Author Interview with Y.A. Baylor
Author of
The Jack Stern Series
Please tell me a little about your current work in progress.
Hi, thanks for this opportunity. My latest work is the next installment in the Jack Stern series. I have always believed that a book series is not really a series until you have at least three titles, so I have been pushing to finish the third one. Mr. Wu, the antagonist from the first book, is back and looking for revenge against Jack Stern. Wu has also deployed another doomsday machine, this one a way to assassinate anyone in the world and is using that threat to blackmail governments and industry leaders. Jack has been ordered after Wu, not because of the blackmail skullduggery, but because the remit of Jack’s organization is to stop those who target American intelligence assets. Jack just happens to have a personal interest in this mission.
Where did you get the idea for this book or series?
The idea of writing anything came when I noticed that there just were not enough thrillers out there that I wanted to read. I had worked through all the classics; James Bond, Matt Helm, Parker and some others, and I decided that no one was producing the type of books I wanted to read anymore so I needed to write at least one myself. My vision was of a character who is an ordinary guy, not some kind of superhero. Someone who overcomes setbacks and does what needs to be done to accomplish the mission. But I also wanted to include some science fiction aspects in the stories, since I enjoy that genre and thought including SF would jazz up the plots.
Do you write in more than one genre?
Not so far. I have thought about writing a Western, as you have. I admire Elmore Leonard, and thought some of his most interesting stories were his Westerns. Erle Stanley Gardner is another writer I like, and his stories would often veer into neo-Western territory. I would like to give Westerns a try someday. But first things first: Jack Stern has got some more bad guys to take care of.
Tell me about something that you believe makes your writing unique or worthy of attention.
When I was a debater in high school, our debate coach would end every pre-tournament meeting with a quote from Emerson: “Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” The other debaters would roll their eyes when she would recite that, but I internalized it. Since then, I have attacked everything I do with that attitude. I would like to think my writing reflects my enthusiasm for the project.
Is there anything about your personal history or personality that manifests strongly in your writing?
There are many autobiographical details in Jack Stern and a lot of characters I encountered in my years in the Marine Corps who pop up in the stories. The names have been changed, but I suspect that people would recognize themselves. And my mother was full of aphorisms that have shown up in Jack’s dialogue. I think my mom would have gotten a kick out of reading in a book the things she used to say.
What else would be helpful for readers to know about you?
Well, for one thing, my wife has noted that she is not enthusiastic about the number of women that Jack knows in the Biblical sense, especially since Jack talks and thinks exactly like I do. But she has listened to various spy thrillers since we alternate book selections during long drives, so she knows the conventions of these types of stories. And she appreciates that the bedroom scenes occur between chapters and that there is no profanity.
And while there are indeed special access programs out there with codenames that you can’t even say, everything I have written is completely a creation of my own imagination. No one should get the impression that I am disclosing secrets since the access I actually had predated the War on Terror, and I have seen briefings from the public affairs podiums in the Pentagon about programs that I saw Marines go to the brig for discussing back in the day. Time moves on.
Excluding your own work, what underrated author or book would you recommend that more people read? Why?
Among contemporary authors, I read everything Mark Dawson writes. His lead characters are flawed tough guys, his books have tight plots and he writes fast. I have also read everything that Craig Rice put out. She wrote mysteries and movie scripts and her dialogue is the best but she died young, drinking as hard as every character she created. I read her books out loud to get the full effect of her character’s speeches. And Erle Stanley Gardner, as A.A. Fair, wrote a series of books called “the Cool and Lam Mysteries.” As tight and intricate as Perry Mason books, but Donald Lam combines Perry Mason’s brains and Paul Drake’s guts. I collected all 30 in hardcopy during COVID and have read them multiple times.
Which of your books do you most highly recommend? Why?
The first one, “The End of the Marine.” It provides the background and motivations for Jack Stern, and there are many references back to that book in the subsequent ones.
Which break, event, decision, or fortuitous circumstance has helped you or your writing career the most?
The best break for me was Jeff Bezos rolling out the Kindle inside of the Amazon Book Store and allowing people like me to write a book and have it published so that anyone in the world looking for a thriller has an opportunity to see what I wrote. I worked in a bookstore for four years and saw how much of a struggle it was for unknown authors to try to get a book stocked. And I am blessed beyond measure to have steady hours at my day job that gives me a chance to write in the evenings, and an understanding wife who puts up with my absentmindedness at dinner because I am thinking about dialogue or a plot point instead of making conversation.
What question do you wish you would get asked more often?
Actually, I have a question I wish I would get asked once. “Would you sell us the rights to make a mini-series?”
Do you have a catch-phrase or quote that you like? What is it? And why do you choose it?
I already mentioned “Nothing great is ever achieved without enthusiasm,” but one that goes along with that is what an unnamed Drill Instructor said to my platoon full of boots the night before we started Boot Camp: “Anyone can get through this, but only if you have guts.” There are a lot of reasons not to write: the months of lonely effort, the lack of recognition, and the critics. But with these quotes in mind, I mustered the guts to start and persevered with enthusiasm to the finish. I hope folks see that in the writing and enjoy the books as much as I have in writing them.
Check out Baylor's books on Amazon:
The End of the Marine:
https://www.amazon.com/Marine-
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Thanks to Y.A. for participating.
In my own writing, I've launched into a thriller of my own. It's a dystopian thriller with big bugs and misery for mankind working for the machine. The mission sounds simple, but they'll have to figure out the code left by the dead informant and make their way to the secret location to execute the task that represents mankind's last hope to prevail. A multitude of huge insects and all the resources at the command of the super-powered AI stand between them and success. I hope to complete it within 3 months.
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