Goodreads asked John MacGregor:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

John MacGregor I have always had a great interest in cosmology an physics in general. I have watched theory evolve and change over my lifetime and have been fascinated by its evolution. My interests probably were originally peeked by the writings of Marvin Gardner back in high school. Over my lifetime that lead to reading other popularists such as Roger Penrose, Brian Greene and Michio Kaku, just to name a few. It has also helped that I have had a life long reading habit for science fiction and fantasy. The origins of the book are centered on current cosmological models. I was rereading one of Michio Kaku's books. There was a lot of references made to philosophical approaches to physics which were contrasted with each other regarding the enthropic nature of the universe. I found many of these approaches to be somewhat religious in their dogmatic approach. That shouldn't be a part of physics from my perspective. As they were speculative approaches to thought, I decided to turn some of the more dogmatic approaches around and move them away from a faith based approach. The other major issue I focused on was what we know works in the universe but have no explanation for. This lead me to the universes found in the book.

I wanted to write a hard science fiction book; something based on current cosmological principles. Most of what is published to day in that sub-genera really doesn't belong there. They are mostly space opera's or action-adventure. There is nothing wrong with those. I am an avid reader. One shortcoming of this particular genera is that many of its readers are unable to deal with issues about what is unknown to science. I felt challenged by these issues. This evolved into the world that I built for the story. Once I had that, the rest was easy. I wanted to challenge some of the physics as well as the reader.

Also, a story is about its characters and those characters live in a society that has good and bad points. I wanted to bring these up to a level of awareness for the characters as these are issues that they have to live with. Many of these issues are ones that we live with today. That flushed out the plot direction for the trilogy. I especially wanted the reader to look at these and start asking themselves questions surrounding those issues. That provides a starting point for open discussion. Too many people today have views of the world that they have never questioned. I purposely threw some extreme viewpoints in. This was not necessarily because that is what I believe but because I wanted the reader to question their own beliefs. I believe in keeping an open mind. If readers have paused to think about some of the story elements and to reflect upon their own views on the subject matter then I have accomplished what I set out to do. I certainly don't expect anyone to necessarily agree with any of them.

Lastly, I have always been surrounded by music. Many of my best friends are musicians with pedigree's. I wanted to tie this in as a major component of the story. It was a nice fit to the cosmology and the things we know that the universe does but have no understanding of. We know that somehow consciousness and observation affect the operations of the universe. That is hard science. We just don't know why. Bringing music and physics together, in the speculative manner that I used, was just a treat for me.

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