This is the first book under my own name, a science fiction/adventure/romance born out some late night pondering on the obituary of a 107 year-old Australian veteran of WWI. Sleep was a little elusive and the contrast between his story and that of my grandfather, a veteran of the Boer War and WWI was so great. They’d both served in similar places, often during the same time span, but the effect on the 107 year-old was profound. He hated war and feared for a world being ravaged of irreplaceable resources, which left me wondering about a world where war was impossible and environmental sustainability a given.

Turning that into The First Born was a story in itself, for it contains two major romances and a very satisfying secondary one. The hero owes more to my grandfather than to the other veteran and there are echoes from the other generations of my family who felt the urge to test themselves in war, but the underlying premise is the product of logic applied to the illogical. It becomes the founding of a dynasty dedicated to the preservation of freedom from tyranny in every form and ends with them about to accept their responsibilities in a wider universe.

The next book will be about that struggle

Do you think an environmentally sustainable world without war is possible?