Why do you write the books you do?

I’ve been asked many times, “Why do you write the books you do?”

My answer is simple: I write the books I want to read.

Not everyone will like my books. Those who like one book may not like another. I accept that, and I will continue to write books I enjoy reading.

Northern Survival is not like Natural Selection. Northern Survival is for adults and focusses on adult issues: marriage, divorce, betrayal, kids, lost love, survival. The characters are adults in their 50s who have lived different lives but have both experienced the cruelty of people, ones they initially trusted. There is cursing, cruel words exchanged and mild sex.

Natural Selection, on the other hand, can be read by anyone 14 and up. In fact, mature youth as young as 12 years old can read it. Two of the main characters are in their early 20s. They’re naïve, have never had a serious relationship and have no children. They have not been made cynical about love by past experiences. There is no cursing, cruel words or sex.

Northern Survival is a story that actually might happen; it’s based on reality. Natural Selection is a story that will probably never happen; it’s based on an idea of where mankind might end up.

Northern Survival revolves around two individuals surviving in the wilderness. Natural Selection revolves around rebuilding the world after devastating mistakes made by governments and society. There are characters who supported the practices of modern society even after the destruction it caused, and there are others who want to erase these people from existence. Given the life and death circumstances, some practices and people are dealt with harshly because survival of the human race is the goal. Unfortunately, at times this involves politics, something I try to keep out of my stories. Yet, in this story, it was impossible since politics is the reason for the destruction of the modern world.

One of the main characters, James Proctor, has these thoughts:

It still baffled him after all these decades that in a world with billions of people, those who rose to the top in government were incompetent at best, demons when given no accountability. A position of power was meant for the wisest and most considerate, yet the presidents and prime ministers of the world had been far from that. His father, who had been born in 1976, had said it best regarding the presidents of his country in the decades leading up to the Devastation: Of the millions of people in the US, this was the best we had to offer. At this point, he’d shake his head. We’d have been better off putting the name of every citizen in a hat and drawing one at random.

If either of these stories interest you, you can find them on Amazon: Northern Survival – Natural Selection.