Miles A. Maxwell - Private Pilot Writing Post-Apocalyptic Mysteries

Miles A. Maxwell - Private Pilot Writing Post-Apocalyptic Mysteries
author of the day

Having flown over many scenic locations as a private pilot, Miles A. Maxwell has a unique perspective of the world. Flights of his imagination took him to a post-apocalyptic New York after a nuclear bomb has been dropped on the city, where he started crafting an edge-of-the-seat mystery series. As our author of the day, Maxwell reveals how his State of Reason books took him 15 years to write, how much input his readers had and which actors he would like to see in the leads in a movie adaptation.

Please give us a short introduction to Loss of Reason

Cynthia Reveal returns from the day's work at her bank and is going to bed with her husband on Lexington Avenue in New York City's Upper East Side -- their infant daughter falling asleep in the other room -- when a nuclear bomb is detonated four miles away on the south tip of Manhattan.

Distant from each other for many years, her two brothers Franklin and Everon learn of the attack. Franklin climbs mountains and truly understands people. Everon can fly anything. They put their differences aside to join forces, to find Cynthia and her family and try to save them.

Why did you pick a nuclear disaster as a backdrop for your novel?

About ten years before 9/11, I lived on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The World Trade Center had already been bombed once.
I used to lie in bed at night listening to the sirens echo through the concrete canyons, wondering when someone would "drop the big one."

How has being a private pilot influenced your writing?

In a small plane, you watch the ground zooming by beneath you and think of the lives of all the people down there. The stories.
Flying commercial is like taking the bus. Flying private, the windows are bigger. You're lower, closer. You can see better. Even Google Earth doesn't go low enough to give you such a clear perspective and detail. I've flown over volcanoes, the heads at Rushmore, Niagara Falls. 
It's an overview you can't get anywhere else.  Here's a photo from the window of my plane overtop a volcano in Baja California, Mexico named Tres Virgines (Three Virgins):

How important are relationships in your book?

In Book Two, Franklin falls in love with a woman he rescues in Book One. As a minister in his early thirties he's never had sex before.

When this book gets a movie adaptation, which actors would you imagine in the roles of Everon and Franklin?

I've often thought Hugh Jackman when he was younger would have made a great Franklin. Now, maybe Cumberbatch. Though Richard Branson isn't really an actor, when he was younger I thought he'd have done well as Everon. Victoria could be played by someone who looks a bit like Gabriel Reese, the "serves it at fifty miles an hour in your face" Olympic volleyball star. There are some great photos out there of her with dark hair

What was the most challenging aspect of writing Loss of Reason?

Just completing it. I built and sold several companies and the proceeds put me in a situation of financial independence that allowed me to work eighty hours a week for years on it. Hundreds of paid readers gave me feedback. I spent five years using their comments to improve it. Finally, I had to just say, "That's enough."

Loss of Reason is a fast paced book.  How hard is it to keep the action flowing and what are some tricks you use to keep your readers at the edge of their seats?

I was watching television in bed one night when I lived in Scottsdale, Arizona and Patrick Stewart of Star Trek came on talking about the conflict in great movie scripts. I guess all the writing work I'd done up to that point made me ready for that one little piece of advice. It just clicked. CONFLICT. All emotion in any story is generated by conflict. Doesn't matter if it's a love affair or a nuclear rescue. Conflict moves the story. Conflict sucks you in.

How did you manage to make the book this realistic? Some readers report that it was so intense, it gave them nightmares.

I am there, I am Cynthia, I am one or the brothers when it's happening. 
Sometimes I listen to music, bands like Linkin Park while I'm writing.

How long did it take you to write Loss of Reason?

Fifteen years to write the rough draft of the entire series and complete the first two books.

Do you plot out your books before writing?  How much research did you do for Loss of Reason?

Intensely. You can see the Search For Reason plot board and an explanation of it here: http://www.stateofreason.com/HowIWrite.html

Research: too much. Way too much. I flew to and toured four power plants. I spoke with many people about the effects of nuclear destruction and studied many books on the subject. No one really knows what will happen when a 450 kiloton nuke gets detonated near a major population center. Especially the effects on those not directly killed by the blast.

I did a lot of research on Shamanism and Fish Owls and tons of other stuff for Search For Reason.

Here's a picture I took of Franklin and Everon's subway rescue where the street collapses by Bloomies:

Besides writing, what other secret skills do you have?

I'm a pretty good C programmer. I study herbs used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. I speak several languages and bits and pieces of several others.

How does the next book in the State Of Reason Mystery series tie in with Loss of Reason?

Book 2, Search For Reason picks up immediately in the aftermath of the first nuclear bomb.

Unlike many post-apocalyptic works, much of the country is still okay. But there is much to recover from.

Many families know someone who died in New York. People are devastated. Much of the East Coast electrical infrastructure has been damaged.

What are you working on right now?

I'm working my brains out on Book 3, "Finding Reason" The State Of Reason Mystery series is a hummer of a gigantic story, something the like of which you've never read before anywhere! I promise you. This is something so different, so huge, so extreme, so real.

Where can our readers discover more of your work or interact with you?

Write me via the email link ([email protected]) on my website: www.StateOfReason.com. The most current news, special offers and free books get posted to everybody who is on my mailing list, which you can join on the website. I also announce news on Facebook: Facebook.com/MilesAMaxwell and Twitter: @MilesAMaxwell

Here's a composite of Franklin, Everon, Victoria and the others flying in the crappy old Sea Pelican on rescue to thousands on the George Washington

This deal has ended but you can read more about the book here.
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