I started working on this book (Patrimonious) in 2021. Brainstorming and outlining, at least. If you’ve read it, you know there are over a dozen villains. Surprise, surprise, they’re inspired by my own experiences. I changed a few details. A name here, a place there, someone is a musician instead of an artist, or whatever. The majority of the adult villains you meet are inspired by my time living in Fresno’s Tower District, circa 2004-2014.

Here’s the thing — since writing this book, at least three (maybe more?) of the real-life counterparts to these characters have actually died. Like, what?! That would be hilarious if I’d written something prophetic but, for now, let’s just call it ‘coincidence’. They didn’t die in the violent ways that I’d imagined, in Patrimonious, but in mundane ways, like cancer and respiratory failure.

I’ll keep you posted. If it is a curse, who will I write about in the followup, Matrimonious?

In another odd, and completely unrelated, coincidence, several years ago, I bought a bunch of “in world” t-shirts from shows I grew up on. Bayside Tigers, Save the Clocktower, Cobra Kai, Wake Up San Francisco, etc. Shortly thereafter, they started remaking all of the shows that I had these shirts from. Except Back to the Future, thank Buddha. I have my Greendale Community College Alumni shirt, so fingers crossed…