From a recent interview . . .

Q: ... So you’ve written something on the order of three dozen books?

 

Jim: It’s more than that, but I’m not exactly sure what the number is. Every time I start to count I get interrupted.... But it’s definitely more, assuming you’re counting the [children’s] middle grade and YA works.

 

Q: Which you did early in your career.

 

Jim: Actually, interspersed. I’m working on a high [age] middle-grade project right now. And my wife and I recently collaborated on a non-fiction middle grade project. I like writing kids’ books. What I choose to do at any one point depends a lot on the opportunities for its being published and of course my own time constraints.

 

Q: Why do you write so much?

 

Jim: I like to eat and pay the mortgage? . . .  I promised I wouldn’t be flip, didn’t I? . . . Well, there is truth in that. But I think that I’m just one of those people who has a lot of interests and I’ve been very lucky to be able to pursue them. I’m best know for military and spy thrillers, and probably for my collaborations with Dick [Richard Marcinko on Rogue Warrior], Steve [Stephen Coonts, Deep Black], Dale [Brown, Dreamland/Whiplash], Larry [Bond, on Red Dragon and First Team]. . . but I’ve been able to do a lot of other things. I did a trilogy set during the Revolution. I published a nonfiction account of a murder that happened not too far from where I lived [Kill Grandma For Me]. Just recently it was the subject of a video documentary.... And I was extremely fortunate to be able to write about the history of the U.S. Army Rangers, and talk to some of the first members of the unit . . . Being interested in a lot of different things is a blessing and I guess a curse in a way.

 

Q: A curse?

 

Jim: Supposedly it hurts your career when you do too many things.

 

Q: Is that true?

 

Jim: I’m not really in a position to say. I have no complaints. I think I’m pretty damn lucky. I work hard, but I think a lot of people work hard.

 

Q: How did you become so prolific?

 

Jim: I haven’t really psychoanalyzed it. And to be honest, I’m not sure that I’m so much more prolific than a lot of other writers. I’ve just been very lucky getting my work published.

 

Q: . . .  Is there a downside?

 

Jim: I’m not sure I understand  . . . a downside to publishing a lot of books? I think what you’re getting at is more the conflict – if that’s the right word – between commercial and supposedly non-commercial fiction. There is definitely a prejudice, I guess you’d say, in some quarters about commercial or mass market fiction. I write commercial fiction. Which to me means I want people to read it. But “literary” – in quotes – fiction writers want to be read, too. The trouble comes because inevitably someone says well this is better than that, and then tries to use numbers as a dividing line, good or bad. Maybe as a way to make up for some perceived slight, like they [literary fiction writers] are not getting rich. . . . Most commercial writers don’t get rich either, for what that’s worth.

 

Q: Do you write literary fiction?

 

Jim: Leopards Kill was called literary fiction, but it had a mass market release. I think it’s a thriller. What do I know, though, really? And who cares? It’s just a story.

 

Q: You’re not rich?

 

Jim: Only in friends. But that’s where it counts. I know that’s a cliché, but I actually believe it, as corny as it sounds.

 

Q: Do you have a favorite book [of yours]?

 

Jim: I always get asked that question and I always have the same answer: that’s like asking a parent if they have one favorite child.

 

Q: Are you ducking the question?

 

Jim: Probably.

 

Q: You recently gave a talk about video games and how they’re the next great art form. Did you really believe that?

 

Jim: I really do. I think they’re a fantastic way of telling a story. . . . I do think we’re still in the infancy of the art form. It’s kind of like the early days of movies. . . .

 

Q: Have you written video games?

 

Jim: I’ve [been hired to prepare] a scenario for an independent gaming company that’s being used as the basis of a game [and movie] franchise. And I’m working as a consultant and writer with a major game publisher on a game.... There are a couple of other things that I’m involved in. But my feelings would be the same whether I was doing that or not.

 

Q: What do you think of ebooks? You’ve been one of the proponents . . . .

 

Jim: I don’t know if proponent. That to me means a crusader, or someone who’s really working for them, pushing them. I think ebooks are a reality, and obviously like any writer I want people to read my work, in any medium possible. [Ebooks are] another form that I think will evolve in the future – I can see things that are possible in ebooks that we can’t do on the printed page. This generation of [ebook] machines is a little limited. I’m not out waving flags for ebooks, but I think that they’re certainly a fact of life.

 

Q: I’ve heard that you’re a pro wrestling fan.

 

Jim: True. I’ve had the privilege of working with a number of wrestling personalities, helping them write their books [under the pseudonym, Jeremy Roberts] . . .

 

Q: Why do you like wrestling?

 

Jim: If I have to explain it . . . It’s a pure form of storytelling. It’s fun. The guys are pretty cool. I wouldn’t want their lives, though. Too many bumps and bruises every night.

 

Q: Not like writing.

 

Jim: Most of my writing injuries are self-inflicted.