INTERVIEW WITH NATALIE WALTERS

How does your book relate to your spirituality or life path?

One of the themes in Fatal Code deals with shouldering guilt and responsibility for things that were never ours to carry in the first place. Personally, this is something I have struggle within my own life, and I didn’t intentionally start with this theme when I began writing but as I started to see what was holding my character back it became clear and I loved being able to remind myself of the freedom that can come when we hand back to God what was always His. 

What was the hardest part of writing this book?  

Intially, it was discovering what my bubbly, fun-loving, Hawaiian hero was hiding. His personality didn’t give anything away and I really had to dig to find out what his backstory was. The next hardest part of this story and the thing that gave me nightmares was understanding the science behind pseudocodes, algorithms, cryptology. *shudders* still have nightmares about that.

What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

I loved being able to share more of Kekoa’s heritage. My husband is Hawaiian, so it was really fun to include some of my favorite characteristics into the story. I also really enjoyed working with my brother and his love of comic books to come up with a top-secret weapon. 

In researching this book, did you learn any unexpected, unusual, or fascinating information? 

Yes! As I was researching the roles of my Los Alamos Five, I was really excited to learn about the African American contribution to the continued development of nuclear projects for our country. I also discovered that there was a top-secret design plan stolen from the Los Alamos National Laboratory…eerily similar. 

Which character from your book(s) is most or least like you?

I’m the least like Elinor. Science was my worst subject in school so I really had to lean into my experts to help me make sure I had all of that correct for the story. 

What is something you want to accomplish before you die?

I would love to see the Northern Lights and visit Ireland. 

What do you want your tombstone to say?

“Her legacy was that she loved Jesus, her husband, and children more than anything.”