Date Published: 11/18/2025
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Narrator: Nathan Westhoff
Run Time: '6:37
Determined to get his prototypes back, he enlists the help of a professional hurricane surfer, an Alaskan oil worker, and a French salt farmer. But he's no criminal mastermind, and they soon find themselves caught between a growing hurricane and a surprise algae field.
Will Moro succeed? Will they beat the hurricane surfing world record? And how exactly does one farm salt?
It's a hopeful climate heist—a solarpunk blend of Ocean's Eleven, The Martian and Michael Crichton.
Tell me about yourself. Where are you from?
TM: I grew up in a small farm town in California, spending my school days in band and teaching myself to program video games, and my weekends biking, hiking and climbing around Yosemite.
What genre do you read? Who's an author you read? Name your top 5 authors.
TM: I try to read a little bit of everything: science fiction, romance, biographies, history, sometimes even textbooks. In no particular order, some of my favorite authors include:
Ken Follet
Susan Kaye Quinn
Isaac Asimov
Thich Nhat Hanh
Becky Chambers
How long have you been writing?
TM: I started writing in high school, when I took a creative writing class and decided to do NaNoWriMo.
What is your writing process like? Are you more of a plotter or a pantser?
TM: I started as a hard core plotter, using software called Obsidian to plot out the entire arc of the story. And then, as I started writing, I found that my characters would react to situations differently than I expected, so I let them guide the story and had to go back and update my plot plans to accommodate the surprise changes. I think it did help to go into the story with an overall idea of where I wanted to take it, but I'm also very glad I listened to my characters and let the story be more authentic to them.
How did you come up with the ideas for your series?
TM: I'm deeply passionate about climate change and clean energy. My years of work experience and personal research drove the realistic, researched side of the story. For the fun, heist side, I looked to my favorite heist and crime stories for inspiration - Ocean’s Eleven, How to Blow up a Pipeline, The Bad Guys.
What would you tell a writer who is just starting out? What program do you use for writing? What advice would you give to a writer working on their first book? What’s your writing software of choice?
TM: I wrote it in Obsidian, a powerful and free software that makes it easy to link and associate ideas. I was already familiar with this software because it’s what I use to take notes at work. I think that’s my advice for new writers: don’t worry too much about the tools, the software, the pen, the paper. There’s a lot of people trying to sell you stuff, and most of it’s a distraction: Use what you’re comfortable with, and just start creating.
How do you organize everything and find the time to sit down and write?
TM: My rule is to write for at least 15 minutes a day, every day. It’s short enough that it means even on the craziest days, I can find enough time to keep writing (even if it’s midnight and I’m losing 15 minutes of sleep). I found this rule to be incredibly effective for me, because my brain hates to break streaks. And, by writing at least a little bit every day, it keeps at the top of my mind, giving me a lot more of those little “ah ha!” moments when you notice something in the world that would be a good addition to the book.
As an author, what would you choose as your spirit animal?
TM: The cheetah. Equally capable of incredible speeds when it needs to move, and deeply relaxing when it doesn’t.
Todd studied Technology, Entrepreneurship, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University. He worked on self-driving cars and board games before discovering a passion for clean energy. He spent four years working on grid-scale battery storage and now offers Product Management consulting to clean energy companies.
Todd spends his free time playing games, climbing rocks, and gleefully riding his electric bike everywhere. He is currently working on expanding the Hurricane universe.
No comments:
Post a Comment