I am often asked to explain how I started writing and describe the reason behind these books.
When I first began, I was inspired by experiences from my past and those of others, especially my friend John. Once I started getting feedback from my beta readers, however, it became apparent that the characters and story had an effect on people that I didn't anticipate. From the first twelve friends that I asked to review my work, three of the women had been either trafficked or seriously abused when they were young. Not one of those people had ever disclosed this part of their past, preferring to keep those experiences private. What they told me, and others have since shared, was that reading these stories about strong young women who refused to allow their past to limit their future, actually helped them to deal with their trauma.
Hearing those comments affected me profoundly. I was happy to hear that readers connected emotionally with my work, but I never intended it to be therapeutic. Very quickly my writing took on a life of its own, and what began as a tale about a brilliant hacker became about women saving women, and the men who love and empower them. Through my conversations with women who had been
trafficked, I became passionate about telling people how to avoid that danger and how to protect their children.
I want to write entertaining stories that share examples of great relationships and amazing people. Those people do exist, I know many of them. One of the primary factors in human trafficking is poor family structures; it is not universal, but many of the kids who are trafficked come from difficult family situations and traffickers target them. This is why my wife and I adopt and foster children around the world. Mother Theresa said it best if you can't
feed 1,000, feed one. That theme has evolved into a mission to reach teenagers with social media messages designed to increase awareness of the dangers of pop culture, and how it is being created and used by the trafficking cartels to desensitize kids, making it easier to recruit and groom victims.
These books also provide a means for me to poke fun at the irrational things humans do, discuss leading-edge technology, and explain current events through the experiences of the men and women in the intelligence community. These are the information gatherers who live behind the scenes and below the surface of society, monitoring every aspect of civilization. Trust me when I say that what you read and hear in the media is rarely what actually is happening, it has been filtered, groomed, and frequently twisted to present what the authorities
want you to believe is true. In no aspect of society is this more prevalent than in the world of human trafficking and pedophilia.
I hope that you enjoy reading these adventures as much as I enjoyed writing them, and thank you for sharing your time with me