Aren’t introductions the worst? Trying to put your best foot forward … who has a best foot anyway? Mine are decidedly alike, and even if one were superior, wouldn’t it be the better foot, not the best foot? And now I guess I have inadvertently given you a little insight into the way my mind works. I wonder a lot, about a lot of things.

For years, I worked as a businessman in New York City. Because of some circumstances unique to my employer, my job was filled with opportunities to think outside the box. To find unusual solutions to difficult questions. To be honest, I was more often the implementer than the originator of the ideas, but don’t let anyone fool you. There is plenty of creativity, not to mention elbow grease, expended long after the idea-guy says “Make it so”.

And that’s how I spent my life. Implementing ideas, dealing with fascinating people from all over the world, and when time permitted, I wondered—about the true nature of the world, the behind-the-scenes to what goes on every day. Then it all changed when I took advantage of an early retirement program to care for my mother, who had suffered a massive stroke. Suddenly, my days were FILLED with time to wonder, but lacked the stimulating day-to-day interactions with people from all over the world. Now it was just my mother and me … and Nancy Grace EVERY time she was on.

With all due respect to Nancy and my mother, our interactions weren’t that stimulating, and my wondering mind filled in the gaps. I still wondered about how things really work behind the scenes, but now my wondering mind included the invention of characters that chased down rabbit-holes of my imagination, looking for deeper truths and darker meanings.

What would it be like to be abducted by aliens … and the character of Kim was born.

How would you go on if you lost the one person who meant the world to you? The Fran character knows.

Did some of the most memorable, scandal-ridden televangelists start out with good intentions only to be led astray? Those questions fell to the characters of Mack, Sarah, and Zach.

What would life be like if you were a good man—heroically good—and were thrust into a sea of corruption intent on subverting everything wholesome and true? This is Chris’s struggle.

Are some people just inherently evil? Or do the circumstances of their lives create raging monsters within them? This is Benny’s story.

Can a person follow an incredibly bad path all the while thinking that he is on the side of right, justice, and peace? This is the dilemma for brothers, Michael and Gabe.

And finally, in the midst of such turmoil can love survive? Is it enough to bridge the gaps and provide happy lives for these characters?

And so my mind wondered as I set my musings to paper in the This Generation Series. The first book, Precipice, is available now, with its sequel, Pentecost, to follow this spring.

And my mind wonders still as I ponder where these characters will go in the remaining books of the series.