Episode 181 features Army Special Forces veteran, Alex Dekker, debut author of Desert Heist, a high-adventure thriller in the vein of Indiana Jones and National Treasure.
Desert Heist smashes a lot of things together in a really fun way that feels both familiar and fresh because Alex spent twenty years in special operations, including time in the Middle East, and he brings that experience to the page.
But Desert Heist isn’t just a military thriller. It’s a high-adventure story about a former Green Beret named Nate Wilde — a skeptic by nature and by training — who gets pulled into the mystery of the Lost City of Ubar also known as the Atlantis of the Sands.
Alex and I talk about the power of fiction, how stories shape us when we’re young, what it’s like to take real experiences and put them into a fictional world, and why sometimes the best thing a writer can do is tell the kind of story we already love — and tell it really, really well.
Topics include:
The power of fiction and why the stories we love as kids stay with us
Writing a fictional adventure story from real special operations experience
The Lost City of Ubar and the hidden-history rabbit holes behind Desert Heist
Nate Wilde as a skeptical Green Beret who wants to believe — but needs proof
Why the book feels like a throwback in the best possible way
Building a team dynamic that feels real to veterans and non-veterans alike
Transitioning out of the military and into a completely new creative world
The author community, ThrillerFest, blurbs, publishing, and learning a new industry
Why former operators reconnecting can feel like finding home again
What it means to tell the kind of story we already love — and tell it really, really well
Podden och tillhörande omslagsbild på den här sidan tillhör
Carey Kight. Innehållet i podden är skapat av Carey Kight och inte av,
eller tillsammans med, Poddtoppen.
