J. Stewart Willis He grew up in Alexandria, Virginia and attended the United States Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1958 and served for twenty-five years in the Army. During that time, he served in Taiwan and later in Vietnam as a Signal Officer for the 173rd Airborne Brigade. During his Army career, he attended graduate school at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he earned a master’s and doctorate in physics. He served as a professor of physics at the United States Military Academy for sixteen years before retiring from the Army in 1983. He then worked for TRW Inc. as a communications project manager and the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Waste Project at Yucca Mountain. . Nevada. During this time, he lived in Rappahannock County, Virginia, where he has lived ever since. There he served as the elected mayor of Washington, Virginia (often referred to as “Little Washington”) for nine years. He currently lives in Sperryville, Virginia with Charlie, his Greyhound / Borzoi cross.
Welcome back, Stewart. For new readers, you can find my previous interview with J. Stewart Willis about his debut novel, Gestation Seven, at readerviews.com. Today we are going to talk about your latest book, Deadly highway. What is this story about?
The story centers on staff in the East Coast division of a major technology company preparing a proposal for a major contract for a highway to replace the interstate highway system. The contract will have a potential value of millions of dollars, and perhaps billions for many years, and will guarantee the future of the company, as well as its new vice president on the east coast. As a result, there is enormous pressure on the proposal manager and his internally competitive staff to win the tender. The book involves not only the development of the proposal, but also the competitive and fierce actions and interactions of the staff and their wives.
How did you come up with the idea for this book?
I try to write my books that include themes or approaches to topics that are not normally covered in novels. In my past, I worked for a technology company and participated in the development of three proposals. Although my experiences in developing these proposals were
constructive and friendly, the idea of developing a proposal in a harsher environment seemed to provide the opportunity for the development of a novel. That atmosphere, very different from my own experience, is what I have portrayed on Deadly Highway.
Tell us about some of your most colorful characters. What motivates them?
Charlie hendricks he’s a newly retired army colonel trying to establish himself in the industry and competing with the more established employees of the tech company. He is a man who wants to be where the action is and is suffering to some degree in the paper push atmosphere.
Linda hendricks is a woman who has been an army wife for twenty years and has suffered because her husband was in Iraq and Afghanistan for three tours while she was raising two children. In his frustration with what he sees as a boring life, he has an affair that he regrets.
Beautiful fortiano She is the wife of a former tech company employee. Over the years, by sleeping with the proposal manager and supplying medication to the manager’s wife, she has protected and supported her husband’s position in the company. When she discovers the Linda Hendricks affair, she uses it to blackmail her husband’s new competitor.
How do you create your characters? Are they inspired by real people?
Some of the characters are loosely based on some of the people I met in the military and in industry as a starting point, but from there I went with my imagination. Fortunately, I have not met any of them.
With which character do you identify the most and why?
Charlie Hendricks, because I retired from the military and entered the industry.
What is it about corporate politics that inspires such creative plots?
The politics of the book is a bit extreme, but I have met managers who were very competitive, along with their wives, in working on friendships with their bosses.
I was intrigued by some of the ideas your characters came up with for building a new road system, especially some of the methods for guiding and controlling traffic using technology. Is this the realistic future?
I believe that the concept of autonomous vehicles will govern the design of the roads of the future and hopefully the software involved will allow for general control of traffic on the roads to improve safety.
How extensive was your research for this novel, particularly as it relates to the construction of a highway system?
I mainly reviewed the government regulations associated with acquisitions. Self-driving cars, of course, get a wide discussion in the media that we all read about.
What have you learned since you wrote your first book? Seven gestation?
I think people want stronger characters. The pregnancy was about a young man overwhelmed by circumstances and surviving in that atmosphere.
Being an author these days involves more than just writing great books: what are you doing to promote yourself and your book and what has been your biggest challenge?
I have spent an incredible amount of money with “professional” salespeople to little effect. I do book signings, but the impact is small. I also work on Twitter and Facebook, but in my contacts there are often other writers with the same problems as me. The whole process is competitive and difficult.
What do you like most about being a writer?
Hearing someone say that they enjoyed my book.
Do you have a muse? How does it motivate you?
No. I have had ideas in my mind for years and now I am trying to put them on paper.
Have you ever experienced writer’s block? If so, how do you overcome it?
No. My books to date have tracked what happens over time. As a result, I only write what happens next.
What can you tell us about your writing process?
I have some ideas to build on and then I just sit down and write linearly to include those ideas.
Whats Next? Do you have another project in the works?
I am currently working on a book called “Three Degrees Fahrenheit, and Rising” set in the year 2087. At the time when some of the coastal lowlands of the US are flooded by a rising sea, people are moving inland and it’s hard to find work. meet.
Taking what you’ve learned from two novels under your belt, what advice can you give aspiring authors?
Since I have not been very successful so far, I am reluctant to give advice. I think I have written interesting books and received good comments about them. You need people to read your books. With the thousands of books out there, that is difficult to do.
Do you have a website or blog (or both) where readers can learn more about you and your books?
My website is www.JStewartWillis.com.
How can readers connect with you on social media?
On Facebook: J Stewart Willis
On Twitter: @ jstewartwillis7
Is there anything else you would like to add?
If you write, enjoy writing. Be careful about spending money on marketing. Cost can eat you alive.