Goodreads asked Fish Phillips:

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

Fish Phillips This novel started as a screenplay. I wrote the outline on my phone in one afternoon, but it got quite involved as I started novelizing it.

As far as the motivation, I wondered what an elderly superhero with dementia might look like on screen.

I had seen younger looking people with powers in movies, but never an old man like Benny. The imperfect hero marred by time, struggle, age, and disease fascinated me.

I aligned that character with my paternal grandparent's generation. They both served in WW2, which is becoming a smaller part of history education. So, exploring that angle interested me. I also thought about how a future society might devalue elders and their experiences in favor of newer or louder voices.

Family history and destiny play a crucial role in the story, so I dropped subtle breadcrumbs throughout to bring those concepts into the mix. I had a great aunt who loved genealogy, so that shines through, too.

My background in technology informs the alien behaviors and their aversion to risk. Checklists, availability, systems engineering, facial recognition, self-driving cars, and augmented reality are all referenced.

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