I had the opportunity to talk with Ron Standerfer about his new book The Eagle's Last Flight. The book follows the life and times of an Air Force Fighter Pilot.

The Eagle's Last Flight is billed as fiction, but my gut tells me there is a good deal of fact involved, not just in the technology and geographic settings, but also the story line and characters.

I say kudos to your gut. Very intuitive. Skip is my alter ego, and I picked him because he was stuck on the wall in front of my desk and couldn’t talk back (a picture of me standing in front of an F-100 when I was 25 years old). Our deal was that he would live my life in the Air Force just as I lived it, but he was on his own when it came to the personal stuff like love, marriage, indiscretions etc. For example, I introduced him to Christy, who had nothing in common with my real wife, and it was love at first sight. The system worked well, although I don’t think he was prepared for some of the curves I threw him about his health and what ultimately happened to Christy.

In my review I say that in my opinion the book is a love story more than a nitty gritty war story. Am I right?

Ouch! I hate it when people say that. Next thing you know the word will be out that The Eagle’s Last Flight is a “chick book.” (Just kidding!) The book is definitely not a nitty-gritty war story. If it were, nobody would read it but old crock aviators like me. A love story? Of course. Even hairy-chested fighter pilots are allowed to fall in love and get married. But let’s keep that a secret, okay? Otherwise my image will be ruined.

Being a fighter pilot requires a lot of training, ability, and adherence to the rules. In many ways writing a book is like that. You have to deal with pesky editors and publishers, who want to mess with your story. How was your first experience in the writing business?

Humbling, to say the least. I sat at my desk for a year writing the great American novel, while a picture of Ernest Hemingway watched in wry amusement. When it was over, the manuscript weighed in at a bouncing 225,000 words. The first literary professional to look at it (the instructor of my writer’s workshop) was appalled at the size and didn't want to pick it up — much less read it. By the time I submitted it to the publisher I had cut it down to 175,000 words and the editors suggested I cut it another 10,000 words. That’s too bad, because some of my best writing - certainly some of the funniest stuff - ended up on the cutting room floor. I plan to put some of those chapters on my website, by the way. I think they are hilarious and readers will enjoy them.