I'm a mathematician and am married with two young children. Nobody knows I'm doing this, but I need something in my life that is for myself alone. Always happy to hear your thoughts. I do a lot of technical writing for work, but this is the first creative writing I've ever done.

My avatar is a map of all the countries from which views of my book have come. I honestly can't believe anybody has read it at all, so it's quite amazing to me. If you're curious, I created the map with the R package rWorldMap.

Update 7/12/2015 Just finished book 1 on Friday, and also posted chapter 1 of book 2 (Memento Mori). It's going to be a week or two before I get back to writing. I wrote book 1 in a six-week binge and I am way behind at work. I'm tenure track at an R1 University. So I don't sleep much. I'm also training for a triathlon. Crazy, no?

Update 8/14/2015 I know it's been a while since I updated. Very sorry. My tri is soon, but I am also gearing up for teaching in the Fall. I will get back to it, though. I promise!

In the meantime, I thought I would explain some of my thoughts about the factions and the some of the characters, because in my books they are a little bit different than in the canon.

Erudite - I love Divergent, of course, but one thing has always bothered me - I wish Veronica Roth hadn't made the intellectuals the bad guys. I'm in academia myself, so of course I am biased, but I really wanted to show readers "old-school Erudite" with the old-fashioned dining room and the beautiful library. That's the real Erudite. Unfortunately, it devolves into arrogance and lack of empathy under the wrong circumstances.

Abnegation - I think of them as ascetics - Buddhist-like, perhaps. It's all about lack of attachment, stripping away of one's ego, and inner peace. It's quite beautiful, of course, but it's not for everyone. And if your heart's not in it, it devolves into fundamentalism and severity. That was Marcus' mistake, I think. I secretly wish I had a bit of Abnegation in me.

Dauntless - They're like the ancient Spartans. My husband is 100% Greek, from Sparta, so I'm very familiar with the mentality. They're brave, fiercely loyal, and nothing goes unsaid. At least - that's what they're supposed to be. When it devolves, it turns into rage and violence.

Tris - The thing about her is that she's still young, still trying to figure things out. She has a dangerous combination of curiosity and impetuosity. She is Abnegation as well, but at least in book 1, it takes a back seat to her other qualities. She has some growing up to do, and that's going to start happening in book 2. Personally, I find sexually timid women to be clichéd and boring, so as you've seen, there's none of that! Plus, in my mind, it really didn't fit with someone who would climb a Ferris wheel, jump off buildings and trains, and so on.

Four - In my mind, Four's got too much Abnegation in him. He doesn't trust himself enough, and he doesn't really believe it's OK for him to desire anything, or want anything for himself. Because of this, he's a bit too easily led, both by Tris and by his mother. Choosing Dauntless was the first major step toward finding his own way, and he's going to take some more steps in book 2. Just to tease you a bit, it's going to be Eric who (inadvertently) leads him to a big revelation.

Eric - He's a sociopath, pure and simple. Incapable of empathy. Jeanine saw him as a perfect plant in Dauntless, because he's violent, but that's because she doesn't understand Dauntless, and doesn't understand sociopathy, probably because she has a touch of it herself.

Zeke - I love Zeke. I knew what was going to happen to him right from the start, but after I started writing him, I really tried to find a way for it not to happen. But it just wouldn't work any other way. Sorry.

8/18/2016 Update

I've been away from the book far too long and I apologize. This past year has been very hard on me. Believe me when I tell you truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. And you don't get to write the ending you want. I'm back now though, and determined to finish these books. After that, I'm planning some original science fiction. So far the title of the book is called "The Seahorse".