1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?

I’ve loved writing since childhood and was always drawn to journalism, even running a small arts and music magazine in Los Angeles called Sparkplug for a couple of years. Creativity has always been at the center of my life, through film, music, and the arts, both professionally and just for the love of it.

After moving to Portland from Los Angeles, I stumbled into a 48-hour film challenge that reignited a deep filmmaking spark. I then wrote and directed a short film (HUM) that ended up being nominated for Best Sci-Fi Short at the LA Fantasy Fest in 2025, and you can actually watch it on our indie streaming platform, KATSO, at katso.app.

From there I started developing a follow-up, trying to build it into a series. Then another challenge came along, the HP Lovecraft “Under the Gun” festival, where you have only 72 hours to make a short film. While shooting that project, a film called Dead Exposure, something clicked. I knew exactly where the story needed to go: a being from outer space, a cosmic horror direction, and a mythology big enough to hold it all together.

That’s how Persistent was born. It’s actually a four-part backstory connecting three films I’ve already shot, with one more to come. The book just released, and we’re building momentum every day. Honestly, getting back into writing was almost an accident. The best kind.

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2) What inspired you to write your book?

I was deep in development on the second film idea when I realized just how large and complex the story had become. Rather than try to wrestle it all onto a set, I decided to get it down in novel form first, so I could fully understand the boundaries of the world I was building before I tried to put it on screen. In a way, the book was the blueprint the films needed.

Thematically, I’ve always been drawn to cosmic horror and the kind of dread that comes from forces too vast and ancient to fully comprehend. I’ve also been fascinated by government conspiracies and classified programs, the stuff that hides in plain sight. One thread I found irresistible was the GATE program, the Gifted and Talented Education program, because there are some genuinely strange government associations tied to it that most people don’t know about, and I also was part of that program. I wanted to explore the idea that the program wasn’t just about finding smart kids. It was about finding the right kids. Children who might have the capacity to communicate with something not from here.

That premise created this dark, layered subtext underneath what is already a pretty unsettling story, and I loved the tension that came from it.

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3) What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?

I hope readers finish Persistent with a lingering question: what if the reality we perceive isn’t the full truth?

We talk a lot about simulation theory, but I wanted to explore it from a different angle. The universe is far more vast and expansive than our minds can actually comprehend, and what if something out there has an overlay on us? A control point. A way to shape what we experience as reality.

That idea translates in so many directions. It can speak to modern politics, to dystopian futures, to the age-old truth that whoever controls the narrative controls reality itself. Whether it’s a cosmic entity pulling strings or a shadowy government program, we’re rarely in the know. We’re operating on information we didn’t verify, trusting systems we don’t fully understand.

Persistent is built on that unease. It asks: what if you discovered that the world you thought you understood was being managed by something you never saw coming? And what would you do with that knowledge?

I just want people to leave the book sitting with that “what if.” That’s where the real horror lives.

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4) What drew you into this particular genre?

I’ve been drawn to cosmic horror and the unexplained since childhood. I grew up watching In Search of with Leonard Nimoy and Cosmos with Carl Sagan, completely mesmerized by stories of the magnificent and the mysterious. That sense of awe in the face of the unknown has never left me.

Growing up in Las Vegas in the seventies and eighties shaped a lot of this too. The test sites were still a presence in the Nevada desert, and I remember George Knapp, a local newscaster at the time, breaking stories about Area 51. It’s surreal to see how full circle everything has come in 2026, with the CIA releasing declassified files on black budget projects that are genuinely baffling to read, and now the government actually discussing possible full disclosure on extraterrestrial contact.

The timing felt right to blend cosmic horror with government conspiracy into something that felt urgent and relevant. These aren’t just fringe theories anymore. They’re conversations happening at the highest levels. So I wanted to write something that tapped into that real-world unease, where the cosmic dread and the institutional paranoia become impossible to separate.

It’s not aliens versus humanity. It’s what happens when you realize the two have never been separate at all.

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5) If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?

If I could sit down with any character, it would be Sog Ruth, the main entity, the cosmic feeding machine that’s draped this cloak over humanity. I’d want to ask it something fundamental: have you done this before? On other worlds, other species?

And more than that, I want to know what it gets from us. Is it energy? A fuel supply? Is it sustenance, or is there something else, something darker like pleasure or obsession? Does it see us as livestock, or as something more like an experiment?

Those questions fascinate me because they flip the whole power dynamic on its head. We assume we’re the hunters trying to understand the predator, but what if the predator is just as curious about us? What if there’s some twisted relationship there we don’t understand? That’s where the real horror lives, I think. Not just in being controlled, but in realizing why you’re being controlled and what you mean to the thing controlling you.

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6) What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?

So far, Facebook and Instagram have been the primary drivers. I’ve done some YouTube announcements and teasers, but nothing at scale yet. The real momentum has come from building a community on Instagram and Facebook, where I can share behind-the-scenes content from the films, snippets of the mythology, and connect directly with readers who are curious about the Persistent universe. Those platforms have the engagement I need at this stage.

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7) What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?

My biggest piece of advice is to build your universe and environment first, before you even touch your characters. Know the world. Understand its rules, its logic, its mythology. Once that foundation is solid, then bring in your protagonists and antagonists. They’ll serve the world you’ve built, not the other way around.

And beyond that, find the through-line — that central thread, arc or theme that runs from page one to the final page. Hold onto it fiercely. Don’t get seduced into subplots or character tangents that feel good in the moment but don’t actually serve the story you’re telling. Stay disciplined about that.

Because here’s the truth: every page should mean something. Every scene should either advance the mythology, deepen character, or build tension toward that final revelation. If a page doesn’t earn its place, it shouldn’t be there. That’s what separates a book that meanders from one that grabs you and doesn’t let go.

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8) What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books or projects on the horizon?

I’ve got a lot cooking. I’m nearly finished with my second novel, Worlds Fare, which explores the late 1800s and the dawn of the industrial revolution through a completely different lens. The story centers on the elite families who controlled the narrative around the World’s Fairs, and it asks a darker question: why did those fairs disappear? What were they hiding?

It’s another conspiracy narrative, but grounded in a kind of Tesla-meets-steampunk aesthetic, built around Tartarian architecture and the structures that wealthy men claimed to have constructed but never actually deserved credit for. It’s discovery-based storytelling with real historical texture.

Beyond that, I’ve launched KATSO, our indie streaming platform for short films and vertical series at katso.app. You can actually watch films connected to the Persistent universe there, including Dead Exposure and Howlin Fields, plus the ten-part original series we’re building out.

On the film side, I’m in production on The 3:33, the third installment in the Persistent saga, and I’ve already written the fourth. Hopefully we’ll have that shot by the end of the year, which means the full mythology will finally be complete, both on screen and on the page.

It’s been a wild ride connecting all these pieces together.

About the Author

“Billy Caldwell is a filmmaker and author whose work blends cosmic horror, conspiracy, and character-driven storytelling across novels and indie films. Based in Portland, Oregon, he’s the creator of the Persistent universe and the founder of KATSO (katso.app), a streaming platform for short films and vertical series.”

Links:

Website / KATSO: https://katso.app

Instagram: @morbspdx

Facebook: @morbsmedia