brain wiring to see if an advantage arises. Some minds that are at a perceived disadvantage today could be the leaders of tomorrow.
11. In The Atlantis Plague, heroine Kate saves the human race from a pandemic. The description of your latest novel, The Atlantis World, hints at extra-terrestrial contact and that we will discover the truth about the Atlantean homeworld. Is there more than you can tell us? The Atlantis World follows Kate, David, and a team of scientists as they try to decipher a signal from space and unravel the mystery behind a new threat to the human race. We see the rise and fall of the Atlantean homeworld and how they came to be on Earth as well as their history with an ancient enemy.
12. Is this really the series finale? Yep. There's some talk about fan fiction, and I think that would be great.
13. What do you hope readers will take away from reading your series? A burning curiosity. A desire to learn more about where we came from and what our future might look like. I think it's healthy to ask those questions. The first two books are about humanity's past. The third (The Atlantis World) is about what our future might look like if we're not careful.
14. Will you be starting a new novel or series? If so, what genre? I'm working on a new series. It will also be a sci-fi thriller.
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