✨ Getting to Know the Author

For readers just meeting you, who is Brian Rudolph in your own words?

I'm a husband and the proud father of three boys, 23, 19 and 15. I'm the middle of three siblings, a role that probably explains my tendency to listen first and see things from multiple sides. When I'm not with my family or wearing my cape as a workers compensation insurance underwriter trying to save the world preventing workplace injuries by day, you'll often find me on a community theatre stage or buried in a good book. I'm someone who values stories—reading them, telling them, and living them—and I believe they're one of the best ways we connect with each other.

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How did growing up in a musically creative family shape your life and your approach to storytelling?

For as long as I can remember, my family has told stories through music. Some of my favorite memories are sitting around a campfire listening to my mom play guitar and sing. Watching her be vulnerable in front of people—whether it was just family or a crowd—showed me how powerful honest expression can be.

Seeing her perform with local bands made creativity feel communal and alive, not intimidating. And my late grandfather played trumpet for over 80 years, which taught me what it means to truly love a craft and stick with it.

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How has your journey as a writer differed from your experiences as a reader?

As a reader, I get to surrender. I can fall into someone else's world, trust the voice guiding me, and let the story work its quiet magic. Writing, though, is a much more exposed journey. Instead of being carried, I'm constantly making choices: what to reveal, what to hold back. Reading taught me what stories can do; writing taught me how much courage it takes to do it myself.

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📖 About Angel In The Breeze

What inspired Angel In The Breeze, and how did your personal experiences with grief and healing shape the story?

Angel In The Breeze was born out of a very personal place. I wrote it after my mother passed away suddenly, during a time when grief felt overwhelming and disorienting. Songwriting became my refuge—my way of processing the loss, of speaking to her when I couldn't anymore.

Several songs I wrote in her honor ultimately became the emotional foundation for the story.

One of the most personal details in the story is the wind chimes.

I have my mother's wind chimes hanging on my lanai, and over time they came to represent comfort and presence for me—gentle reminders that love doesn't disappear. I wrote them into the story almost as another character, offering Liam solace through their melody after Serena passes. In many ways, Angel In The Breeze is about learning how to listen—to grief, to memory, and to the quiet ways healing begins.

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Your book explores mother/son bonds—why was this theme important for you to explore?

As the book took shape it was important to me to center the deep bond between a mother and her son. That relationship—its love, its safety, and the ache left behind—mirrors my own experience. Writing about Liam and his mother Serena allowed me to explore grief not just as pain, but as something intertwined with memory, love, and ongoing connection.

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Without giving away spoilers, which scene or moment do you hope resonates most with readers emotionally?

The moment I hope resonates most is the quiet choice inside the hospital scene—the pause where words almost fail, and Liam has to decide how to love someone when time has collapsed. Not the dramatic beats, but the intimacy of being present when nothing can be fixed. That space where you realize goodbye isn't a speech; it's an act of honesty. I hope readers who've lost someone suddenly will recognize that ache. And even readers who haven't experienced that yet will feel it, because the scene isn't about death so much as it's about unfinished love.

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🎵 Music & Storytelling

Your book includes seven original songs, including one produced and recorded by your youngest son. How did incorporating music enhance the storytelling?

Songs anchor moments in memory. I wanted the song lyrics to echo what was happening on the page, to enhance what was happening in the moment and to heighten the emotional tone. I wanted readers to have an immersive experience. I’ve always loved the quote, “when words fail, music speaks.”

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How do you hope readers experience the music alongside the written story?

I hope readers experience the music lyrics as an emotional companion to the story. Music deepens the mood, echoes what the characters are feeling, and invites readers to pause and reflect, letting the story linger a little longer. I want it to feel personal, like a shared heartbeat between the page and the reader's own memories.

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How does your background in songwriting influence the way you write prose and character dialogue?

Songwriting teaches you to say a lot with very little, so I try to be attentive to cadence and word choice, especially in dialogue—how it sounds aloud, not just how it reads.

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🖋️ Writing Process & Journey

How did your personal journey—especially coping with your mother’s passing—shape your approach to writing Angel In The Breeze?

Losing my mother without a chance to say goodbye forced me to confront grief that was unresolved, quiet, and deeply internal. Writing the book became a way of honoring my mother, not by rewriting the past, but by giving voice to the love and words that never had a chance to be spoken.

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How do you balance your work, family life, and writing projects?

For me, Angel In The Breeze was a deeply personal project, a way for grief to be transformed into love by giving pain a voice. I had to carve out space for it without letting it overwhelm other parts of my life. Over 2.5 years, I revisited the manuscript in small, consistent increments while working full time and being present with my family.

It became less about finding "extra time" and more about making every moment count: writing in the early mornings, during lunch breaks, or late at night, and allowing the story to grow gradually. That slow rhythm mirrored the emotional process behind the book, letting me honor both my personal life and the journey of healing embedded in the story.

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Did your creative process differ when writing emotionally intense themes versus lighter moments in the book?

For heavy emotional scenes, my goal was to feel what the character feels. I'd often step into their mindset, reliving grief, fear, or longing, to make the emotions authentic.

The lighter scenes often served as a relief or a reset after heavy moments, so I consciously made them more energetic or whimsical to balance the story's emotional arcs.

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💬 Reader Connection

How do you hope readers feel after finishing Angel In The Breeze?

I want readers to feel that the characters' struggles and joys were real and relatable.

Moments of grief, longing, or fear are meant to resonate deeply, but not to leave them feeling hopeless. Even though the story has its share of emotional weight, the lighter, tender moments—friendship, small acts of kindness, love—are there to remind readers that hope and connection exist even in the most difficult times. I want readers to feel seen and understood and be able to recognize themselves in Liam’s journey.

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Have readers shared any responses to the book or songs that surprised or moved you?

I had a reader reach out saying the story helped them through a specific life moment they didn't anticipate and allowed them to reconnect with a family member. I was also moved by a reader saying that Liam’s journey reminded them of their own struggles or joys, which they hadn't processed before and the song lyrics became a bridge to their own memories.

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How do you hope your story and music impact readers who may have experienced grief or loss?

I hope the story and the music meet readers gently, wherever they are in their grief. If someone has experienced grief, I want them to feel permission—to remember, to ache, to love what's gone without apology. More than comfort, I hope it offers recognition: that grief is a form of love that continues, and that carrying it doesn't mean you're broken—it means you're human.

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🔮 Looking Ahead

Are you planning to continue integrating music into your future books?

I don’t plan on incorporating music or lyrics into any future writing projects. My experience with Angel In The Breeze was a very personal almost devotional choice to honor someone deeply meaningful. I wouldn’t do it unless I felt that same spark otherwise it might feel forced.

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What new themes or stories are you excited to explore in your writing next?

I have a couple of children’s stories written inspired by my boys that I may consider publishing in the future.

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How do you see your writing evolving over the next few years?

I could see myself writing a memoir about my family’s rich musical heritage spanning generations from my great grandfather passing his torch down to my own son who is following the path to pursue music. I enjoyed writing Angel In The Breeze as fiction however it would be interesting to pursue that angle.

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🖤 Just for Fun

If Angel In The Breeze were adapted into a movie or series, how would you envision the music and tone?

I see it as a cinematic experience that's as much about feeling and memory as it is about plot—a poetic, lyrical story where music and tone are inseparable. I could see Hallmark or even Broadway adaptations.

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Which character from the book would you most like to spend a day with—and why?

I can imagine a day with the mother Serena. It would be filled with quiet, meaningful moments: listening to her sing, sharing stories. It would be a day that would be less about "doing" and more about presence—soaking in the essence of who she is, much like my own mother whom I would give anything to spend more time with.

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What’s one fun or unexpected fact about your writing process or your book that readers might not guess?

A subtle detail that readers might not guess: that the book's heartbeat is literally musical, and that writing it was as much about listening and feeling as it was about typing words on the page.

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💬 Final Thoughts

When readers close the final page of Angel In The Breeze, what feeling or takeaway do you hope lingers with them the longest?

I want the book to leave readers feeling like they've experienced something intimate and timeless, almost as if they've been invited into a tender, musical memory they'll carry with them.

That they would feel a quiet sense of having walked alongside someone's memories, sorrows, and joy and being touched by their presence long after the story ends.