Please tell us a little about yourself and your book, Ares.

I’m a multi-award-winning author of two SF novels, Infernum and Ares. I’m also a tech entrepreneur—my software has won multiple awards, including “App of the Year” from NeXTWORLD Magazine. I founded several software companies, sold one to Netscape, and retired (the first time) before I turned 30.

For me, computers were always a creative outlet—a blank screen where I could build something cool. My startups gave me that freedom, but working at Google on the Chrome browser, not so much. Around 2018, I went looking for a new creative outlet and found it in writing science fiction.

As far as my approach to writing, I believe fiction should be more than just words on a page—it should grip the reader and not let go. Some books take 50 pages to get interesting. Mine take one sentence. Some authors ease the reader in. I throw them into the fire. Every scene pushes forward. Every word matters. My stories are designed to make the reader turn the page—not out of obligation, but because they have to know what happens next.

But these aren’t just thrill rides. My stories captivate because they mean something. They challenge the reader, make them think, make them feel. They force them to wrestle with the big questions—about humanity, the cosmos, the future—not in a way that slows the story down, but in a way that makes it unforgettable. My latest novel, Ares, is a page-turner about the first manned mission to Mars, but it’s also more than that. It’s about leadership, sacrifice, and the persistence of human flaws.

How did you create/acquire the cover art?

Both the Mars background and the space capsule are stock images, though for future novels, I plan to use AI to generate these individual art components. I found the fonts online; there are a lot out there with a futuristic feel. My goal with the design was to drive home the desolation of the world they were arriving at—and how everything keeping them alive in that moment existed in that fragile little capsule. I’m really happy with how the cover turned out; it won an award for the design.

How has critical and/or reader response influenced the way you think about your work?

Infernum was pure space opera, while Ares leans more to what you might call grounded science fiction. At some point, I realized that fans of one aren’t always fans of the other—which made me aware that I’m writing for two distinct fan bases. Eventually, I’ll have to swing back to a space opera, perhaps even a sequel to Infernum.

What are you working on now?    

I have two novels in flight. The first, called The Quantum Mirror, is about a rescue mission that goes awry aboard an aging space station. The second, called King of the Moon, picks up where Ares left off, with the crew of the American space station on the moon.

Portions of this Q&A were edited for clarity.