MF Thomas was not expecting that Arcade, his latest SF–inflected thriller, would be so topical when he began writing it. But as the present-day world deals with the impact of the novel coronavirus, Arcade’s readers can read about a near-future disaster scenario in which Walter, a retired FBI agent, and Sloan, a technologist, search for missing relatives in a world that has been reshaped by an electromagnetic pulse known as “the Change” that wiped out the power grid eight years before the novel opens. “That connection to people we love and care about ultimately overrides so much,” Thomas says. “The motivation to protect loved ones is a universal [desire].” 

Walter, who was estranged from his family before the disaster—“his focus on his career really cost him his marriage and his daughter,” Thomas explains—is the book’s protagonist. He works as a police officer in the San Francisco Bay Area, searching for his daughter while confronting gangs that have taken over since the Change. The book’s setting was important to Thomas, who wanted to explore “the most technologically advanced community in the world brought back to the Stone Age.” 

The book, which Kirkus Reviews calls “a confident SF thriller that deftly addresses themes of resilience, faith, and the value of video games,” describes that new world in vivid detail:

Sam Simons had been the editor of the Silicon Valley Informer before the Change and was still the editor today. Day after day, he churned out the news—or what passed for it. Big headlines featuring political corruption and sex scandals were a thing of the past. These days, the public craved an entirely different dose of daily info, ranging from the latest Tribunal conviction to basic survival tips and various listings of when food or supplies might be available. Sam dedicated the remainder of the pages to human interest stories, anything that might inspire. The man who built the first crank car after the Change. The woman who started a laundromat of washboards and clotheslines. The group trying to manufacture antibiotics in a rooftop, solar-powered laboratory. More than ever, people needed inspiration, and Sam was determined to provide a source.

Thomas, who also works in medical technology, finds writing thrillers to be a “180-degree difference from my day job” even though his novels include plenty of what he describes as “big science concepts.” He fits writing into a busy schedule that involves frequent travel, taking 15- to 30-minute breaks to work on his novels. “I [find the] discipline to write when I’m inspired to do it,” he says. “I’ve learned to adapt the writing process to the time I have available.”

He also keeps in mind that writing a book is a long-term process without immediate results. He compares it to farming: “If I need corn tomorrow, I can’t go out and plow the ground tonight,” he says. For Thomas, it often takes time to figure out which narrative is the right one for him to write. He estimates that he begins 10 different stories for each one he ultimately completes, finding the one that will allow him to get into “different conflicts [and] environments, letting the story tell itself.”

In addition to writing novels, Thomas has another creative pursuit that requires a lot of time and commitment: filmmaking. He first began making movies as a teenager with friends for fun and was admitted to film school, but he decided it was not a viable career path. “It’s been a blessing to be able to come back to it” as an adult, he says, describing the satisfaction he felt when his film Ghost Waits recently premiered at FrightFest in Scotland.

Thomas has also branched out into audio production, recording versions of his previous books Seeing by Moonlight and Sickness in Time. “I’ve enjoyed converting the first two novels into serialized audio,” he says. “Moving into a new medium has been interesting.”

When he isn’t working or writing, Thomas is an avid reader. He loves both history and fiction and cites China Miéville’s The City the City as one of his recent favorites. “I love mysteries and stories that create a whole new paradigm you haven’t thought of before,” he says. He also enjoys movies like Parasite, with its multilayered view of an urban community, as well as online learning platforms like the Great Courses Plus. “I love learning,” he says. “I kind of geek out on so many of the elements of scientific research.”

Thomas hopes that readers will get as much enjoyment from his novels, especially Arcade. He considers it “faster-paced, more accessible” than his first two books, a “straight-up adventure story” intended to be “an enjoyable weekend read.” But in addition to the high-concept plot, Thomas sees Arcade as a story fundamentally about people. “As much as there’s a ton of high science and adventure in the story,” he says, at its core, the book is about Walter and Sloan and their commitment to find out what happened to their loved ones. Ultimately, Thomas says, it comes down to “those basic human motivations.”

Sarah Rettger is a writer and bookseller in the Boston area.