I have been working hard on book two of the series. Right now, it is down to line edits. I fire up a cigarette, pour a whisky, and get to work. The book itself is much more expansive. We see Noor take up the work of Sidus, as she doubles down on the genocide, and expunge all of the undesirables in her kingdom. I have thought about this often, the brutality of it, and have examined my own totalitarian instincts, and the answer is uncomfortable.

I have seen the tent cities sprawled across our cities, and have often wished someone would just do something: put them in in prison, wash them all with a fire hose, and get rid of them. It is expedient, and spares the rest of us the horror.

The first book made me uncomfortable. There is so much of Nazi Germany in it: the book burnings, the burning of the hovels, even the bracelets which scream, uncompliant, are my version of a Jewish star sewn on the breast jacket.

I have to live with these uncomfortable notions, because I believe the world I have created is entirely probable. Prophetic even.