Genesis of The Empire Series

Some people wake up wanting to be hero, or at least the best person they possibly can. Most of us wake up because we're supposed to, because the alarm goes off, because the sun comes up, because of the responsibilities of the day.

No one wakes up wanting to be a villain. We all have reasons for what we do.

The Empire series explores the things which motivate us and the compromises we make in order to survive.

Adrian Stannis is a brilliant scientist. He loves research. He enjoys taking things apart to see how they work and to put them back together better than they were before. He creates technological marvels of light and energy, manipulating science as an artist mixes paints on a canvas to dazzle the eye. The world he inhabits makes sense, a quality which doesn't apply to the real world.

Unfortunately for Adrian, that real world wants him. The Empire he lives in is under siege by alien invaders. In order to survive, this Empire calls on all of its resources, including Adrian's genius. They don't give him a choice. They demand, they manipulate, they force, all the measures which make the independent-minded Adrian extremely rebellious.

The story explores the choices Adrian makes in face of the invasion and a government that has become a tyranny. But it's not as simple as that, because the Empire isn't meant to be a tyranny. They were created to deal with the alien threat, to save humanity. Those who serve in the military joined to defend their family and friends. They do not wake up intending to be villains.

So this story is about the choices people make and how they impact those around us, a theme which is always relevant regardless of the era. In the Empire series, I wanted to explore our post-modern world in chaos, and the compromises and knee-jerk reactions that are made through a future world that is far further along in its decision-making process, and ask some fundamental questions:  what are we doing to our world and should we be doing it?

The Empire explores this world from the perspective of the Administration. The second book, The Rebels, looks at the same issues from the eyes of the rebels fighting the tyranny, and the last book, The Andromedans, looks at the same world from the view of the alien invaders.

In the end, is it the different perspectives which create this world of violence, or the decisions we make to get us there?

No one wakes up wanting to be a villain, but we may go to bed as one.