You can learn something about me and my Firesign series if you know a pair of seemingly unrelated tidbits: I loved the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and I used to watch (and enjoy) Glee. There’s a unifying theme throughout the three.

It’s probably no surprise when I say I enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy. So did everyone else, and it’s an ensemble space opera romp with narrative similarities to my own work (a group of friends, adventure, traveling, tons of explosions). Glee might be more surprising; it’s what I would call a guilty pleasure if I didn’t think those were bullshit, at least up until the melodrama got to me and I stopped watching. The reason why I liked Glee, though, is linked to why I loved Guardians of the Galaxy, and why Firesign is the way it is.

You guessed it (or not): the ensemble. I love me an ensemble cast, where the best moments are when the whole group is working together toward something huge. I’m a guy who spent a lot of time playing MMORPGs as a lad, doing 40-100+ people dungeon raids to take down living gods; I learned it young. That’s what I liked about Glee, and why I still think fondly of the awesome all-cast ballads (and Jane Lynch, obviously). That’s why I liked Guardians of the Galaxy out of proportion to its actual merits, because the heroes all came together at the end, and it was sweet.

That’s why Firesign features not one, but three main characters so far. It would have been smart for my first book to have only one main character (and to have a simpler world, a less expansive plot, and much more), but that’s not what gets my blood boiling. A group of friends, sticking together through thick and thin, who work together to do something greater than any could accomplish individually . . . that is my kind of story.

I might expect more of that going forward, if I were you. Just a thought : )