Read The Bracken Anthology for Free Online
Authors: Matthew Bracken
interesting background as a Navy SEAL and an ocean sailor. Does any of this background come through in either the EFAD trilogy or your new novel?
MB: Most writers of genre fiction have little or no first-hand knowledge of subjects such as the use of explosives, tactical firearms employment, running a fast boat across the ocean at night and so on. I think I bring more realism to my fiction because of my experiences.
In my opinion, very few novelists can write well or convincingly about using modern weapons, parachuting at night, preparing a C-4 demo charge or a hundred other things. Some of them literally don’t know a revolver from a pistol, yet they put them both in their characters’ hands. Most of the famous name-brand authors wind up writing thrillers that, at least to me, read like comic books without the benefit of colorful illustrations. Many are so laughable in their depictions of action sequences and technical details that I end up throwing the books against a wall.
These authors are far over their heads when they write about guys running around with sub machineguns, night vision devices and lock picks. They are all creating multi-lingual Jason Bournes who swing between sky-scrapers and even cities like Spiderman. They can hack any computer, pilot any jet, speak any language. It gets silly and unreadable. Because they’ve never done a bit of it themselves, these famous authors can’t write the action scenes convincingly, any more than I could write convincingly about conducting the London Philharmonic or quarterbacking an NFL football team. And original, convincing action is at the heart of a compelling thriller. Otherwise, Dostoyevsky is still waiting to be read on the next aisle.
WRSA: It takes one to write one?
MB: (Laughs) It sure helps, I think. At least it gives me an edge in one area of my writing. But the famous name-brand authors do sell a boatload of books and make a ton of money, and I greatly admire that aspect of their success and strive to emulate it by writing fast and clever stuff. But grounded in some reality. What I write can happen. I don’t write comic books lacking pictures as many of them do. Maybe I should. They do sell a lot of copies. But it just wouldn’t interest me to write them. God help me, but I can only write what interests me, what has meaning to me, come hell or high water. And if I ever needed to trim my sails to politically-correct winds in order to sell books I wouldn’t write at all, at least not for publication.
WRSA: What is Castigo Cay? Where is it?
MB: It’s an imagined island in the Bahamas. Don’t look for it, it’s not there.
WRSA: Can people read any sample chapters online?
MB: The first hundred or so pages of all of my novels are free for the reading on my website. The latest addition is the opening sequences of Castigo Cay.
WRSA: When will people be able to read the entire book?
MB: Probably in May or June of 2011.
WRSA: I look forward to it.
MB: It’s like nothing out there, I promise.
WRSA: You could say that about all of your novels.
MB: Thank you.
#6
May 2011
Just A Working Man With His Tools
(covert rifle carrier)
I was out for a routine morning run on trash day last week, and snagged this empty plastic toolbox off a pile of rubbish set to be collected. At one time it carried a “saws-all” type electric tool. It’s very rugged yet light, with good hinges and clasps. This particular plastic case is 24 inches long, and it can contain a 31″ overall carbine, broken into upper and lower and nested. Plus a few magazines.
As a novelist, I have free rein to imagine every type of tactical scenario or trick. Sometimes I put them into my books, sometimes I keep them to myself, and sometimes I decide to share them. I didn’t set out to make the compact carbine carrier, it was found trash put to a new use. I already had
MB: Most writers of genre fiction have little or no first-hand knowledge of subjects such as the use of explosives, tactical firearms employment, running a fast boat across the ocean at night and so on. I think I bring more realism to my fiction because of my experiences.
In my opinion, very few novelists can write well or convincingly about using modern weapons, parachuting at night, preparing a C-4 demo charge or a hundred other things. Some of them literally don’t know a revolver from a pistol, yet they put them both in their characters’ hands. Most of the famous name-brand authors wind up writing thrillers that, at least to me, read like comic books without the benefit of colorful illustrations. Many are so laughable in their depictions of action sequences and technical details that I end up throwing the books against a wall.
These authors are far over their heads when they write about guys running around with sub machineguns, night vision devices and lock picks. They are all creating multi-lingual Jason Bournes who swing between sky-scrapers and even cities like Spiderman. They can hack any computer, pilot any jet, speak any language. It gets silly and unreadable. Because they’ve never done a bit of it themselves, these famous authors can’t write the action scenes convincingly, any more than I could write convincingly about conducting the London Philharmonic or quarterbacking an NFL football team. And original, convincing action is at the heart of a compelling thriller. Otherwise, Dostoyevsky is still waiting to be read on the next aisle.
WRSA: It takes one to write one?
MB: (Laughs) It sure helps, I think. At least it gives me an edge in one area of my writing. But the famous name-brand authors do sell a boatload of books and make a ton of money, and I greatly admire that aspect of their success and strive to emulate it by writing fast and clever stuff. But grounded in some reality. What I write can happen. I don’t write comic books lacking pictures as many of them do. Maybe I should. They do sell a lot of copies. But it just wouldn’t interest me to write them. God help me, but I can only write what interests me, what has meaning to me, come hell or high water. And if I ever needed to trim my sails to politically-correct winds in order to sell books I wouldn’t write at all, at least not for publication.
WRSA: What is Castigo Cay? Where is it?
MB: It’s an imagined island in the Bahamas. Don’t look for it, it’s not there.
WRSA: Can people read any sample chapters online?
MB: The first hundred or so pages of all of my novels are free for the reading on my website. The latest addition is the opening sequences of Castigo Cay.
WRSA: When will people be able to read the entire book?
MB: Probably in May or June of 2011.
WRSA: I look forward to it.
MB: It’s like nothing out there, I promise.
WRSA: You could say that about all of your novels.
MB: Thank you.
#6
May 2011
Just A Working Man With His Tools
(covert rifle carrier)
I was out for a routine morning run on trash day last week, and snagged this empty plastic toolbox off a pile of rubbish set to be collected. At one time it carried a “saws-all” type electric tool. It’s very rugged yet light, with good hinges and clasps. This particular plastic case is 24 inches long, and it can contain a 31″ overall carbine, broken into upper and lower and nested. Plus a few magazines.
As a novelist, I have free rein to imagine every type of tactical scenario or trick. Sometimes I put them into my books, sometimes I keep them to myself, and sometimes I decide to share them. I didn’t set out to make the compact carbine carrier, it was found trash put to a new use. I already had
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