The Interview - Stephen Harrison Thomas
Website:
Visit the site
What’s your favorite book that you’ve written, and why?
My favourite book is the one I have just finished, "Cocaine Skies" because it was about a wonderful part of my life, living and working in Colombia. It brought back so many wonderful memories of my adventures, my friends and how I met the love of my life. I am so glad I have the stories written and out there for posterity. It was a pleasure to write, I think I had a smile on my face the whole time. I was also quite surprised at how quickly I wrote this one.
What do you hope readers take away from your books?
I hope readers take away the belief that great adventures are within reach for anyone willing to embrace the unknown. Through this book, I want them to feel as if they've lived the excitement themselves—flying through jungle skies, navigating danger, and uncovering stories that seem almost too incredible to be true. If it inspires even one person to chase their own adventure, then I've done my job.
What do you want your legacy as an author to be?
I want my legacy as an author to be one of inspiration and authenticity. I hope to be remembered as someone who shared raw, unfiltered stories that proved truth can be just as thrilling as fiction. If my work encourages people to step out of their comfort zones, embrace adventure, and see the world through a lens of possibility and courage, then that would be a legacy worth leaving.
How do you handle negative reviews or criticism?
I have had reviews saying the story was fanciful and exaggerated, but I am used to that. I have heard that many times with stories from my life, so I just take that they don't know me and move on. It's bound to happen that some readers won't like the book, but others will, so that's life. Can't please all the people all the time, and quite honestly, I don't want to. As long as I am happy with the result.
What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?
I have heard so many people say "I could write a book" but they rarely do. My advice is write the damn thing, then ask some friends to read it and give you an honest opinion. Probably best not to ask your partner or spouse, but someone you know who's opinion you value and will give you the truth as to whether or not its a compelling read.
What’s a fun fact about you that most readers wouldn’t know?
I started writing a non fiction book when I was 15 years old, about a class of british aircraft carriers and was researching with the help of the Imperial War Museum in London but my father said "who would want to read a book written by a kid?" and crushed my dream of writing at an early age. Years later I saw a book on exactly the same topic, but it wasn't written by me.
Do you write with a specific audience in mind?
I think the audience I am after are those people who watch adventure movies but want to know what it was really like for an actual person living the experience rather than the movie hype. People who want to hear the human side of the story, the reality, both bad, good and maybe mundane at times.
What’s the best piece of feedback you’ve received from a reader?
I send the first couple of chapters to a friend of mine, a TV and movie actor, as I valued his opinion as someone who had read many scripts for films and TV shows. To quote him: "Okay I will give you my thought: this is f****ng great like I said or did I say f****ng awesome? The story is in you and you’re good at telling it. It´s brilliant. Write it and let it write itself how you obviously kmow it, without thinking of selling it." This really incentivised me to keep writing.
What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever researched for a book?
I have had to do quite a bit if research about aircraft performance details, as I couldn't remember them for so many different types of aircraft but I think the oddest thing I had to research was about cocaine production. I was involved in the destruction of the crops but I did not know how it was actually produced, so I have to delve into the drug underworld to find out.
What do you think makes a story truly unforgettable?
I am biased, as my stories are biographical, so for me it's the fact that the story is true, this really happened to someone, an ordinary person like any reader, that this could have been them, with such tiny details that they feel they have lived the experience themselves.