What kind of research did you have to conduct to write your book?
What kind of research? It was endless. I knew my book had to be realistic. And as a writer, I want my reader to know how the great Garagum Desert feels, what it’s like to fly an Apache LongBow, or an F-18. I research everything constantly. I can fairly say that for each page of prose I had at least three of research. No one can get into my study at home anymore because of the piles of paper. My wife says it’s becoming a fire hazard.
Do you ever get writer’s block and what do you do when that happens?
I seldom get writer’s block, but it does happen. If it lasts longer than a day or two I will strap on my gear and go running to the point of absolute exhaustion -- I’m talking 20 to 25 miles. After the first 15 miles things get kind of surreal, you’re starting to drift through the run and the confusion recedes. Usually at that point things sort themselves out. My wife wants me to put on a GPS device so that if I have a major cardiac event, or am wiped out by a train (I often run railway Right of Ways) she will know where to find me.
Where do you get ideas to write your books?
My ideas for books? I am by nature a curious, mischievous what-iffer. You know, what would happen if this blew up. Or how could I destroy this structure, and so on. Sometimes I feel like the Department of Homeland Security must have a bead on me, because of the things I email back and forth with my editor, and the books I order from Amazon (like twelve books on how to make a simple nuclear weapon, and that sort of thing). They’ve got to be watching me. The ideas, though, always come from seeing a news story or a particular structure and just thinking... what if...
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