Stephen Coonts

BIO

Former naval aviator STEPHEN COONTS flew combat missions during the Vietnam War. A graduate of West Virginia University and a former attorney, Coonts is the author of nine New York Times bestselling novels, which have been translated and republished around the world. He lives in Nevada with his wife and son and maintains a Web site at www.coonts.com.

PAST INTERVIEW

September 22, 2000

Stephen Coonts thrills us with his latest Jake Grafton mystery, HONG KONG, taking place in...well, obviously. Coonts has only good things to say about the city in this interview as he explains why he chose it for this novel. Bookreporter.com Senior Writer Joe Hartlaub, a loyal fan of Coonts' creations, was pleased to be able to interview him again. Find out the stats about his new book, what he has in store for Jake's future, and much more in this interview.

TBR: You spent some extensive time in Hong Kong doing research for the latest Jake Grafton novel which, like CUBA, you have named after the locale where the novel is based. What specific element of HONG KONG attracted you enough to make it the setting for your latest novel?

SC: Hong Kong is a fabulous place, where truly East meets West. The fusion of Chinese and western culture created something that exists nowhere else. The current struggles of the people of Hong Kong to surf the change that is roiling China seemed a natural for an action-adventure novel.

TBR: The element of HONG KONG which was most fascinating for me was the manner in which you meticulously laid out the steps by which an overthrow of the current Red Chinese government could take place, not to mention the subsequent domino effect on the mainland. It's my understanding that there have been similar scenarios constructed in strategic think-tanks under the aegis of both government and privately funded enterprises. Have you ever had the opportunity to participate in one of these?

SC: Alas, no. Perhaps we struggling scribblers would do a better job with our plots if we did have passes into these think-tank sessions.

TBR: It's obvious from all of your novels, including HONG KONG, that you do a tremendous amount of technological and logistical research pursuant to writing. Based on that research, what is your opinion on the issue of the state of US military readiness?

SC: The US military is today half the size that it was in 1991. And half as capable. Alas, the collapse of our cold war opponent did not make the world a safer place, just different. Broke as Russia is today, it still has six state-of-the-art submarines like the Kursk, able to launch cruise missiles carrying nuclear warheads that could knock out New York or Washington. Or a carrier battle group.

TBR: Your books have been extremely "user friendly" for the average lay reader such as myself who is more interested in what a particular piece of military hardware or software does, or is supposed to, as opposed to an extremely technical explanation as to how it functions. It is obvious at the same time, however, that you are well-versed in the technological aspects of what makes the bells ring and the whistles whistle. Where did you acquire your technological expertise?

SC: I certainly don't think I have enough technical expertise, but I do fake it well. I read reference works and ask questions of real experts, thereby learning just enough to concoct my tales.

TBR: One of my favorite elements of HONG KONG was the introduction of The York. Such a weapon --- and I want to be vague here, so as not to give away too much of its contribution to HONG KONG --- would arguably be the ultimate development in battlefield technology. How close are the US Armed Forces to the creation of a working model of such a unit?

SC: The answer to that is classified. I suspect that such a weapon is in development and discussed it extensively with a friend who is both a high-tech engineer and physicist. I would be amazed if the state-of-the-art is quite as advanced as I describe it; as you know, the most complex organism in the universe is the human brain. The best computers that we have only emulate a small fraction of the human brain's capability, which is the capability that really great robots must emulate.

TBR: Another enjoyable aspect of HONG KONG was the fact that Jake Grafton was definitely in the heat of the action in this novel. Quite frankly, it is gratifying to those of us who are on the back end of middle age to find a character who is a contemporary and who, like ourselves, can still get the job done. Did you have any particular model for Jake Grafton in mind when you created him?

SC: Jake was Everyman who ever went to Vietnam when I created him in the mid-80s for FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER. He has evolved into an action-adventure hero through the years. He has stayed on the job due to the tremendous response of the reading public to the Jake Grafton tales. What I have tried to write is a believable action-adventure guy, a person that readers can readily identify with. He is NOT James Bond or Dirk Pitt, though his creator would gladly trade royalty checks with the creators of either of those two studs.

TBR: Notwithstanding the preceding question, Tommy Carmellini is another intriguing character and it was a pleasure to find him back in HONG KONG after his introduction in CUBA? Have you considered placing him in a novel by himself?

SC: Yes, I have. He was created to be a stand-alone character, and I have a tale that he could star in. Maybe one of these days it will get written.

TBR: Are you working on anything now?

SC: Oh yes. Jake will be back in a tale full of stolen submarines and space-based missile defense systems.

TBR: Do you have any plans for computer or game system role-play software based on your novels?

SC: Games have been made in the past, but I don't recall any current licensing agreements as I write this.

TBR: What books have you read in the past six months which you would recommend to your readers?

SC: George Higgins' AT END OF DAY stands out in my memory. Another is MOST SECRET AND CONFIDENTIAL: Intelligence in the Age of Nelson by Steven E. Maffeo.

TBR: Do you have any plans for a new series of books revolving around recurring characters?

SC: Right now the publisher and I are happy with Jake Grafton. I have some other projects in the works, but no plans just now to kill Jake and start another guy. That may happen in a few years though, if the readers or I get too tired of Jake.

TBR: Lastly, I'm going to ask you to stick your neck out just a bit, now: where do you believe the next troublespot in the world will be? And why?

SC: I don't think people appreciate the challenge that Europe will ultimately present to US interests. China is obviously a fledgling superpower, but Europe has 300 million people and an economy ten times as large as China's. The trade problems and competition for influence are just beginning.

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PAST INTERVIEW

August 9, 1999

With the influx of books about Cuba, TBR did not want to miss Stephen Coonts's latest, CUBA: A Novel. The author takes us on another thrilling and death-defying adventure with everyone's favorite Coonts character, Admiral Jake Grafton. In this interview, our senior writer Joe Hartlaub asks Coonts some searing questions about his new novel, his thoughts on the US military, Castro, his flying habits, when we can expect to see Grafton again, and much more.

TBR: Was there any particular incident or turning point in your life where you became interested in writing?

SC: I was always interested, but didn't have the time to work on the craft until I got a divorce in 1984, then I made up my mind I was going to write the novel I had always wanted to write. I didn't expect to get it published but got lucky.

TBR: One of the many impressive things in your new novel CUBA is your descriptions of the Presidential cabinet meetings.You make readers feel as if they are sitting at the President's right hand.Do you have a mole in the cabinet?

SC: No mole, just some lucky guesses, I hope. I wonder what Henry Kissinger thinks?

TBR: Another enjoyable element of CUBA is the way in which you portray the various elements of the US defensive system --- particularly the US military and covert intelligence --- working, if not always together, toward a common goal.Has it been your experience that the cooperation always occurs as smoothly as it did in CUBA?

SC: CUBA is fiction. To tell the tale of the Sedanos, a lot of the US stuff that could have been included was purposefully omitted. The idea was to minimize the military machinations contained in the book, to give it a little different feel than, say, FORTUNES OF WAR. Obviously various government agencies and departments inside agencies often fail to talk to each other or cooperate, occasionally with spectacular results. Turf wars are still very much a reality, folks tell me.

TBR: One of my thoughts after reading CUBA was that, besides being a terrific novel, it would be an exciting basis for a computer strategy game.Have you given any thought to either adapting one of your novels or otherwise developing a computer game?

SC: FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER was made into a computer game, and I would be perfectly willing to license any story to a company with the capability to do something with it. I personally don't have the knowledge to develop or write computer games. Novels are my trade, and I think I will stick to it.

TBR: Do you have any future plans for Jake Grafton after CUBA?

SC: I have signed a contract with St. Martin's for two more books, the first of which is a Jake Grafton tale, and the second of which probably will be also. The challenge is to find tales that appeal to today's readers in which Jake can have a major role. Ain't as easy as it might appear at first blush. Jake isn't Donald Trump so he can't be a NYC financier, a CIA hit man, etc. In this next one, tentatively entitled THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA, he is serving a tour as deputy director of the CIA.

TBR: In your opinion, what's the biggest problem presently facing the US Military?

SC: Today's military faces two major problems. The first is money; there isn't enough of it. Second is recruitment; there are not enough good people volunteering to serve. The most palatable way to induce more folks to serve is to raise service pay. Money again.

TBR: And its greatest strength?

SC: Greatest strength of today's military is the quality of the folks who are in uniform. There are not enough of them, but those who are there are really first class professionals.

TBR: How do you feel about the extensive reliance of the US upon the US Air Force during the recent war in Kosovo?

SC: We had to rely on the Air Force because the Clinton administration retired all the A-6 Intruders and failed to procure an all-weather attack to replace it. Without an all-weather attack capability, the Navy is fighting with one hand behind its back. This is one big reason the air campaign lasted 63 days. Another is that the Clinton administration made every stupid mistake the Johnson administration made during the Vietnam War. What an ironic twist --- we elect a Vietnam draft evader to be president and he makes all the mistakes that made Vietnam such a mess --- screws up the targeting, escalates slowly, retired the proper weapons and didn't replace them, refuses to have ground troops ready to go, manages to really tick off Russia and China...amazing. A novelist couldn't write anything like that of course. People would laugh, say no one in government is that stupid. Sigh!

TBR: There has been some recent criticism --- though it has not been widely publicized by the major networks --- that the present administration has caused the United States to be involved in a number of conflicts resulting in the use, and therefore, reduction, of munitions, while the same are not being replenished.Do you have any insight into this?

SC: Replacement of munitions is not a sexy topic for Bill and Al.

TBR: A hindsight question --- what changes, if any, would you have made in US policy toward Cuba over the past 40 years?

SC: Boy this is a tough one. I don't know. The fact is Castro is a tyrant, a tinpot dictator, and he appropriated the property of America, several billion dollars worth. The Russians did it too, of course, but there was never the political will to come to terms with Castro. I think Jack Kennedy sensed that Castro was an intractable problem, best shot, but then he lacked the fortitude to see it through.

TBR: Do you still have the opportunity to do any flying?

SC: Yep, My wife Deborah and I are flying nuts. We own four planes and fly at every opportunity.

TBR: Are you working on anything now? If so, can you give us a preview?

SC: The next tale is THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA, though the title might change, a Jake Grafton tale. We hope to publish this time next year.

TBR: What are you reading now?

SC: I just finished the biography of Buddy Holly, RAVE ON. Very good.

TBR: What books and authors have influenced you?

SC: Ernie Gann, Alistair MacLean, Frederick Forsyth, Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, the list goes on and on. I have read voraciously all my life, and I think that is a requirement if you hope to be a writer. Musicians must listen to music and writers must read.

TBR: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

SC: Read. Anything and everything.

TBR: What are your thoughts on the millennium?

SC: I will never remember to write 2000 when I write checks.

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PAST INTERVIEW

January 29, 1997

On January 29, 1997, THE BOOK REPORT welcomed Stephen Coonts as an author guest. Bookpg Cubs and Jesse Kornbluth (BookpgJK) were the interviewers.

Marlene T: BookpgCubs and Jesse Kornbluth (BookpgJK) of THE BOOK REPORT will be interviewing Mr. Coonts tonight. Hello, Jesse, Cubs and Mr. Coonts, welcome!

BookpgCubs: Mr. Coonts thank you for coming.

BookpgCubs: Given the success of your Jake Grafton thrillers why did you opt to edit a collection of others' writings?

S Coonts: Seemed like a fun thing to do. It came at a time when I was tired of doing Jake Grafton. I wanted to put out all the great stories I've heard all my life.

BookpgCubs: How did you choose which stories or excerpts to include in War in The Air?

S Coonts: Most of them I had already read. It was a pretty easy process. I had all but three of the books on my shelves. The three I didn't have I knew about. I had seen excerpts in other places. The hardest to get was NINE LIVES, by Alan Deere --- it was never published in America! The English publisher had one copy and xeroxed the whole book for me!

BookpgCubs: Your book War in the Air spans over 70 years. How do you compare the skills of pilots from the different eras? What do they have in common?

S Coonts: All fighter pilots are hunters. Over time, the planes have become more complex. They take longer to fly, but the basic skill is the same --- the willingess to hunt and be hunted with the fierce belief that you will prevail. That is the theme of every story. Now there is so much that is computerized, the long training requires discipline, but they still look for someone "different" to fly a fighter plane.

BookpgCubs: Would you classify yourself as one of those pilots?

S Coonts: No. I flew attack planes. I don't hunt other aircraft.... I might have been able to do it --- I'll never know.

BookpgCubs: In The Cannibal Queen you refer to flying as the only thing you are proficient at. Do you feel your writing has reached that point also?

S Coonts: No. I haven't to think about flying. I get in the plane, and the plane does whatever I want it to. Flying is a great escape. Writing is endless labor, and lots of rewriting and effort that a plane doesn't require.

BookpgCubs: When did you first begin to write and why?

S Coonts: My first writing job --- I was 14. I wrote a sports column for a little paper in West Virginia --- the only paper in town. I got $10 a week, and I got to watch the presses run. I got a thrill out of seeing my words in print, and that is still the biggest thrill: holding my book in my hands.

Question: How much research do you put into your books?

S Coonts: The first requirement for my kind of novel is: You must tell a good story. So the story comes first...then I look for facts that will give what I call the flavor of authenticity. That means fewer facts than you might think. For me, it involves going to exprerts and asking very politely. It's a lot of fun to talk to these people, even if I find myself asking stupid questions. I always ask them if I can thank them at the front of the book. It's nice to be able to send them a copy, signed. But I also love libraries.

Question: I haven't read Cannibal Queen yet. The title is ominous given the fact that it's non-fiction. How did you come up with the title?

S Coonts: The story is a non-fiction story --- flying a plane across the states. It's a Steerman....a tail-dragger.... no nose wheel and tiny swivel wheels at the tail. An instructor told me to fly it all the way to the ground or it would bite me on the ass! I thought: This plane is a cannibal! Thus: Cannibal Queen.

BookpgCubs: You frequently chastise yourself for mistakes in the cockpit. Have you had any really close calls? Have any of the emergencies in Intruders come from personal experience?

S Coonts: We all make mistakes. Good pilots recognize their errors before they become dangerous. As for INTRUDERS, there are 8 or 9 incidents --- or accidents --- that happened to various people. Several happened to me...or I was present. The idea was to give you the flavor.

BookpgCubs: How much of Jake Grafton is Stephen Coonts? Especially in Flight of the Intruder?

S Coonts: (chuckle) Far too much! When I denied I was Jake Grafton, a psychologist said: "Maybe Jake is the man you wanted to be." If you are a first novelist, it's only natural to put yourself into the character. When I thought, "What would Jake Grafton say?" I would write what Steve Coonts would say! I recommend that to budding novelists --- it works!

BookpgCubs: Did the topic of bombing Hanoi come up often among your fellow pilots?

S Coonts: I don't really think so. In that era, there was a great frustration with the way the war was being fought. We had terrible targets. Finally it occurred to me that someone could have gotten away with an unauthorized strike. FLIGHT became a way of hanging these stories around a tiny plot. But I believe a tiny plot is often the best.

Question: How did you earn your decoration in the Navy?

S Coonts: The highest I got was a Distinguished Flying Cross. It was a bad night. A guy got shot down over North Vietnam. I went back to find him. I couldn't. Just another exercise in frustration.

BookpgCubs: You have often been compared to Clancy. Do you feel your style is similar?

S Coonts: No. I'm not really sure about this comparison. He did some military thrillers, but his plots are far more complex than mine and he has always been intrigued by technology. I write about people so I always chuckle when people say I write "techno-thrillers." I ask: Where is the tech? In one book, I had bad guys blow up a nuclear reactor. I went over to the library and read a few things --- hardly an inside source!

BookpgCubs: How did you feel about Hollywood's adaptation of Flight of the Intruder? Will there be another Grafton movie?

S Coonts: I doubt it seriously. The movie wasn't half bad. On the other hand, the timing of its release was terrible....the day after the Gulf War began. No one went to see it; they stayed home and watched real war on CNN!

Question: The only books of yours I have read have been the Jake Grafton series. How do the other non-fiction books compare? Do they compliment each other?

S Coonts: No. They're different kinds of collections.

BookpgCubs: In Cannibal Queen you are very worried about the future of general aviation and the ability of small FBO's (Fixed Base Operators) to survive. Have you visited some of those places since and how is your outlook now?

S Coonts: I have visited a few. But I'm not optimistic.There just aren't enough people learning to fly planes, and planes are just grotesquely expensive today. The romance is still there. The problem is money. It's government regulation, and it's the fact that the people who fly now aren't being replaced. Few people can spend the money it takes to get a license. A lot of pilots were trained in the service, for war and there's no war now. And finaly, there are no new airplanes. New airplanes would be exciting and generate interest. Now, if you want a "new" airplane, you have to build it yourself!

Question: Do you read other authors for fun, and if so, who?

S Coonts: I read mainly history. Non-fiction. But I do read some novels. In fact, I read anything I can get my hands on.

Question: For someone who loves your "techno-thrillers," do you recomend your non-fiction? Or is it more for people specificaly interested in aviation?

S Coonts: I have to say: If you like my novels, you might like the others so I hope you rush right out and get them!

Question: You mention that you enjoy talking to the experts, even if you ask stupid questions. Do you enjoy talking to your fans from the opposite perspective?

S Coonts: Yes. I enjoy talking to fans a lot. There's no such thing as a "stupid" question.

BookpgCubs: Are you writing another book and if so, what will it be about?

S Coonts: I'm writing a book tentatively titled FORTUNES OF WAR. We're looking at a publication date of January 1998 It is set 10 years in the future. China and Japan invade Siberia. I have been to China and Japan. I have never been to Siberia --- and don't think I'll go before I finish!

BookpgCubs: Do you still own and fly the Cannibal Queen?

S Coonts: Oh yes. That airplane is a keeper. I had the engine overhauled two years ago. I'll keep it as long as I can pass the physicals and can fly the plane.

BookpgCubs: Finally if we should show up some sunny afternoon in Boulder can we hitch a ride in the Cannibal Queen?

S Coonts: Well, you can hitch a ride, but the plane is on a farm in West Virginia! And there is always a string of people lined to up to fly in it. But that is what it's for --- so people can experience the joy of flight.

Marlene T: Thank you so much Mr. Coonts, Cubs and Jesse!

S Coonts: It's been a pleasure.

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