USA Today Best Selling author Marc Cameron is the creator of Jericho Quinn series. Our next guest is a formal US Marshal. He is very interesting character, who used his life experience to put so much reality in his four published novels. The first one of Jericho Quinn series National Security was released in 2011, but this week the book once again was part of Kindle Amazon Top 20.

– Marc, your novel National Security climbed to Top 20 of Kindle Amazon Best Selling list. Would you give a hint what the readers will find inside?
– Thanks for the opportunity to talk a little about NATIONAL SECURITY, the book that introduces Jericho Quinn. This book meets Quinn for the first time while he’s serving in Iraq as an agent for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations or OSI. Through the course of the book, he’s drafted into a special unit that reports directly to the US president’s chief advisor on national security matters. The plot itself revolves around weaponized Ebola and the pursuit of suicide terrorists infected with the virus.

– How did you decide to write the story?
– I read an article regarding Saddam Hussein’s regime doing research on weaponized Ebola in something called Project Blue Nile. There was very little on the subject, but I imagined what might happen if a group was successful doing such a thing—and how dangerous it could be.
– What was the biggest challenge during the write up process?
– Even though I was making up a new strain of Ebola, I wanted to make sure I got the details correct on the virus as we know it. I interviewed many people from the medical field as well as employees of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to make sure I wasn’t going too far outside what was possible. I like to write “big” plots that are a little bit over the top. That said, I want the action and events to possible, even if they are not probable. As it turned out, the world has had an unfortunate taste of a bad Ebola outbreak in recent months.
– Tell us something more about your main character Jericho Quinn? Is he close to someone from your real life?
– I’ve been extremely fortunate to work with many different police officers and federal agents over my years in law enforcement. I suppose Jericho is sort of a mixture of all their best parts as well as the worries common to many in his line of work. I’m love languages—though I’m nothing close to Jericho’s proficiency, like him I ride a BMW GS motorcycle, I practice jujitsu as a martial art—again not nearly as well as Jericho. Both my sons are in law enforcement careers, so there’s a little of them wrapped up in the character as well.
– How much time did you need to finish the story and to publish it?
– I was still working a full-time job when I wrote NATIONAL SECURITY so I worked on the manuscript in the evenings, on weekends, and during long airplane trips. It took me about eight months from the time I started it until I turned it in to my agent to try and sell. She sold it to Kensington fairly quickly. I think we’d signed a contract a couple of months later.
– It was your debut novel; did you expect such a success with it?
– Not really. I knew I liked the story. It was fun to write, sort of an Indiana Jones style Action Adventure like the old time serials, so I hoped other people would enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I didn’t know if it would end up to be a series or not—though anyone one who reads my books knows I enjoy leaving room for more adventure at the end of every book. There are always a few loose ends that don’t get time up—just like in real life.
I’ve been fortunate that the vast majority of people that read it, seem to like it. Hopefully, they’ll continue to tell more people about Jericho Quinn and his cohorts.
– You published three more books with Jericho – Act of Terror, State of Emergency and Time of Attack. What is the toughest thing in developing a main character in series?
– In some ways, it’s easier to write a series because I already have the character firmly in my mind. But, a character needs to grow and change over the course of a story and that is a little more difficult in a series. The changes—again as in real life—are slower, taking the course of several books. It’s also a challenge to reintroduce reoccurring characters in each book so established readers don’t get tired of the same descriptions but new readers get an accurate picture of folks like Jericho, his giant of a partner, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Jacques Thibodaux, Emiko Miyagi, and the voluptuous and tough Veronica “Ronnie” Garcia.
– Who are you?
– I grew up in Texas with a family of teachers and avid storytellers. I wanted to write novels from the time I was very young, but I also knew I wanted to be in law enforcement. I ended up working for a small police department in Texas as a patrol officer, detective and mounted (horse) patrol officer. In 1991 I was hired by the United States Marshals Service. I think my experiences over a 29 year career adds to the sort of stories I tell in my books. We’ve lived in Alaska for nearly seventeen years now and its the perfect place for an outdoorsman like me. I love to sail, kayak, hike, hunt and fish—when I’m not on my motorcycle.
– What are your writing habits?
– For years I wrote in fits and starts in between assignments at work. Now that I’m retired and writing full-time, my goal is to spend six hours a day writing. This doesn’t include answering emails, interviews. and other book publicity. I do travel quite a bit now to research various locations for books. I spent nearly a month in Japan interviewing several police detectives while researching TIME OF ATTACK, number 4 of the Jericho Quinn series.
– Are you satisfied by the sales of the book?
– Sales have been growing consistently since the book was published—but I’m always hoping readership will continue to grow.
– When will you publish the next pat of Jericho Quinn series and what is the enemy that the main character will fight against?
– DAY ZERO, number five in the series, will be released in February of next year. In that book and #6 (my work in progress) Jericho continues to battle against terrorist moles at the highest levels of the US Government. . DAY ZERO takes place during a very short time frame, much of it with Quinn fighting terrorist trying to blow up a commercial airliner between Alaska and Russia.

– What are you doing to promote your book by the best possible way?
– I am active on Facebook, participate in book signings and generally try to stay in touch with my readers. I have always enjoyed living an adventurous life and I try to let my experiences show in my books. Rather than saying to readers: “Please buy my books.” I’d rather let them see that I’m out there doing the things that I like to write about—like teaching martial arts, working with law enforcement and military operators, scuba diving, sailing—and riding my motorcycle from Alaska to Texas and back.
– Did you remember the first time when you failed in love with motorcycling was?
– I have loved riding since I was a boy. I did take some time off though to raise a family so I have only been riding at the level I am again now for the last five years. Both law enforcement and writing deadlines can be high stress occupations so the relaxation of a long ride—particularly one where I get to camp for a few nights—is very beneficial. I actually get quite a bit of writing done in the evenings on my longer rides.
– You worked in law enforcement. What exactly was your job and how it helped you in writing?
– I retired from the US Marshals after 22 years. During my time in the Marshals I worked primarily apprehending fugitives and in dignitary protection, seeing to the safety and security of Federal District Judges as well as Justices of the US Supreme Court. For the last six years of my career I served as the Chief Deputy of Alaska.
– I saw in your personal web page that you are often working on your next novel in small cabin with no water and electricity. How important for you is to get out of noisy world in order to focus towards the next adventures of Jericho Quinn?
– The world is such a busy place with social networking, mobile phones, emails and all the other attendant distractions. I don’t have a television but I still find that I get my best work done when I’m away from everything, writing in longhand with my fountain pen and a notepad.
– If you may ask yourself one question in the interview what it will be? (Don’t forget to answer)
– People are always asking me how many Jericho Quinn novels I plan to write. The answer is I don’t know—but definitely more than six. I’d really like to write a story or two that focuses on some of the other characters in Quinn’s world—Jacques Thibodaux and Deputy August “Gus” Bowen are two that come to mind. We’ll have to see how that works out. These characters are real in my mind and it would be fun to tell their individual stories over time. Still, I think Jericho has a lot more life left in him—even though he seems to get whittled down bit by bit physically from book to book. Thanks so much for the opportunity to talk about my books. I appreciate it.

Check out more about Marc Cameron at his Web page

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National Security
Act of Terror
State of Emergency
Time of Attack