Over the years, I’ve met some great online friends and supporters. None more so than Gary Swafford, founder and organizer of the M4 (Movie Magic Mesmerize Me) Facebook group that has over 12,000 members and counting! In preparation for hosting an Infinitude contest on that page, he and I did a Q&A session about the new book, the process to writing it, fun questions about science and history, as well as what’s next for me. It was a fun time so I’ve included all my answers below. Enjoy!

GS: Jordan, congratulations on your wonderful new sci-fi/time travel novel, Infinitude! How does it feel to finally have this book out there? I know it’s been long in the making. 

Thank you, Gary! It has been a long time – 7 years to be exact. Some of that is because I’ve gotten busier in my career and personal life, but I’ve also had Infinitude ready for ~ 2 years as I geared up to establish my author brand a bit more. In that spirit, it feels great to finally see the fruits of my writing, marketing, and researching labor out there for others to enjoy. I’ve learned more with this book release than any I’ve done in the past. 

GS: Your first two novels (Agents & Angels and  its sequel Agents & Angels II: The Wolfpaw Initiative), and your novella, (Mask of a Marriage), are heavy on intrigue and action/adventure, as is Infinitude, but this is your first foray into sci-fi/time travel. It also has mystery and romance. How did the idea of doing such a story occur to you?  Go back in time and remember and share with us what was the genesis of Infinitude. Was it difficult to combine genres the way you did? 

The idea for Infinitude started off as something very different originally when I was storyboarding. In fact, it was originally titled “Timelines / Bloodlines”, but I wasn’t really liking where it was going. I kept some concepts – like travelling to different eras – but overhauled a big portion of the idea. I knew I wanted to do sci-fi at least once in my writing career because I believe it to be one of the most captivating storytelling genres, but part of the passion and enjoyment from writing comes from letting the story tell itself. It really is part of the writer’s “high” to think of what’s next both in planning phases, but also while you’re actively writing. However, I do always know where my stories are going because I believe the best stories are the ones where the “end is in mind”. That’s been true for all of my books – as I hope is obvious – and I’m really happy with where Infinitude’s story finalizes. I’ve even had some ARC readers tell me the final pages brought tears to their eyes, which is really heartwarming feedback to hear. 

GS: Infinitude has your main character, Aiontis, time traveling from the future back to several different eras in history, medieval Japan, Renaissance Italy, ancient Egypt, among other periods. Very compelling periods. Why did you choose these particular periods to set the tale in? 

LOTS OF RESEARCH hahaha. For some reason, picking time periods wasn’t all that hard. I was often basing them off what I was watching, playing (videogames), or reading around that time if it interested me. Once I got into each era however, I did quite a bit of research, both to build the Hiscon reports at the start of each one, but also to determine exactly when/where in the era I wanted. For example, in feudal Japan there were a slew of Samurai battles to choose from, but the Battle of Sekigahara quickly emerged as a top candidate for how dramatic it was. I learned a lot of cool things and dove deep into topics I never had before. Probably the best example of this is set in the near-ish future of San Francisco where I learned more about earthquakes, their rating system, and their probabilities than I ever thought I would need. It was fun!

GS: What kind of research did you do into time travel/sci-fi literature? Any particular authors or books you referenced to prepare for Infinitude? Did any of them stick out for you as especially memorable or favorites? 

My research follows the advice of Stephen King: read, read, read, and read some more. I’m a lover of reading books almost as much as writing them and I’ve read my fair share of sci-fi over the years. When I knew I wanted to write sci-fi, the first decision you have to make is if it’s “hard” sci-fi or not, meaning: are you going to be extremely scientific and bound within the laws of most physics? Think of books like The Martian or the Expanse series. Now, I’m an engineer in my college life, but I knew I wanted my sci-fi to be able to do things outside the realm of physics, though I could tie it back to some real theories. For example, “The Bulk” is not a concept I came up with, it’s actually featured prominently in Interstellar (are you even surprised there’s a Christopher Nolan inspiration?) and by physicist Kip Thorne. I also took inspiration from my favorite sci-fi author, Blake Crouch, as I find him to be the “Nolan” of the book world. When one of my reviewers mentioned that my book reminded them of Crouch’s work…damn! What a high compliment!

GS: Do you think that time travel will ever be possible? Why or why not? Of course we’re traveling through space and time all the time as we speak, but what of actual mechanical time travel? Will it ever be possible, do you think? 

Getting deep here! I don’t think humans will probably ever have the capacity for time travel. I’m just not sure we could ever grasp the science that well. However, my book does explore beings in the 4th (and even 5th) dimension, and it’s here where I think that answer changes. Humans live in the 3rd dimension, with theories about higher ones, but I imagine beings in the 4th dimension have some control over time, or at least how they interact with it.

GS: If you could go to any time period in history, what would it be and why that time?

I have different answers for this based on different motivations. There’s part of me that would want to go back in time with knowledge of today, to become stupidly rich with minimal effort (I’m guessing I’m not alone there), there are other parts of me that would want to see key events (example: there are times where the scope of World War II just seems impossible to me), but realistically I think my answer would be that I’d want to go into the future. Probably by several hundred years too. I’d want to see how the world has changed, what new tools exist, how we’ve evolved, have we gone to the stars, have we met aliens yet, etc.? There’s just a lot more mystery there.  

GS: Tell us about Jinx and why it’s such a desired drug in the future. The longing for it sets things in motion for Aiontis. Is it like the cocaine of the future? So much for addiction cures in the future, I guess.

The idea for Jinx was one of those “as I was writing” inspirations. I knew that I wanted to have my protagonist craving a drug to start the story. I found that it set him up in a slightly seedier, unfavorable, and unreliable light. It would help with some of his character development later, but also create a larger sense of mystery as he comes to terms with his craving, combined with this inexplicable “epic” instruction to go back in time. The concept of Jinx being a drug where you can control your dreams excited me – almost so much I could probably write a story based on it (idea, perhaps?), but it also connects back to the finale where you find out the “why” of it (no spoliers!).

GS: Your books read very cinematically. They are real page turners that inspire us readers to use our imaginations to “picture” what we’re reading. If Infinitude was to become a movie or tv series, do some author’s ideal casting for us, please. And who would be the perfect director? Their initials wouldn’t be “CN” would they? 

Thank you! I do often have very clear pictures in my mind around what I want the reader to imagine, plus my goal with writing is to tell a good story and entertain. In that regard, I would hope that they feel like movies on the page. As far as casting, my editor is quoted as saying: “If Ryan Reynolds isn’t casted in the movie as Aiontis, then I will riot!” so I suppose that casting is set there. That said, given that Aiontis is changing bodies throughout, I haven’t thought through all of those. For Titus/The Scarred Man, I lean toward a larger person like Alan Ritchson or Henry Cavill. Maybe Dave Bautista? And as for our mysterious female who goes by several names, I think I’d always envisioned Emma Watson in that role, though I believe Margot Robbie would be a great, alternative option. And as far as directors, yeah…duh! If Christopher Nolan actually even read my story, I could die happy, much less direct a film about it. Otherwise I think Denis Villeneuve could really do fantastic things with it too!

GS: What’s next for you? Have you started writing your next novel yet?

I will always be writing; I love it too much not to be, but I really don’t know what I want to write next. Now that my novella and Infinitude are both out there, I don’t have anything else “in the pipeline”. The good news is that it’s not for lack of ideas. I have arguably too many of them: potentially a horror novel? A collection of short stories? A series of novellas? A John-Wick-inspired action franchise? An Uncharted-inspired franchise? Who knows? We’ll figure it out eventually. For now, I’m going to do some brainstorming while also studying to improve my craft with a couple writing-help books I’ve recently come across (always be honing your skills!). The only bad news is that means there’s likely not to be a new J.T. Rath story anytime soon (unless Infinitude takes off and this becomes my full time career!)   

GS: Do your characters stay with you when you’re done writing a book? Or do you let them go once the book is done?

Great question, mine definitely stick with me. All my characters do…from Bryson in Agents & Angels 1 all the way to Laura in The Mask of a Marriage. A lot of times these characters are various manipulations of yourself, or others close around you, or both, so it’s hard not to see them in everyday interactions. Given there are no plans for Infinitude II, I do believe these characters are truly “done”, but that doesn’t mean I’ll forget them!

GS: Thank you so much, Jordan–good luck with Infinitude! 

Thanks Gary! Always appreciate the support you show to so many fellow writers and what great interview questions! Infinitude can be purchased on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, and Wal-Mart so your options are plentiful!