Host Edith interviews retired US Air Force officer and historical fiction/children’s author Steve Doherty about his novels inspired by a WWII covert operative he interviewed in 1995 (renamed Jonathan Preston), whose missions behind Japanese lines in the China-Burma-India theater were classified for 50 years. Doherty explains how Preston and teammate George Linka worked with British intelligence and the OSS on dozens of missions across Southeast Asia, using disguises, languages, and local operatives. They discuss Doherty’s fifth novel, Crossroads, a postwar story set during Japan’s reconstruction involving war-crimes pursuits, a vengeful Japanese general turned criminal leader, and a real sacred katana used to lure him out via a kabuki play. Doherty also shares lessons on self-publishing pitfalls, active research, character development, dialogue, editing, and his children’s books promoting values, which he gives away.
Find out more about Steve:
https://steve-doherty-books.com
Chapters
00:00 Podcast Welcome
00:41 Meet Jonathan Preston
01:51 Secret Missions Revealed
06:09 Elite Spy Training
14:57 Disguises And Languages
18:01 Publishing Lessons Learned
22:38 Crossroads Prologue Research
26:27 Postwar Japan Revenge Plot
44:52 Writing Process And Origins
46:31 From Articles To Novels
50:43 Why Historical Fiction
52:55 Writing By Instinct
55:33 Making Characters Human
59:25 Dialogue And Character Bios
01:03:32 Building Foreign Characters
01:05:42 Active Research Process
01:08:01 Ten Novel Milestone
01:08:52 Children Books Mission
01:11:42 Advice For Writers
01:16:58 Editing And Working With Editors
01:19:42 Family Coauthors And Confidence
01:22:33 Where To Find The Books
01:23:43 Final Thanks And Sign Off
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Music: English Country Garden by Aaron Kenny Video Link: https://youtu.be/mDcADD4oS5E