Blown Cover by Mark A. Hewitt follows a former president’s deadly quest for revenge and a CIA pilot racing to stop a catastrophic attack. Author Mark A. Hewitt talks to Book Glow about the thriller.

Describe the book in one sentence.

A pilot of a special purpose airplane takes down a fraudulently elected president.

What led you to write it?

I felt the other thriller novels are a rehash of the same theme. Today’s authors won’t go anywhere that is viewed political or controversial.

Which authors or books most influenced your voice and why?

The books of Tom Clancy, Ian Fleming, and Alistair MacLean. The imagination of those gentlemen was not bound by a pedestrian life. They lived or explored complex events.

How do you organize your writing day—do you have rituals or routines?

My mind is always engaged, and I continually write notes throughout the day. I generally write from 10pm to 2am. When I get up, I make notes for when I can focus on what my mind has been embroiled in.

What does your research process look like (for historical settings, technical details, etc.)?

My book’s settings are from my world travels. I travelled the Pacific Rim countries, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Japan, Okinawa, Korea while in the Marine Corps on a helicopter carrier. As for some of the technical details of my novels, I rely on my education, training, and experience. I was an electronic technician before I flew Navy and Marine and Air Force jets. Five years with the U.S. Border Patrol exposed me to quiet aircraft—the bedrock of my novels. I was a graduate school instructor with an MBA in Aviation. My students were Air Force instructor pilots. I attended the Air and Naval War Colleges. I was blessed to do some consulting work for the Central Intelligence Agency when I was with Lockheed Martin. I travelled for work to some of the garden spots on the planet like Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, UAE, Qatar, Colombia, Liberia, Angola, Nigeria, Belgium, Germany, England. In 2009, my office turned a manned helicopter into a robot and created an autonomous unmanned cargo delivery system that resupplied US troops in Afghanistan. Returning home, US Customs Officers always asked, “What the hell do you do” when I surrendered my tourist passport filled with visas from places tourists are not supposed to visit.

Which character in your book was the most fun (or challenging) to write, and what made them so?

I cannot escape the fact that I have been blessed to do things, like land a jet on an aircraft carrier, and work in strange places, like run the airport in Liberia, and part of my life has been an example of what can be accomplished with a little direction and effort. The classic protagonist in literature is supposed to have character flaws; the bad boy does good at the end of the book. My protagonist is a rock star; he excels at everything he touches. Growing up, he wasn’t distracted by the other side of life; a life where there are no drug use or vices; no criminality because the hero works and studies and reads, and where there are few girls who could derail the goal of becoming an officer to fly a jet. The front half of my first book is about 90% autobiographical, where a precocious mama’s boy who listened and worked hard growing up and placed him in a position to achieve incredible goals—realize a childhood dream and fly a jet. A romantic scene at the Naval War College is when Duncan Hunter becomes a fully fictional character.

What themes or questions are you most interested in exploring through your work?

I taught an aircraft accident investigations course and discovered that the official investigation reports of some aviation tragedies were politically motivated, that what happened and what was reported to the public wasn’t the truth. Then it is not too far to explore what could have happened. In Blown Cover, for example, I have Joseph Stalin instructing the heads of the Soviet Navy and Intelligence to find a way to stop Amelia Earhart in her round the world flight. In my world, there was another reason Amelia Earhart disappeared.

Is there any one thing that especially frustrates you about the writing process?

I think there is some expectation that good writing is formulaic, linear, with an outline, with well-defined characters, but above all, it must be noncontroversial. Writing for a small, independent publisher is a godsend.

What’s the toughest hurdle you’ve faced during your writing career, and how did you overcome it?

If you are working fulltime, like I was when I first got started, there is little time for writing. I had to acknowledge my limitations—what I could do in the available time I had. A paragraph or a page or a sticky note or two. Everything you can do to move the needle, even a little bit—even an idea or a note on a yellow sticky—builds success on learning the new skill. This is progress. If you try to rush the process, you’re not doing it right and you’ll find yourself frustrated or stopped. Continually evaluate what you write and make corrections.

Any advice for novice writers?

Take a writing class. You need to write and get feedback on what you produce. Feedback is a message from God. Write, rinse, repeat.

What’s next?

My ninth book, The Quiet War, will be out in January.

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