We became friends while I produced an audiobook for him. We bonded over a shared appreciation for art, especially music and film. We have overlapping but not identical tastes, and have introduced each other to new favorite books, songwriters, TV shows, and so on.

At this point if a day goes by without speaking to him at least through a text, it feels wrong.

I know enough of Michael to know John Jordan is not merely how he wants to see himself. If anything, John is how Michael wants to see us all. He wants to see John’s integrity and devotion in everyone. He wants the world around him to be filled with people who will do what’s right, even when it’s not what’s easiest. He wants to know the person behind him in line at the grocery store or driving ahead of him on the road is as mindful of how they live their life and as concerned about the choices they make as a father, mother, spouse, neighbor, or friend as John is.

Some writers want to be like their characters. I think Michael wants us all to be like John.

I had the opportunity to interview Michael at a release party for one of his books, and we spent over an hour with an audience of loyal readers, discussing his projects. When our time was up, there was one question left that I didn’t get a chance to ask.

When you wrote Power in the Blood, how much did you know about John Jordan, compared to what you know about him after twenty years and ten books?

I suspect I know the answer to that question now.

In that time, Michael has raised three amazing kids. He has married a woman who makes him happier than any person I know. He has seen his career take off, thanks in no small part to John Jordan. He has had wonderful opportunities, to interact with fans, befriend some of his favorite writers, and live every day translating the ideas in his head into various books, plays, and films, surrounded by a group of friends and family he treasures. He lives with the integrity of his characters and an awareness and thankfulness for the moment he’s in at all times.

Michael has always known the person he is, but the past twenty years have given him chances to live up to his ideals and display his own character; he’s also always known the core of who John is, but has had twenty years to test him by putting him into trying situations and sending him down some dark roads. Today, both men have come through more confident, more whole.If I had to guess, I’d say Michael has learned almost as much about John in the past twenty years as he’s learned about himself.