The Choice of Nuclear Retaliation: An interview with military thriller author Noah Beck

1) Please tell us about your book, The Last Israelis.

The novel is a military and psychological thriller ripped from today's headlines. Iran gets a nuclear weapon, and a variety of circumstances leave history up to 35 ethnically and ideologically diverse men aboard Israel's nuclear-armed submarine. They must unite to survive the threats at sea before confronting an unthinkable and deeply divisive dilemma.

2) Your novel has been described by some as a character study. Please share a bit with us about your main characters.

The complex mix of characters sharing the cramped hull of a submarine is very much a microcosm of the diverse Israeli society sharing a tiny country. There are two grandsons of Holocaust survivors but with diametrically opposed lessons and worldviews produced by their similar family histories; their clashing ideologies make for some of the most intense conflicts in the story. Among the other characters are: two native Arabic speakers (a Christian and a Druze), the son of Persian Jews who escaped from the 1979 Iranian revolution, an Ethiopian who crossed Sudan by foot as a child to reach Israel, religious Jews who serve on a mostly secular crew, and an officer who is secretly gay and struggles with whether to come out to his crewmates.

3) Techno-thrillers thrive on versimiitude and that often necessitates detailed populated by research. What sort of research was involved in writing this book?

In late March, I began watching submarine movies and realized that I would need to interview people who had actually served on an Israeli submarine. I got on a flight from the U.S. to Israel and was quickly amazed by how flat hierarchies there are – even with something as rigid as the military. With just a few friendly introductions, I was soon interviewing the former commander of the entire Israeli submarine force (who had himself captained countless missions). I also found and befriended one of just a handful of Ethiopians to have served on a submarine. Of course, most of my questions were artfully dodged (for security reasons) but these veterans were immensely helpful in keeping various story details realistic. There was also a ton of Internet research involved but by far the most interesting and rewarding aspect of my research was my interviews with the ex-submariners.

4) There are some very influential authors and books that have focused on lone submarines bucking the odds. Indeed, the continuing popularity of this particular sub-genre can even be seen in the American fall television line-up with the show Last Resort. In writing your book,are their any authors who influenced your style?

There are only so many plot permutations that any submarine thriller can realistically take, so there are bound to be other novels in that genre that contain basic similarities. To the extent that "The Last Israelis" may seem similar to anything else, it is a function of the limited plot possibilities for the genre rather than any specific influences that inspired me. Everything I wrote was dictated by the elements comprising the novel: the original characters that I had imagined specifically for this story (with their different worldviews, family histories, habits, etc.) and the dramatic possibilities that present themselves when Iran gets a nuclear weapon and these very diverse men must together confront the unthinkable.
5) Normally, I ask authors what inspired their books, but given the subject matter, I think anyone who pays a bit of attention to the news, in so far as it relates to Iran and Israel, can figure out what inspired the book. So, let's take a step back. Some techno-thriller authors produce works based on concerns of the day just to mine the dramatic possibilities of such events. Others explore their own political and personal concerns. Is this book more of the former or the latter?

The answer is both. I originally conceived of the story in 2009 as a concept for a screenplay about a doomsday, military showdown between Israel's Dolphin submarine and a nuclear-armed Iran. The premise was boiling with dramatic potential and the issue deeply troubled me. But writing a screenplay that within months becomes a widely released film is like Ayatollah Khameini taking a phone call from me and agreeing to dismantle Iran's nuclear program: impossible. So the project of authoring a screenplay that might influence the public debate on an issue that (in my overly optimistic assessment) would become moot in a few years seemed futile. But by the end of March of 2012, after I was still hearing the same type of weak talk and indecision about the Iranian nuclear issue, I resolved to drop everything and work on the story as an e-book, which can be released instantly. By 2012, e-books had also gained a far greater acceptance in the market, so self-publishing my novel seemed like a viable strategy for disseminating my doomsday warning about the perils of a nuclear Iran.

6) If you were somewhat politically motivated, why approach this topic in novel form versus non-fiction form? Did you have any concerns about some readers perceiving it as propaganda?

The format of a novel that is heavily based on history, current events, and researched facts has several advantages: a) it can be as informative as a policy paper but far more engaging and entertaining, b) it can explore certain issues in far greater depth, and c) it can conduct certain thought experiments in substantial and profound detail. As for the charge of propaganda, that is inescapable when the topic is at all political or controversial, but I did my best to present a diversity of political views and well-balanced debates about the core questions that the novel plumbs.

7) Please tell us about any of your other upcoming books.

I am toying with the idea of a thriller that is much less controversial (in the sense that it won't be about any hot issue dominating the headlines) and will be more in the genre of science fiction with a focus on questions of memory and perception. I realize that this sounds rather vague and abstract but that's partly because I haven't begun brainstorming about the idea in earnest and partly because I'd rather wait until I've written something before announcing that I've written it!

8) Do you have any links to any excerpts you'd like to share?

The first two chapters are available at this link: http://thelastisraelis.com/excerpts/

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Thanks, Noah.

You can see more from Noah at  https://www.facebook.com/TheLastIsraelis.

The Last Israelis purchase links for various vendors are listed at  http://thelastisraelis.com/buy-the-book/.

Author Interview: Lindsay Downs on Emily Cahill, CID Part 1

Today I'm interviewing Lindsay Downs, who specializes in military-themed mysteries and romantic thrillers. We're discussing her mystery novelette collection, Emily Cahill, CID Part 1.

Tell us about your collection.

For those not familiar with that particular unit, they’re the Army equivalent, only better, to the Navy NCIS.

The stories:

"Final Mission"

After being seriously wounded in a copter crash in Iraq, Sgt. Emily Dahill meets her new partner as she embarks on her new Army career as a CID agent. Who could this new partner be?

"A Body in the Snow"

Emily and her partner, Dakota, cross bullets with their most determined foe. Who will survive?

"Right Place, Wrong Day"

On leave to hang with friends Emily gets the surprise of her life.

"Dog on Fishing"

When it comes to knowing how to fish, and catch the big ones, never underestimate your partner. He might surprise you.

Your book is focused on military characters. How did you bring verisimilitude to your depictions of military characters? Many stories are notorious for their laughably incorrect depictions of military personnel?

As we all know or should know the military isn’t a joke. It’s serious and so I try to impart that feeling onto my readers. When the characters are in uniform I work hard at making them believable: what they do, say and how they act. There have been several movies made over the past ten or so years that are so totally inaccurate as to make them laughable. Not to mention there’s at least one show on a major network where the characters, solve the crime, but are constantly bickering or harassing each other. Totally unprofessional, both in the field or workplace.

What made you choose to develop Dakota, the dog, so much? What does that bring to some of these stories that they otherwise may have lacked?
 
Dakota is not just a dog. He’s a collie from the great Kebi’s first litter. Highly intelligent, intuitive but still able to have fun if the situation warrants it.

I wanted a different twist to my stories. Not that I don’t put enough twists and turns in already. With Dakota he can help take the story/investigation to a different, quite frequently a comic, level. After all, collies have a different, sometimes strange, way of doing things.

Most authors will partner two people but I wanted something unique. Someone that would stand out in the readers mind. I first introduced a collie, Kebi, in my romantic thriller, Target Identified. She was partnered with Alison and in the end was instrumental in the rescue of her father and fiancée. So with the Emily Dahill, CID stories I decided to expand on the role of the collie.

Do you feel the continued involvement of the United States in multiple overseas engagements might influence reader’s perceptions of your characters? Did you ever have any concern about writing about characters who have experience from such recent conflicts?

Let me start out by saying I support the women and men of the United States military. So much of what we hear on TV and read, either in the paper or on line, is only about the negative events involving our troops, the removal of Osama Be Laden aside. When do we hear the good our troops do for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Not often enough, if at all. As far as my readers perceptions being influenced, that I can’t answer. I will do my best to portray, Emily, her team and the soldiers in the most favorable light I can, unless they are the criminal.

How did you come up with Emily Dahill?

The short answer, the vivid imagination of a writer.

For the long answer you’d have to go and read all my books. There aren’t that many, yet, so no whining. In each one you’ll find the heroine is a powerful, not in strength but character and conviction, individual. Strong, independent yet at the same time caring. But, hurt someone she loves and watch out.

I developed the same traits in Emily. With that in mind, the next step was to find where she belonged in the Army. I have a minor character, Special Agent Thaddeus Dahill, CID, in Target Identified, and thought wouldn’t it be great if he had a daughter who followed in his footsteps. To give her a human quality, I gave her a fear of helicopters.

She is a constantly developing and evolving character. In each story you, the reader, will learn a little more about her. How she works. How she thinks. And her all important, especially to her team members, axioms of safety and preservation.

What got you started writing fiction?

I started writing with an eye toward being published in 2006, and got my first contract in 2008, and haven’t stopped.

What authors have influenced you?

I really couldn’t say that I’ve been influenced by any author in particular. I tend to read a wide variety of genres and authors.

Anything else you want to share with us?

I am in the process of working on Emily Dahill, CID Part 2. If things go according to plan, the book should be out in six to nine months, but in publishing, some things never go as planned.

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Thanks for sharing, Lindsay. Of course, as an Air Force veteran I think I'm honor-bound to insist that the OSI is better than both the NCIS and the CID.

You can find Emily Cahill, CID Part 1 at:

Astraea Press
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Bookstrand

For the next six months, all proceeds from the sale of her collection will be donated to the Japanese tsunami victims.

If you're interested in a virtual author signing on your e-book (ah, how things have changed so quickly), please visit http://kindlegraph.com/authors/ldowns2966.