Please tell us a little about yourself and your work. 

I came to fiction through an unconventional path, with decades as a healthcare executive culminating in a leadership role at Amazon Business, where I developed innovative, globally recognized healthcare solutions. In semi-retirement, I turned that lens toward storytelling, writing techno-conspiracy thrillers rooted in how institutions function under pressure. 

My Maxx King trilogy—Thunderbird Rising, Masters of War, and Falling Angels—is an alternate-history espionage series built around alien technology and geopolitical tensions. My latest novel, The Terminal Gene, follows geneticist Dr. Emily Harper as she uncovers a biological sequence that predicts the precise moment of death, drawing the attention of actors willing to control or suppress it. A sequel to The Terminal Gene is in development, alongside a fourth Maxx King novel that expands the geopolitical scope of the series. 

Why did you choose to write science fiction and fantasy? 

I didn’t set out to write science fiction. I was drawn to techno-conspiracy thrillers as a way to examine real-world technological advances—AI, surveillance, genetic data, corporate power—through narrative. The questions that interest me most sit just beyond current capability. 

The Terminal Gene begins with a simple premise: What if the moment of death could be predictedor engineered? That idea requires a speculative scientific framework, but the stakes are grounded in recognizable systems and technology. The speculative element is not decorative; it creates pressure on characters and exposes ethical fault lines that are harder to isolate in strictly realistic fiction. 

How did you construct the world within your novel? 

The world of The Terminal Gene is built by extrapolation. The core technologies, including consumer DNA testing, predictive health analytics, and AI-enabled surveillance, already exist. The key decision was not what to invent, but how far to extend what is already plausible, and who would act on it first. 

I focused on constraint. The science had to remain within reach, and the institutions had to behave in ways consistent with real incentives such as risk mitigation, data control, and competitive advantage. For the Maxx King series, the approach is similar but applied to history: layering speculative elements over real geopolitical events while keeping human motivations consistent and verifiable. The goal is not scale, but credibility. 

Which do you prioritize and why—storytelling or worldbuilding? 

Thematic storytelling. While worldbuilding sets the context, it doesn’tgenerate widespread engagement. A system means little without characters and organizations making decisions within it. 

In The Terminal Gene, the science provides the threat, but the narrative depends on how characters respond to it,what they choose to protect, and what they are willing to sacrifice. Emily Harper’s arc makes the abstract threat personal; without it, the extinction-level stakes would stay intellectually interesting but emotionally distant. The world exists to apply pressure. The story emerges from how people handle that pressure, often with limited information and conflicting motivations. 

Portions of this Q&A were edited for clarity.