Ethan Jones - interview

Today, I'm happy to be interviewing Ethan Jones, author of Arctic Wargame.

LW. Let's start with intros. Tell us a bit about yourself.

EJ. I’m a lawyer by trade, working on international trade and investments.  I live in Canada, with my wife and my son.

LW. Your books Arctic Wargame and Tripoli ’s Target are released this year. What’s the story with these two?

EJ. Arctic Wargame is the first book in Justin Hall series.  Justin has been demoted because of a botched rescue operation in Libya, which was not his fault.  Now, he’s a desk jockey.  Eager to return to field work, he volunteers for a reconnaissance mission, when two foreign icebreakers appear in Canadian Arctic waters.  His team discovers a weapons stash, along with a plan that threatens Canada’s security.  At the same time, the team falls under attack by one of their own and is stranded helpless in the Arctic.  It is now a race against time for Justin and his team to save themselves and their country.

Tripoli’s Target is the second book in Justin Hall series.  Justin and his partner, Carrie O’Connor, are sent to meet with the Sheikh of the largest terrorist network in Northern Africa, to receive some high-value intelligence.  They learn about an assassination plot against the US president, which is to happen during a G-20 summit in Tripoli, Libya.  Justin and Carrie inform the US Secret Service about this plot. Then, new intelligence comes in, and they realize something is very, very wrong in their plan.  Against all odds, they must stop the assassination before the summit forty-eight hours away.

LW. Is there a background to how you came to write them?

EJ. I wrote Arctic Wargame in 2008-2009.  When I started, it was just before the global crisis, when the oil prices were skyrocketing.  There was a lot of talk about discovering new resources, mainly in the Arctic, since that’s the last unexplored frontier.  Newspapers were buzzing with plans of the Arctic powers to militarize the region and to claim these riches for themselves.  I set up my story against this background, imagining a scenario when one of these Arctic powers would go beyond tough rhetoric and actually begin armed actions on the ground.

I wrote Tripoli’s Target in 2009-2011.  The Arab Spring had not started yet, and this area of the world had received little attention in numerous spy thrillers, which focused mostly on Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran.  The “mad dog of the Middle East,” Qaddafi, was still alive and in very good terms with the Americans.  The US Secretary of State Rice visited Tripoli and met with Qaddafi in 2008.  I imagined someone in the terrorist networks may not like this coziness and may try to derail their improved relations.  I had to change my storyline a lot as a result of the events taking place in 2011, with Qaddafi dethroned and then killed.

LW. How did you get into writing? Is it something you’ve always done or a more recent interest?

EJ. I have always liked to read and I tried my hand at writing when I was 13-14.  I would read a story or watch a movie and then go to write how I wanted the story or the movie to continue.  Then life happened.  After finishing law school, I also continued my graduate studies and got a Master of Laws degree.  As a part of my degree, I had to write a 150-page thesis.  The process of research, writing, rewriting and editing inspired me to return to my childhood passion.  I was blessed with time and I learned things as I wrote.

LW. What are your plans for the future when it comes to writing? Are you working on anything at the moment you can tell us about?

EJ. I’ve finished two short stories, Carved in Memory––which is a prequel to Arctic Wargame and explains an important aspect of Justin’s background–– and The Last Confession––about a dying NY mobster confession to his priest.  They are released along with Arctic Wargame.

I’m working on Fog of War, which is the third book in Justin Hall series.  This time, Justin infiltrates some of the most dangerous spots in the planet.  Iran, Somalia and Yemen, the hotbeds of terrorism in the making.  Fog of War will come out in spring of 2013.

I’m also working on a murder mystery set in the US, called A Complicated Justice.   A Court of Appeals judge goes missing and the detectives are trying to find out him, the reasons why he has disappeared and the whole truth.  I have no date in mind for the release of this novel.

LW. How do you write – plan it or just go with an idea and see where you end up?

EJ. I wrote Arctic Wargame and Tripoli’s Target without an outline.  I just planned the main storyline in my mind and went on writing.  There were a couple of places where I really stumbled and had to think hard to come out with ideas and solutions.  I have a somewhat flexible outline for Fog of War.

LW. What sort of things do you do in your spare time?

EJ. I work out and go for walks with my dogs in the forest.  I read and blog.

LW. Any author or book recommendations you’d like to mention?

EJ. I’ve read a few good books recently.  The Deep Zone by James M. Tabor was a good one, along with Act of Terror by Marc Cameron and Fallen Angels by Connie Dial.

LW. What advice would you give to new writers?

EJ. I learned as I wrote, so my advice is to begin writing and learn as you go. 

Read a lot of books, so you can see what works and what doesn’t.  Learn from other authors, how they create their storylines, their plots, their chapters.

Be patient and keep writing.  Eventually, you’ll have something good.

LW.What’s the best advice you’ve heard or been given when it comes to writing?

EJ. The one I just mentioned.  Keep writing, rewriting, editing and writing some more.



Thanks for this opportunity, Luke.  I truly appreciate it.

Ethan Jones is a lawyer by trade and the author of Arctic Wargame, a spy thriller available on Amazon as an e-book and paperback.  He has also published two short stories: Carved in Memory, a prequel to Arctic Wargame, and The Last Confession, both available on Amazon as e-books.  His second spy thriller, Tripoli’s Target, will be released in fall 2012.  Ethan lives in Canada with his wife and his son.

Arctic Wargame: Canadian Intelligence Service Agent Justin Hall—combat-hardened in operations throughout Northern Africa—has been demoted after a botched mission in Libya.

When two foreign icebreakers appear in Canadian Arctic waters, Justin volunteers for the reconnaissance mission, eager to return to the field.  His team discovers a foreign weapons cache deep in the Arctic, but they are not aware that a spy has infiltrated the Department of National Defence.

The team begins to unravel a treasonous plan against Canada, but they fall under attack from one of their own.  Disarmed and stripped of their survival gear, they are stranded in a remote location.  Now the team must survive the deadly Arctic not only to save themselves, but their country.
 
 
Ethan is giving away ten copies of his book so head over to his blog and you could be in with a chance. Ethan Jones