Steven Bird Does JET Kindle Worlds!

 

Russell: How did you come to be interested in the JET Series Kindle World?

Steve: I googled tequila and came across your Facebook profile.

No, but seriously, having been involved with Steven Konkoly’s Perseid Collapse Kindle World, I really enjoyed eMeeting everyone involved and had a great time working on it. Also, being fairly new to the world of writing with only four of my own novels and one Kindle World’s Novella under my belt, I felt it would be a great way to expand my horizons. And considered was chocked full of shooting and killing, it was right up my alley.

Russell: Tell us how your story links to the JET Series. Characters, setting, specific event? Is there any crossover or meetings between your characters and any of the original characters?

Steve: My novella, JET: Dangerous Prey, involves Jet during her time with the Mossad. As she wraps up a sanction on a Bolivian drug smuggler that uses profits from the drug trade to fund a Middle-Eastern terror organization, her clean get away falls apart and an entirely new struggle arises. The story starts off in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, then on to Chimore, Cochabamba, Bolivia, and then deep in the jungle that spans the borders of Bolivia and Peru.

Russell: The JET Series books are fast-paced action and adventure stories. What genre(s) do you explore in your story?

Steve: Fast-paced action and adventure just like the original. No aliens, zombies, or romance. Although, maybe aliens or zombies would have been an excellent addition to the series.

Russell: The JET series has been set all over the world… the Middle East, Asia, South American, the Caribbean, etc. Tell us about where you set your story, and why?

Steve: Due to the fact that I was using Jet’s time with the Mossad, I wanted to develop a mission for her that would somehow include the defense of Israel on an unseen level. I also wanted to include a mountainous or jungle environment outside of any major metropolitan or urban area. I’m at home in nature and the outdoors so I wanted to take the readers there as well. With the idea to use the drug trade as a funding source for an anti-Israel Middle-Eastern terrorist organization, I was naturally drawn to Bolivia.

Russell: Tell us a little about your main character. Why do you think readers will like her?

Steve: Jet/Maya herself is the main character. She is joined by an Amercian ex-pat pilot who would otherwise be a decent guy but got himself caught up in some things that were way over his head. His involvement with Jet gives him the opportunity to somewhat redeem himself—even if that redemption is only in the heart of the reader.

Russell: Did you decide to include any of the main characters from JET (Jet / Maya, Matt or Hannah?) If so, Why?

Steve: Just Jet, alone on what started out as a routine assignment.

Russell: What major theme comes across the clearest in your story? Is this a theme found consistently in your other works? Please market those works here! 

Steve: Being a gun guy (some would say a fanatic), firearms usage is prevalent in all of my works. I believe the only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun… or rather a good gal in this case. Also, suffering from self-diagnosed ADD, I tend to write in a rather fast-paced manner, keeping myself from becoming bored. In my own series, The New Homefront the characters often have to do less than peaceful things to ensure the safety of their own families during a time of crisis and collapse. Although Jet is working on a national and not personal level, the same theme rings through.

Russell: Share some of your story about becoming a writer. 

Steve: I’m sure every author out there has some sort of unique story on what got them started. I’m what I would consider to be far from your typical novelist. For example, I read my first fiction novel EVER in March of 2013. Before that, I generally read non-fiction books on subjects such as history, astrophysics, politics, mechanics, survival, etc., but after reading the book Patriot Dawn, I was hooked. I was a power reader for the next few months until one day I said to myself, Hell, I can do that. At that moment, I started writing my first book on my Andriod phone… and I’m sure that shows when you read it 😉 That novel was self-published in March of 2014, only one year after giving the world of fiction a try. In the year that followed, I completed a four book series that has earned quite the following and has motivated me to pursue writing on a much more serious level.

Russell: Do you have a background related to your writing? Interests? What makes you interesting outside of your books…Authors are often some of the most interesting people I’ve met, although admittedly I don’t get out much.

Steve: I joke with people that I help to carry on the southern stereotype. I drive a big diesel 4×4 truck, I hunt, raise sheep, chickens, honey bees, and have a guard donkey. Yes, I said guard donkey. I’m a gun fanatic. My gun room resembles a Hollywood prop room in both volume and diversity, covering numerous eras in firearms development. Oh, and I’m an airline pilot and a retired Navy Reserve Chief.

Between flying for a living, hobby farming, and being a father of three, on top of putting out a novel each quarter, I feel like I have about six full-time jobs.

Russell: JET is set in a world where many governments including Israel and the U.S. have covert operations including false flag and assassinations. Do you believe this is really the world we live in? If so, what are your thoughts on the future?

Steve: As William Blum said, “No matter how paranoid or conspiracy-minded you are, what the government is actually doing is worse than you imagine.”

As far as the future goes, I’m personally hoping for a zombie apocalypse. It’s really the only way I can see us fixing things. Some people just need to be eaten.

Russell: What are you working on next, aside from the novella in the JET Series Kindle World?

Steve: A post-apocalyptic (sort of) sci-fi/thriller set on Mount Erebus, Antarctica, at the MEVO observatory as well as McMurdo Station.