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A fast-paced, candid visit with West
Virginia's best-selling writer. He writes
techno-thrillers about international espionage and
fighter pilots. Flight of the Intruder, his
first book, was made into a movie, and almost all of
his books hit the New York Times best-seller list.
Glimpses from readings: A
Navy pilot sits in his plane in the night on the
flight deck of an aircraft carrier, waiting to be
launched out into the dark -- a computer hacker
destroys the Red Chinese missile bank -- terrorists
take over an American nuclear sub and launch
missiles at New York and Washington -- Ronald Reagan
unwittingly promotes Flight of the Intruder --
discussion of real-life terrorists and
techno-thriller writers -- Coonts himself flying a
Stearman airplane across the western mountains.
Personal:
Born in Morgantown in 1946 and raised in
Buckhannon. Owns a farm in Pocahontas County, lives
in Las Vegas. Married Deborah Buell. Two
daughters, one son.
Publications: Fiction: Flight of the
Intruder, Naval Institute Press 1986; Final
Flight, Doubleday 1988; The Minotaur,
Doubleday 1989; Under Siege, Pocket Books
1990; The Red Horseman, Pocket Books 1993;
The Intruders, Pocket Books 1994; Fortunes of
War, St. Martin's Press 1998; Cuba, St.
Martin's 1999; Hong Kong: A Jake Grafton
Novel, St. Martin's 2000; America: A Jake
Grafton Novel , St. Martin's 2001; Saucer, St.
Martin's Press 2002; Liberty (upcoming), St.
Martin's Press, 2002.
Non-Fiction: The Cannibal Queen, Pocket Books, 1991.
Editor / Contributor: War in the Air,
Pocket Books 1999; Combat, Forge 2001.
Education and Career:
BA West Virginia University (Political Science) 1968
U.S. Navy flier ( USS Enterprise and USS Nimitz) and
flight instructor 1969-77. Cab driver, police
officer, 1977-78. J.D. University of Colorado
School of Law 1979. Practicing attorney West
Virginia 1979-81. Staff attorney for Colorado oil
and gas firm. Full-time writer since 1986.
Awards & Honors:
West Virginia University Academy of Distinguished
Alumni; U.S. naval Institute Author of the Year;
Distinguished Flying Cross;
Flight of the Intruder
made into movie 1991; all novels and The Cannibal
Queen on audiotape; all books widely translated
and republished in Britain, France, Germany, the
Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Spain,
Mexico, Brazil, Turkey, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary,
Russia, China, Japan, Czechoslovakia, and Israel.
Reviewers'
Comments:
-"One of the most compelling post-glasnost thrillers
to date�.[The Red Horseman]" (Contemporary
Popular Writers)
-"This tale-- [American: A Jake Grafton
Novel]--combines excitement and action with loads
of information about computers, sonar, weapons
systems, and stealth technology." (Amazon.com)
-"Coonts manages to wrap hardware and conceit up in
an absorbing, relatively compact package." (Roland
Green in Booklist)
-"A
glorious medley celebrating heroes of yesteryear's
aerial wars. A generous selection of martial aeronautica, and an ad hoc history of the way of the
warrior pilot."
(Kirkus Reviews)
-"The best author writing about flying�joining the
ranks of John Steinbeck and Charles Kuralt."
(Amazon.com)
Excerpts from In
Their Own Country:
Steve:
I'm a storyteller, a professional liar and a
commercial writer. I don't really do literary
fiction. The idea is to write books and sell them,
create entertainment for the reading public.
Steve:
... I got a divorce in 1984 when I was working for
the oil company. And I decided, "Now's the hour! I'm
going to write that Nobel I've always wanted to
write." I was at a point of my life when I needed a
personal triumph. My personal life was a disaster.
The oil company I worked for was in trouble,
financial trouble. And I didn't like being a lawyer.
I just needed to accomplish something, and I didn't
expect the novel to ever be published. But just
completing a novel, writing the whole thing from
Word One to The End was important.
I think a lot of people have these type of goals
that have nothing to do with making money. They want
to ride a bicycle across America. They want to climb
all the 14,000-foot peaks in Colorado. Or float down
the Mississippi on a raft. And I tell people, they
ought to go do it. They ought to fulfill some of
these types of ambitions because that's what makes
like worth living. It's certainly not money, and
it's certainly not the day-to-day grind.
So we need some of these type of challenges. And for
me, writing a novel was one. So I got my secretary
to show me how to use a word processor. I'd work at
night after everybody else had gone home. I'd sit
down there and write from 6 to 10 or 11 at night,
then come in Saturdays, Sundays and holidays and
write for 10 hours a day. And at the end of six
months, I had a manuscript!
Steve: ... It's all
learning how to write, which is the craft. But it's
not easy. You meet people who say, "Well, I've
finished my first manuscript, and I'm ready to get
published." You always just look at them and think,
"You don't have a clue." And I think a lot of people
don't. They think this is easy stuff, one pass
through it, and it's perfect. They don't see the
endless hours and the chapters that get trashed and
the editors who call back and say, "This isn't good
enough. You have to do it better." It's that whole
process of acquiring the craft, which is what it's
all about.
Kate: How do you think up
these complex plots?
Steve: I tell everybody
it's bad pizza. Late at night (laughing), you wake
up in the middle of the night, and you've having
nightmares. That's it! That's the good stuff! And
you write it down.
I dunno. It's never as easy as you
wish it was. You know, you have ideas, and you play
with the pieces. You get a piece here and apiece
there. And read some of it in the newspaper. I talk
it over with my wife, Deborah. And you know, you
just keep trying to come up with a story that's
interesting, that will be properly paced, that will
have enough unexpected twists to keep the reader
riveted, that will have fun characters, interesting
characters. They might not be good people, but
they'll be fun to read about. And if you can get the
mix right, then you' got a good story. And if you
don't then you don't have it, so you just keep
tinkering and twisting and writing.
See also:
Contemporary Popular Authors, Biography Resource
Center,
stephencoonts.com, Publishers Weekly
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