You write a lot of female MCs, what compels you to tell their stories?

This is a question that is kinda complex and goes way back for me. When I first started writing, I wrote all male main characters. By default, I assumed I could relate more with male protagonists and write them better. This was when I was a teen. But eventually what I discovered about myself is that I didn’t relate well with my male peers. I had more friends who were girls and our relationships tended to be much deeper.

I’m not saying anything new here, but generally speaking women are more in tune with emotions and have far more emotional complexity than men. As I continued to write, I realized men were not nearly as interesting or complex.

And so I started to write women main characters more. And it was much more rewarding. And I could relate way more. I can look back now and see I leaned feminist from a fairly early age, and I suspect that had something to do with my turn to writing more female main characters.

It’s also deeper for me now than that. Women’s stories absolutely need to be told, especially now with the world trying to turn back the clock on feminist gains for women’s rights.

Screw the patriarchy. We’ve tried that, and it sucked. Let’s let the women rule the world for a while. Especially women of color.

When is your next book coming out?

First question of the day: “When is your next book coming out?”

It goes “Jonah of Olympic” paperback (soon). I’m in the early stages of working on a gothic horror novel and the next Mercedes short story which is called “The Book of Jude” which will probably be published before the gothic horror one in 2026. Also in 2026, I have a middle grade horror short story in an anthology being released from Graveside Press. After the gothic horror one will be the next Mercedes novel called “Winter Wanderland.”

Based on past experiences, the gothic horror one will probably take 2-3 years to write/publish — so my next novel will probably drop around 2028. Unless I can speed up my process.