Two Trees, Two More Miles

Columbia is over 350 pre-orders, and I hope that it goes a lot higher! I think most creators want their work to be well-received, but many of us also want to provoke a reaction: we have something to communicate and we want lots of people to hear the message and think about it. I want readers to meet Sami Lakhani, a different kind of spy hero. One of the most frequently asked questions about Columbia is why I wrote a book about a gay, Muslim spy? I think that question can be broken down into many sub-questions: Why did I write a book about a gay , Muslim-American  spy ? Why did I write a book about a gay, Muslim-American spy? Why did I write a book about a gay, Muslim-American spy ? Why did  I  write a book about a gay, Muslim-American spy? The decision to make the protagonist of the story a Muslim-American and part of the LGBT community arose from three choices.  First, the artistic choice to do everything possible to rep...