“Aiden L. Bailey’s debut spy thriller is mind-bending, genre-breaking, cliché-twisting… call it whatever you like, just read it!”

That quote is taken from a blurb I wrote for author Aiden L. Bailey’s debut spy thriller, The Benevolent Deception. This unique, action packed novel really broke the mold, and it quickly became a “must read” on my kindle.  Now that Aiden has released a prequel, and has begun work on the next book in the series, I thought it would be fun to interview him for the site. I can’t wait to get a look at what twists and turns this fascinating author has in store for thriller fans like myself!

Tell us about yourself… how did you become a writer? 

Although I’m originally from Sydney, I have lived and worked all over Australia including in outback mining towns and the remote desert regions. I started as an engineer on oil and gas pipeline and mining construction projects. After a couple of years my skills in writing and graphic design allowed me to transition into marketing roles, preparing proposals for multi-million-dollar infrastructure construction projects for defense facilities, coal fired power stations, water treatment plants, oil and gas refineries, offshore drilling platforms, highways, bridges, and rail networks. That work took me all over Australia, New Zealand and for a short time to the United States.

I’ve always had a creative mind, and the need to write stories has been with me since I was a young child. For many years I tried my hand at science fiction short stories. I also edited various SF anthologies and magazines, and interviewed some of the top authors in the industry.

About three years ago I finally admitted that what I most wanted to write was espionage thrillers and techno-thrillers, not SF, and so set about writing my first novel under a new penname (I didn’t want to confuse readers with the SF genre I use to write in). Eighteen months later I completed and published The Benevolent Deception. With that book’s release I had discovered the genre for me and plan on writing many more novels just like it.

What other writers influenced you?

What I read most often is thrillers, especially spy, techno-thriller and adventure stories. I have a strong interest in novels set in far flung places like Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. Contemporary authors I’ve recently enjoyed include Vince Flynn, Lee Child, Dan Brown, Gillian Flynn, Mark Dawson, Jack Silkstone and Rob Sinclair. Authors that influenced me at a younger age included Martin Cruz Smith, Wilbur Smith, Len Deighton, Alex Garland, Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy, Graham Greene, Michael Crichton, Desmond Bagley and Ian Fleming.

I’m also a big fan of SF and the genre’s impressive authors are Iain M Banks, Suzanne Collins, Alastair Reynolds, Philip K Dick, Isaac Asimov, Brian Aldiss, Harry Harrison, Larry Niven and on the fantasy front J.K. Rowling.

I guess it is not surprising I write espionage techno-thrillers combining aspects of both genres.

What gave you the initial spark of inspiration to write your debut spy thriller, The Benevolent Deception?

Inspiration originated from a new technology emerging in the world that I suspect we are only on the fringes of understanding its long-term impacts, and some of those potential impacts are downright scary.

When I looked deeper into this technology I realized it could also ‘fix’ several of the world’s ‘problems’ such as religious fanaticism, poverty, over-population, global warming, biodiversity degradation, intolerance and superstition, wealth inequality and corrupt totalitarian regimes everywhere, but in very unconventional and unexpected ways, and not to everyone’s liking or long-term survival.

(I won’t say what that technology is in fear of giving away the plot of The Benevolent Deception, but if you must know, check out this SPOILER link on TED Talks.)

In my novel that technology is used to first assassinate the U.S. President by manipulating insurgents into shooting down Air Force One in Afghanistan. The same shadowy group then impersonates the President everywhere by hacking into every government communication, global media outlet and social media platform. They spread fake Presidential speeches pushing an agenda that is not aligned with the current policies of the United States. It might look and sound like the President talking on the news networks, but is it really him?

The Benevolent Deception follows four characters – a former intelligence officer, a Secret Service agent, an investigative journalist, and a civilian targeted for assassination for reasons she does not understand – as they are each pursued across the globe while they attempt to unravel the mystery.

If I was pitching The Benevolent Deception to a movie producer, I’d describe it as “Blood Diamond meets Inception.”

The Benevolent Deception incorporates some unique themes and ideas you don’t often see in spy thrillers, almost touching on trans-humanism and science fiction at times. Could you describe some of your influences in this area?

Before I started writing The Benevolent Deception I invested a lot of time studying the styles and techniques of today’s top thriller authors with the aim of writing a novel that fit the conventions of the genre. But I’m also influenced by techno-thriller authors like Dan Brown, John Birmingham, Matthew Reilly and Michael Crichton, and films like Inception and Ex_Machina that feature one speculative idea incorporated into the backdrop of the modern world. This mechanism allows me to keep the story and characters grounded in the modern world and yet explore the potential impacts of a single near future technology.

Feedback from many readers is that the surreal events of The Benevolent Deception seem implausible or illogical at first, but by the conclusion it all comes together in a series of ‘penny-drop’ moments. I’m grateful for this feedback because I felt like I was taking a risk with this book.

Were you intentionally trying to stretch the boundaries of the genre?

On reflection, I probably was. I’ve already mentioned I wanted to incorporate speculative elements into a traditional thriller plot but not make it too ‘out there’ so that it became pure SF.

But I took other risks with the tropes common in thriller fiction, by playing on the motivations, personalities and backgrounds of the four main characters. Two characters are mostly traditional, Simon Ashcroft a spy action hero type and the smart woman he is sent to Africa to protect, Casey Irvine. Simon eventually falls for Casey but he is also driven to return home and be a father to his children again. The third character is a secular Muslim and she is an agent for the U.S. Secret Service. The last is an investigative journalist risking his life to get to the bottom of the story’s mystery, who incidentally happens to be gay.

I did deliberately apply the Bechdel Test to my novel to include at least one conversation between two named female characters that is not about a man. Even though I met the criteria many times, in later drafts I changed several of the male characters to female to achieve a better gender balance. It’s paying off because a sizable portion of my fan base are women which I wasn’t expecting. I’m proud of that.

A large chunk of The Benevolent Deception was set in Africa, and those scenes really showcased your genuine love and interest for the setting… what experiences led to your fascination with this area of the world?

In my early twenties, I backpacked with a friend through parts of Eastern and Southern Africa and we did some pretty wild things over there. We hung out with journalists, UN workers, African business entrepreneurs, aid workers and NGO consultants. We did the usual tourist activities like safaris and visiting amazing scenery like Victoria Falls, the Island of Lamu and the Rift Valley, but I was also chased by an elephant, ended up in a rock concert with gunfire, met with the victims of brutal secret police interrogations, and watched as press got censored everywhere I went. It was a full immersion cultural tour like I haven’t experienced since.

I’ve travelled to many other parts of the world since but something about my experiences in Africa made me fall in love with the continent. I don’t think I chose to set my stories there, it choses me. I plan to return as soon as I’m able, for I have plenty more stories with African settings and want to get the research right.

What do you think are the key ingredients of a page-turning spy thriller?  What do you look for when you read for your own pleasure?

I think the trick is to firstly come up with an original idea and secondly keep up the pace at all times. Easy to say, very difficult to do.

There is no magic formula in writing a best seller otherwise we’d all be doing it, but I’ve learnt a few tricks along the way that might help me get there. Firstly, I try to develop characters with realistic motivations and human failings. Secondly, I aim to keep the characters whose eyes we see a story through to a minimum so a reader isn’t investing a lot of time jumping between characters and trying to work out who is important. Thirdly, I aim to keep dialogue snappy and keep lengthy backstory narratives to a minimum. Critical for thrillers, I know there needs to be an underlying sense of tension bubbling away at all times.

Perhaps not surprisingly, all the above is what I look for when I read for pleasure.

What do you think the future of publishing will be for independent writers like yourself?

I’d been coming to the conclusion for some time that self-publishing is going to be the only way forward for serious authors. It is a bit like the rock band that first makes a name for itself on the live performance circuit, so when they seek a record label deal they are in a position of power to negotiate their contractual terms. They have already proved they offer a unique sounds people want to hear. A self-published author who sells 50,000 copies in twelve months brings to the table a marketable literary product, whereas an unpublished manuscript runs the risk of not being read by anyone, no matter how good it is.

I know many authors want someone else to promote their books but I’m not even seeing that happening in mainstream publishing anymore. There is too much competition these days with over a million self-published books on Amazon. Each year it is going to become risker than the last for publishers to pick up an unknown author, especially one that doesn’t engage with the public and talk about what they are writing. I believe authors who produce engaging and unique novels, who knows how to promote their work and are savvy with their self-publishing and social media platforms are going to be the authors we remember in the future. And good luck to them all.

What’s upon next for you and your writing?  Do you plan to stick with spy thrillers, or are there other genres you would like to tackle?

I’m busy working on the sequel to The Benevolent Deception which will be the second book in what will be a trilogy. That novel will be called The Benevolent Conflict and is set predominately in India and the Middle East. The mystery has been revealed in book one, so the second book explores what the group controlling the mysterious technology is going to do with it. The world is in for lots of surprises.

For now, I’m going to stick with espionage techno-thrillers. I’m having too much fun writing in this genre after the long path I took to get here. After I finish the Benevolent Series I plan on writing a series of standalone but connected espionage thriller novels about a driven CIA agent and a jaded Australian SAS soldier. Many of those stories will draw on my mining and oil and gas industry experience. So far have about five novels plotted out.

Any big travel plans on the horizon?

I’ve just returned from Indonesia where I was researching scenes for the third book in the Benevolent series, so my next trip might be a while away. If I do travel again soon I’m looking to return to Southern Africa where significant portions of my future novels will be set.

Any other projects or endeavors you’d like to highlight?  How can readers find more information about you and your books?

My books are available on Amazon and I have author pages on Amazon US and Amazon UK.

You can find out more about me at my website www.aidenlbailey.com with links to my Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+ pages.

I have a mailing list/readers group that anyone can sign up to here where you can receive updates on my books and receive a free copy of my Benevolent Series prequel novella The Assyrian Contraband (which is also available on Amazon). This is a story I was originally asked to write for an unofficial Canadian James Bond anthology, but the project got stalled. So I rewrote it in a modern setting with Simon Ashcroft from The Benevolent Deception as the hero. It takes place in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa and features what I have been told is a very unusual battle with a shark.

If you could be any hero of the spy thriller genre for a day, who would you choose and why?

Daniel Craig’s James Bond. I mean, who else has that much fun being a secret agent?

I love hearing from my readers, and one of the most common questions they have for me is: “When will the audiobooks for Tokyo Black and Red Phoenix be released?” Well, I’m happy to say I finally have an answer to that query: Very soon!

I’m enormously pleased to report that I recently signed a contract from Tantor Media, one of the largest and most respected independent audiobook production houses in the world! Tantor contacted me, and made an offer for the audiobook rights to Tokyo Black and Red Phoenix, as well as the next book in the series (Title is currently TBD.)

I was originally planning to produce these audiobooks myself, through Amazon’s ACX program. But here’s the thing… producing audiobooks is a time consuming affair.  Between recording the manuscript, noting each chapter, checking pronunciation, re-recording takes, etc. it’s hours and hours of work, both for me, and for the narrator. And for a big book like Red Phoenix, I knew the process would take even longer. As much as I enjoyed working on the Devil’s Due audiobook, the truth is I would rather spend that time writing new Caine novels, as well as some other projects I have ideas for.

So when the people at Tantor contacted me, and we were able to agree on terms, it was a like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. As a company, Tantor knows that they are doing in the audiobook space. Last year, they published over 1500 audiobooks, and they have a back catalog of 22,000 titles. Some of their prestigious releases include The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens, Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, Island by Aldous Huxley, and The Way of the Seal by Mark Divine.

And here’s a cool trivia tidbit… Tantor Media takes its name from Tarzan’s Elephant companion in Edgar Rice Burroughs classic adventure tale.  In fact, Tarzan was the first audiobook they ever published. Well, personally, I am a huge ERB fan, and when I heard that I knew Caine would be in good hands.

Tantor and I worked together to select a narrator, and I can’t wait for you guys to give a listen to Mr. Jonathan Davis. Mr. Davis is a three-time recipient and fourteen-time nominee of the prestigious Audie Award. He has narrated numerous best selling thrillers, as well as several novels in the Star Wars franchise. Recently, he narrated the audiobook novelization of the smash hit film Rogue One!

So as you can see (or rather, hear), Mr. Davis clearly has the chops to take on the dark, gritty world of Thomas Caine. And since Tantor has an efficient, streamlined production process in place, I’ve been assured that the books will be released very quickly… hopefully in a just couple months.

While you’re waiting, don’t forget you can still get the Devil’s Due audiobook here. Devil’s Due, Tokyo Black, and Red Phoenix are all available at Amazon as ebooks, and are enrolled in the KU program.

I promise I’ll keep you all up to date on the new releases, and I will post links once they are released on the major platforms.

 

Thank you for reading. Now, I have to get on to writing that next Caine book… I don’t want an impatient elephant knocking on my door! (His tusks might chip the paint…)

Cheers,

Andrew Warren

Brian Drake is a fellow thriller author who has been steadily building an action-packed body of work. He has several books and characters to his name, including a new series he is about to launch that focuses on CIA operative Scott Stiletto. Stiletto #1: The Termination Protocol is available for preorder on Amazon now, and will be launching shortly. You can bet I’ll be first in line to see what exciting developments Brian’s new series has in store for us! But first, I thought my readers might enjoy an an interview with Brian, and sneak peak into the birth of an new spy-thriller series:

Tell us about yourself… how did you become a writer?  What other writers influenced you and your work?

I started writing as a teenager and it soon became a lifelong sickness. Once I read about Stephen King signing a multi-million-dollar deal, I said the hell with regular work. Thirty years later, we’re not there yet, and since my regular job is talking on the radio as a news reporter, I haven’t made out too badly anyway. I wasn’t influenced by “high-brow” writers like my Minnesota brother F. Scott Fitzgerald until later in life (we were born in the same city, albeit eras apart), but growing up all I read were books by Ian Fleming, Jerry Ahern, Don Pendleton, and Robert Ludlum. Later on, it was Hammett, Spillane, Richard Stark, Max Allan Collins, and my dear friend Rebecca Forster. Throw ‘em all together and I eventually learned some things.

Tell us about Scott Stiletto. What led you to come up with the character and this new series?

Stiletto was actually the first character I “made up” myself while scribbling between classes in junior high. Prior to that I was doing what we call “fan fiction” now—writing stories about James Bond, the Man from UNCLE, etc. He’s been on the shelf for decades and I never really intended to use him again, but when I was looking for a break from my Steve Dane series (The Rogue Gentleman, Mine to Avenge), I thought why not bring him back?

Stiletto starts out as a CIA agent who takes on the tough cases for the Special Activities Division, which really exists, though not necessarily as I depict. When he’s not teaching terrorists and assorted misfits how it feels to be hunted, he’s usually working on restoring a 1977 Trans Am. He smokes Montecristo cigars, the Dominican variety, though he has been known to sample a Cuban version or two. He’s also a very capable artist who always has a sketch pad handy. He was an army brat when he was young, and had a hard time making friends, so he learned to draw to fill the solitude. Later in the series he faces some challenges that force him out of the CIA and into freelance work. I didn’t want a static, never-changing series so every few books his comfort zone gets shaken up, but we’re not there yet as book one begins

What do you think are the key ingredients of a page-turning spy thriller?  What do you look for when you read for your own pleasure?

The only real requirement of a thriller is that thrilling things have to happen to the story’s participants. You need a fast pace, a little mystery, a certain amount of action, and the writer must choose if the story is going to be ridiculous and over-the-top, or somewhat grounded in reality. Sky’s the limit. What I like about this particular subject matter is that, while I tend to focus on spies, thrillers can have any kind of hero, from the professional secret agent to the Everyman. My friend Rebecca Forster writes great thrillers featuring lawyers. You’ll never find a gun or bomb in her books but you can’t put them down, either.

As for what I look for, I’m so picky now it’s not funny. I don’t read a lot of contemporary work. There’s simply too much to keep up with. I read my friends, of course. I like writing that is tight an economical with no wasted words, and that’s rare. If I’m mentally editing as I read, I can’t enjoy the book.

At the risk of offending some of those friends I mentioned, I’ll go ahead and name some top favorites and why. Ian Fleming, of course, you can’t go wrong with as a reader or a writer. Everything you need to know about writing is in the James Bond novels, and I can teach an entire class on those books. Frederick Forsyth weaves a plot like nobody else, ever. He may be weak in a lot of areas like characterization, but his plots are fantastic. Gerard de Villiers is good because of his insider knowledge and use of real world events, which is also a negative, because his endings are often forced to follow those events, and you don’t get the smash-bang climax you might expect. You will, however, know more about current geopolitics than what the media tells you. Leslie Charteris, who wrote The Saint, mixes action and humor better than anybody and is an absolute joy to read, and while his books are heavily dated, they are contemporary in many other ways. Robert Ludlum just flat out entertains you no matter what mood you’re in, and his contributions to the genre, which are more than just Jason Bourne, cannot be ignored and only a fool would try. Eric Ambler makes my list because he writes some of the best nail-biting novels I’ve ever read. Get anything by him and lose yourself in a world of paranoia and constant danger and pay particular attention to his slow-burn technique. His books are like a lit fuse inching toward the blasting cap. I can’t leave out Donald Hamilton, who got famous for writing Matt Helm but turned out some great stand-alone thrillers too and was probably the best of his generation. And if there is a better mystery writer and hard-boiled stylist than Mickey Spillane, I haven’t found him, and that includes Dashiell Hammett and Paul Cain. Maybe Max Allan Collins is a good second, but Spillane will always be first for me when I think of murder mysteries with an edge.

How did you get involved with self-publishing?  What do you think the future of publishing will be for independent writers like yourself?

I started self-publishing back in 2010 with one hand holding my nose because I thought it was only for amateurs. I decided to get involved when I finally saw how I could build a following, which I would then use as leverage to get a “real” book contract. Couple things happened: I realized I was wrong, professionals were embracing self-publishing and doing it very well indeed, and I started getting noticed. I got offered writing jobs for two series (Fight Card, a series about boxing; and Blaze, an adult western), and invited to write for an anthology (Pulse Fiction from Pro Se Productions), and I’ve made some great connections with writers who look at me as a pro who does good work and meets his deadlines. I’m glad I was wrong. A publisher eventually took notice as well, but all I can say about that is “negotiations are in progress” and part of the deal is that I get to keep publishing my own work and do stuff for them too.

As for the future. . . .who knows. I think Indie publishing will continue as a viable option for writers, which is a good thing, but we have a glut of material, which is bad. Readers may not stick with one writer over another, but eventually they’ll be so much to choose from they’ll only stick with their favorites. I could go on about this, but everything has its plusses and minuses. You need to be in this for the long haul rather than a quick fix; you need to study the market and study what other writers are doing and copy that. I spent the last seven years releasing as many books with a doe-eyed laissez-faire attitude of just release and the readers will come, and that hasn’t (financially) really worked (it did earn me a lot of beer money and bring the attention I mentioned, so there’s that). With Stiletto, I’ve been watching what sells, who sells it, and how. I’m a slow learner. If I had been doing that from the beginning, I’d own a house by now.

And when I say “copy” it’s important to mention I don’t mean copy their stories. I mean copy their sales and marketing approach. What are they doing that sells their books, and how can you apply those tactics to your own?

How important are branding and marketing for self-published authors?  How do you approach these areas in your own work?

Very. I’d say it’s critical. I didn’t learn the importance of series-branded covers until my third Steve Dane book, when somebody pointed out they couldn’t tell my books were in a series and that was hurting sales. I paid no attention to all the talk I was hearing about mailing lists; or advertising; anything like that. Didn’t think I needed it. Part of the turnaround in my thinking was downloading the top indie action novels and going back and forth through the books to see what the other guys were doing, how did they chum for list sign-ups, what did their web pages and Facebook pages look like, what did they tweet, if anything. Copy all of it until you figure out your own approach. Read the Passive Voice, read the Kindle Boards Writer’s Café (both will help you keep up with the constant changes indie writers face), link up with other writers on Facebook. Share ideas, ask questions. Most of the time nobody knows nothing, but within that nothing is something you can use. I’m not sure I believe in “luck” as a tangible force in life, but I suppose you need some of that too. I’ve always made my own luck by showing up sober and wearing a suit. Smiling doesn’t hurt, either.

What’s next for Scott Stiletto?  Do you plan to stick with spy thrillers, or are there other genres you would like to write in?

Stiletto has a bright future. Three books done and in the can, five more either in the outline or sketch stage. I’ll eventually get back to my Steve Dane series, either with the publisher I mentioned (they want all five books), or on my own if the deal falls through. I have a crime series planned about a vigilante named Wolf, which I started as a series of short stories under a pen name but will now bring out under my own name. I’d love to do many different things, including an erotic spy parody called 50 Shades of Agent 69 and its sequel, OO7 Inches is Not Enough, but while I keep threatening to do so, I doubt I ever will. I seem to get a lot of laughs just mentioning the titles, and that’s probably all I need.

I would like to branch out into other genres. Maybe some sci-fi, someday. I tried a romantic suspense once (Bulletproof Hearts under the name Brianna Cain), but haven’t done anything to promote it so it just sits. I had fun writing it, though. But there’s only so much time in the day, and in life, so I doubt I’ll ever get to everything I’d like to do.

If you could be any hero of the spy thriller genre for a day, who would you choose and why?

Ha! Nobody. I’m my own spy hero. My characters are all patterned after me anyway, which is why Stiletto, since we’re focusing on him, has so many of my traits. My adventures don’t feature car chases or gun fights, but they’re just as challenging and I get to go home with a better woman every night than Scott Stiletto or James Bond will ever find, and if Stiletto ever does find one, she’ll be modeled after mine. I’ll give you an example of how great she is. We’d barely been dating a year when I found a collected volume of Fitzgerald’s work but didn’t have the cash. Come Valentine’s Day, she bought me the book. I would have married her that night. James Bond may have the license to kill, but I have a better license.

Like many writers, I often listen to music while I write. Movie soundtracks are usually my go to music for inspiration, but I know other writers who play everything from classical, rap or even punk rock as they pound the keys. But what about all the readers out there? Do you guys listen to music as you flip the pages (or tap the screens) of your favorite books?

Sam Carver, Director of The Orion Team, sure does. What exactly is The Orion Team, you ask? No, it’s a not a top secret super-spy organization – It’s a Goodreads Group that focuses on “Thrillers involving technology, spies, assassins, geopolitics, international settings, and terrorists.” If you’re a fan of authors such as Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, Tom Clancy, Barry Eisler, Ian Fleming, or even my Thomas Caine series, trust me: you have to check this group out.

I’ve met so many great readers and authors there, and my kindle is packed with their amazing recommendations. So many action-packed books to read, so little time!

Not only did Sam pen an incredibly detailed and thoughtful review for Red Phoenix, he also put together a YouTube playlist of suggested reading music – a dream soundtrack of sorts! There is so much great music here, and there’s something for everyone… anime soundtracks, techno-remixes, and even soulful southern rock. I’ll share a link to the playlist at the end of this post, but I wanted to highlight a few of my favorite selections here:

KALEO – WAY DOWN WE GO

This was the first song Sam shared with me, and it blew my mind… the lyrics and mood are so soulful and appropriate. In my mind, this will always be the theme for the Red Phoenix movie playing in my head.

LOW ROAR – I’LL KEEP COMING

Talk about mood and atmosphere! Sam picked this song to represent Caine’s arrival in Beijing, driving through the hazy smog-covered streets. Somber, gritty, and high-tech.

DAVID BYRNE – THE LAST EMPEROR

This was my sole contribution to the list! This song was in fact on my writing playlist, and I always hear it in my head when I picture Caine visiting the beautiful Chinese hutong.

ROYAL DELUXE – I’M A WANTED MAN

Mood and atmosphere are great, but now it’s time to kick some ass – Sam picked this music for Caine’s all out assault to rescue a the son of an old friend.

KI THEORY – ENJOY THE SILENCE

I was always a huge Depeche Mode fan, so I was delighted to see this remake pop up to accompany the final battle and lead into the denouement…

This is just a taste of the amazing music Sam put together. I can’t thank him and the rest of The Orion Team enough. For the full playlist, click here… I hope it will enrich your reading experience!

RED PHOENIX PLAYLIST

Do you listen to music when you read? What tracks come to mind when you imagine your favorite books? Please let me know in the comments below!