For this excerpt, you may like to know we are in the great city of San Francisco at the bar inside the Grand Hotel. It’s about noon, and the bar is empty, but for Bo, the bartender, and Sebastian, the long-term manager who just asked Owen, our lead to try out the legendary piano.   “Fine,” Owen said again. “Why don’t you want a crowd?” (Asked Sebastian) “A woman unlike any other woman I have ever met ripped out my heart and stabbed me just the other day, and she did it for a good reason.” “So you’re heartbroken. Good,” Sebastian said. “A broken musician is far better than a solid one.” “I mean it. Right now, I like this room empty. I know you want to hear the living, but . . .” “Stop. I’m here, and you are there. We toasted death before, so here’s to being alive. In this time.” Owen tapped glasses, but this time, he sipped the contents and turned toward the piano that was as much a work of art as an instrument. Sebastian took his glass from his hand, and Owen didn’t waste time. Despite Sebastian’s words about the piano not needing to be tuned, Owen…

What inspired you to write HARMONY OF FIRE? Brian: I should have a simple answer, but I do not. In part, I created Harmony of Fire out of my love of artists and musicians and the struggles they go through to be who they are. I also have a great passion for music and love the way it bonds us and connects us to our past. Music is magic, and I wanted to write about it.   Since this is listed as the “Alice & Owen” series, I assume these two characters are the focus of each book in the series. What made you decide to go that route versus having each book focus on a new set of characters? Brian: Yes, Alice and Owen are the two main characters. I didn’t know I would write them as a series until I wrote the last word. When that moment happened, and I knew in my soul who these characters were, it became crystal clear that Alice and Owen needed to stay in the spotlight because they had so much more to give. As a reader, I believe their story, and stories to come, will help give us strength as they…