Interview with Myke Cole - author of Shadow Ops: Control Point

It has arrived, the best interview that has ever been posted on this blog. Just so happens to be the first one, but who cares about the details. Have been very hesitant to do one, so hopefully this turned out better than OK, it's the best one after all. Joining me today is fellow interviewer Mihir as we asked a few question to the great Myke Cole, author of Control Point. There's also a quick cameo question from author Tim Marquitz who I had been discussing Cole's book with.

In any case, hope you guys are entertained and if that doesn't occur, at least learn something. And if by chance you encounter a silly or lame question, it wasn't my fault I swear. Without further ado, here's Myke Cole uncensored and unedited.

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Bastard: Before we get started, let me just say that I'm about to lose my interview virginity and feeling a bit nervous about it. Please be gentle, ok?

Myke Cole: Just relax. Remember, I liked you before you were an interviewer. If you’re a little awkward, or clumsy, I’ll understand. I’m so excited to be your first time.

Bastard: Let's start with the most important question then, what's your favorite beer (mine is Budweiser, please don't shoot me)?

Myke Cole: I would never shoot you. You’re a man after my own heart. The truth is that I hate bitter flavors, so ales are right out. When it comes to lagers, I prefer Asian brews like Tiger (Saigonese) or Gold Medal (Taiwanese). But honestly? I drink hard cider mostly. If I can’t get that, I’ll order a wiessebier or wheat beer. Go ahead, make fun. You can’t be worse than my sailors.

Bastard: Now that we got that out of the way, what can you tell us about Myke Cole which you deem is important for us to know and understand you a little better?

Myke Cole: My life is defined by two disciplines to which I’m equally committed: Nerd-culture and military service. I am a committed comic book, fantasy novel, SF/F TV/movie, table-top gaming and RPG dork. I never grew out of it and never will. It is the center of my life and that cannot ever change. At the same time, I am equally committed to public service of the most dangerous breed. This is partly because I’m an adrenaline junky, and partly because I think that if you really want to help people, you need to be willing to take risks so they don’t have to. For better or for worse, armed service is a kind of risk I’m well suited to. When you blend these two streams, you get me – distilled. Bring up guns or D&D at a bar and stand back while I hold forth.

Mihir: Just out curiosity, why the “Y” in your name? I don’t think you were born with it so what lead you to change it?

Myke Cole: It’s true, I wasn’t born with it. It started in college when Peter V. Brett began spelling his name “Peat” for a lark. I switched to “Myke” in solidarity, and quickly discovered that it got editors to pull my manuscripts out of slush piles (“Hey, why does this guy spell his name funny . . . Oh! Neat story . . .) After that, I committed to it and it stuck. It’s now a registered alias, and engraved on my officer’s saber.

Mihir: How much of your military experience was useful for you in drawing the vivid background of the story which you have created?

Myke Cole: All of it, but the parts that stand out are likely the opposite of what you’d expect. The actual fighting in the book needed to be dramatic (real combat is short, ugly and confused, and not terribly well suited to fantasy novels), so I wound up drawing from that only slightly. Where real military experience came in most handy was in the depiction of bureaucracy, paperwork, waiting and hidebound commitment to process over people. That kind of stuff never gets the detail it deserves in military fiction. Or, at least, not the resonance.

Bastard: When you worried about how to write the dramatic aspects in the "actual fighting", was it specific to individual fights, full on battles, or both? Can you write us a quick little scene of how you'd depict a fight had you gone for an accurate and realistic portrayal instead of worrying about the dramatic to the extent that you did?

Myke Cole: Individual/fire-team level fights are easier, because they tend to run on CQB (Close-Quarters Battle) TTPs (Tactics, Techniques and Procedures). These are inherently dramatic and lend themselves more easily to writing cool battle scenes.

What folks don’t understand is that the vast majority of modern combat (even at the fire-team level) often takes place at great distances. You usually have only the vaguest idea of where your enemy is and whether or not you’ve hit him. You’re either firing your weapon at a faint light or a spot on the horizon, or you’re calling in fire from a platform that can be miles away.

And that doesn’t make for pulse-pounding action scenes. A radio crackling “Shot, over” and then a faint boom in the distance is nowhere near as cool as a breacher blowing the lock off a door and then kicking it in.

Bastard: During the war, what was your weapon of choice, if the choice was given? If you carry, or if you had to carry a weapon while off duty in the states, which would you choose and why? Or maybe you carry multiple weapons?

Myke Cole: I was not given any choices in armament. My long gun was always the M4. My sidearm was the Glock 17 when I was contracting and the M-11 (9mm Sig) when I was direct government. In the guard, our longs are the M-16 or Remington 870 and our short is the Sig P229-DAK.

Off duty in the states, I never carry any weapons. I am not authorized to do so and even if I was, I would far prefer that authorized law enforcement officials with appropriate jurisdiction handle any problems wherever I am. I have very strong feelings on appropriate use of force. I wrote a blog entry on the topic, which you can read here - http://mykecole.com/blog/2012/02/on-use-of-force

Bastard: You used to be a security contractor, or as you say, "a nice way of saying 'mercenary'." Mercenary seems to have a negative connotation, often through their portrayals in movies and TV shows like Jericho. Is that warranted in any way, and if not, what can you tell us about being a security contractor to alleviate some of the misconceptions about what being a security contractor entails?

Myke Cole: Thanks for asking this question. I refuse to sugar-coat what I did, but at the same time, I think people slander the term “mercenary” without knowing what they’re talking about much of the time. I became a contractor in a weird window (post 9/11) where the public was willing to permit private contractors to do pretty much all of the work our uniformed services did, seamlessly integrated. That window has now pretty much closed.

The vast majority of us who went into security contracting during that period did so idealistically: We wanted to help. We saw ourselves as public servants every bit as much as our government counterparts. We risked our lives. We wanted to make things better in dangerous places, and many of us (like me) even began to see it as a foot in the door to finally get into actual federal service later on down the line. As soon as I could, I became a direct federal employee and even joined a uniformed service on the reserve side. This was the norm with my colleagues. Of the folks I began contracting with, I’d say around 70-80% of us wound up as civilian government employees or military personnel, or both.

So, yes. I was a mercenary. But I was never a profiteer. My motive was NEVER money. I signed up to help, and I did that, to the best of my ability. Thanks for giving me the chance to say that.

Bastard: You shared this video with us the other day, which I personally found hilarious. Was it funny for you too? Also, which of them do you get the most often, which do you find the most lame/annoying, and which one do you find the most insulting personally? And no, I won't be asking you if you're a lesbian again.

Myke Cole: Honestly? The thing folks say to me most often isn’t covered in that video: “Thanks for your service.” The video is harping on the annoying/clueless things folks say most often. It doesn’t address the fact that the vast majority of folks I meet are very respectful of my service. They say thanks and change the topic, figuring that if I want to talk about it, I’ll bring it up.

Bastard: Serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, which has been your proudest moment? And I'm linking this post you make in December, which I thought was excellent.

Myke Cole: Glad you liked the post. I wasn’t going to write it originally, but once my agent suggested I do so, it just came pouring out.

Proudest moment? Man, this is going to sound really lame, but it’s the truth. I was at Balticon (Baltimore’s SF/F convention) a few years back. I had just checked into my room at the hotel when my cell phone rang. There’d been a major oil spill off the Gulf Coast (it was the Deepwater Horizon disaster). I had 24 hours to be in New Orleans. I hung up, checked out of the hotel, got in my car, drove home and grabbed my sea bag. Within 18 hours, I was mustering in New Orleans.

Driving out of the hotel parking lot, I waved goodbye to my friends, my agent, other writers. They were carrying on with the con, enjoying themselves, safe and happy. And I was part of the reason why. There was a disaster, a crisis unfolding that could potentially affect them, but they didn’t have to worry about it, because I was on the job (it also helped that, since this was an oil spill, it had none of the moral conflict that a war does).

I was so unspeakably proud at that moment, giving up my good time to secure theirs, having them watch me go, knowing that I was on the job. Those 5 seconds made everything else I put up with in the military well, well worth it.

Bastard: "...where failure is unforgettable and success is often invisible," can you give us an example of each in your life?

Myke Cole: There’s absolutely no way for me to answer this question without coming across as either entitled, ungrateful or self-aggrandizing. The job I do comes with special pressures and public expectations that I acknowledge are unfair. I embrace that challenge as part of what is required to serve in my capacity. The motto on that sign is there to remind us of that. There will be times when we will be blasted for trying to do the right thing. There will be times when we do amazing things and nobody will know or care. We can’t do it because we want to be acknowledged. We can’t do it because we want to be treated nicely. We have to do it because we love the people we’re serving.

Bastard: Homosexuality in the Army, there are multitudes of myths and theories of the negative impact it allegedly has there. Would you care to bust one of them? Or simply what's your general opinion of what place sexual orientation has in the Army, and should we care?

Myke Cole: I’m not going to answer this question for a specific reason: as a uniformed officer, it’s critical that members of the public believe I am there to serve and protect them, no matter what their political beliefs or sexual predilections. If I start holding forth about my own personal opinion, they might doubt my commitment to lay down my life for them. I can’t have that. My opinion on military matters is irrelevant. What matters if that I do my job, do it well and do it without hesitation.

However, I will say this: Our Commandant, Admiral Robert J. Papp, was the most vocally supporting of the repeal of DADT of all the service chiefs. He has made it abundantly clear that homosexuals are welcome in the guard and that they are to be treated with dignity and respect.

And I am very, very proud to serve under Admiral Papp. 

Bastard: Applying your own context, what's your biggest weakness and your greatest strength?

Myke Cole: Well people ask me this all the time in terms of writing, so let me shift it to personal. Personally, I am the most intensely loyal person I know. I am the guy who helps you move, who helps you paint your apartment, who stays up until 4AM listening to you vent your anxiety attack. Better, I am the guy who stands up for you when people tear your down behind your back. Ultimately? I’m the guy who wades into the fight when you’re beset. I am the guy who will take a bullet for you if necessary.

And this loyalty is also my greatest weakness. I have a really hard time saying “no” to people and often find myself overwhelmed and falling behind on work because I’ve over-extended myself for social events or agreeing to support my friends in their various trials. That’s no good either. I’m not good to anyone if I let my own life go to pieces.

Bastard: A few days ago, I jokingly commented that since you're now a published author and bathing in riches that you should hire an accountant to help you with your complicated tax situation. You quickly proceeded to put me in my place in my wrong perception. From your experience, what can you tell us about why is it so difficult to make a good living being a full-time author, and what's your outlook of the future in the book selling market?

Myke Cole: I won’t tell you anything you don’t already know. It’s difficult to make a living as a writer (assuming the baseline that you’re a good writer who has a real book deal with a major publisher) for the following reasons:

1. Less people are reading (why this is, is a whole other discussion)
2. More and more people are reading eBooks, and eBooks are vulnerable to ePiracy
3. As publishers lose money, the terms they offer writers (royalty rates, size of advances, etc . . .) get steadily worse.
4. The digitization of books has changed public expectations as to what a fair price for a book is, resulting in a “race to the bottom” in book pricing. There’s simply less and less money to go around as everything gravitates to free. Amazon.com’s use of books as a loss-leader is a very troubling development here.

I won’t lie. The future of book selling isn’t looking great right now. I’d say the best-case scenario would be for things to continue as they are right now: A reduction (but stabilization) of brick and mortar stores, and maybe an increase of independent stores as they eat up the space left by Borders. I’d also like to see a stabilization of ePiracy to the point where a mostly digital industry can survive.

The worst case scenario? EPiracy and falling book prices (driven by Amazon’s loss-leading/power-leveraging tactics and the public’s refusal to pay much, if anything, for books) finally make traditional publishing unsustainable. Along with this collapse, we see the end of the brick and mortar bookstore, to the point where bookstores occupy the same niche that vinyl record stores do today (they exist, but only as boutique, out-of-the-way places). In such an scenario, a writer gets a book out there the same way a painter gets art out there: You produce, you exhibit, you hope that you can generate a grassroots following.

I don’t like that scenario, because I think it would be REALLY hard for the public to weed through all the junk to find the good books. Review blog Staffer’s Musings just did an interesting experiment on this topic (see it here - http://staffersmusings.blogspot.com/2012/03/jade-dreams-wakefield-mahon.html). I also think it would become MUCH harder for writers to make a living or be discovered (and it’s already really hard).

But in such a scenario? I’d keep going. Because this is the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do with my life. 

Bastard: Be it boxing, wrestling, fiction, sports, there's always this fascination with "go to moves", "signature moves", "finishers", "special skill"; Kamehameha!!! What martial arts disciplines have you studied? In a fight, do you use a combination of all of them, or do you switch it up depending on the opponent's style or what your intention is, disable, defend, kill? Lastly, do you have a "go to move" and/or a move that you'd consider your "finisher"?

Myke Cole: Specific military TTPs are not for public dissemination. That’s a great way to let the bad guys know precisely how we come after them. This makes me wonder how movies like ACT OF VALOR get made. I know that the Department of Defense’s motion picture liaisons were all over that film and approved it, but it seems to me like the movie will be showing a lot of people just what to expect if the SEALs ever come calling.

Bastard: I'm a huge manga fan and I understand you've been a big comic book reader since your youth. Do you read any manga or are you exclusively a comic book reader? Also, what has been your favorite comic book series?

Myke Cole: I do read manga, though I admit it’s not my preferred comics mode. I dug the old Lone Wolf & Cub series, and followed Macross all the way through the Invid Invasion. I grew up on Voltron and Battle of the Planets and watched Vampire Hunter D and Akira in college.

My favorite comics would take waaaay too long to list here, so let me just stick to the classics. Not surprisingly, Captain America is my personal totem (and I’m talking about Ed Brubaker’s vision of the hero, bring cap from WWII into the present), but I also need to give shout outs to Mark Smylie’s Artesia, Kirkman’s Walking Dead, Waid’s Irredeemable and the Pini’s Elfquest. The list goes on. And on. And on.

Mihir:  Among the many things which I noticed in your book was this strong parallel to the Watchmen series by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. What I mean is that in both, the creators have very realistically portrayed an epoch event [Magic, superheroes] with the common banalities of the world; the governmental regulation and red tape. I found this to be particularly fascinating, your thoughts?

Myke Cole: I am intensely flattered to be compared to Watchmen in any way. Moore is a brilliant writer (who, like Frank Miller, unfortunately went bats$#t crazy) who has influenced me tremendously. I would be lying if I said that Watchmen didn’t deeply influence my thinking about epochal events (really apocalyptical) and played a role in developing CONTROL POINT and the SHADOW OPS series.

Bastard: X-Men has been mentioned as one of the big influencers on how Control Point came about, to that end, which is your favorite X-Men character and whose mutant ability do you wish you had?

Myke Cole: Ha! Awesome question. My favorite X-Man used to be Wolverine (because I think that’s a requirement for every adolescent boy), but it has since become Magneto. Actually, he’s not an X-Man, but you get the idea. I did an in-depth character study on him once Peter V. Brett suggested that I make Scylla more Magneto-like (she was originally more angry and less justified/Machiavellian). I like how . . . reasonable he is. His arguments, while intensely destructive and evil, make perfect sense.

My kind of villain.

Mihir: You have eschewed a usual characteristic of Urban Fantasy stories by going in with a third person narrative, why so?

Myke Cole: First person narratives rob stories of tension because you assume the narrator can’t be killed. I’ve done them successfully before (and I know some writers have killed narrators in the first person), but it’s not my preferred mode.

I also don’t want to be locked into a single POV. CONTROL POINT is from Oscar Britton’s POV, but FORTRESS FRONTIER will be split between him and a new protagonist and even briefly show a third one. BREACH ZONE is currently outlining on three POVs. Third person gives a lot more latitude on that sort of thing.

Bastard: Peter V. Brett seems to be a great friend of yours, a friendship that began in High School, and an influence in your writing. How did this friendship come about? Give us the dirty details of your school days.

Myke Cole: Hah! Not ducking the question, but let me direct you to a joint podcast interview of us over at Functional Nerds. You can find it here - http://functionalnerds.com/2012/01/episode-087-peter-brett-myke-cole/. It lays it out much better than I could do here.

Suffice to say, we met in high school when Pete was managing a battle of the bands that I was competing in (we both had long hair at the time). By total coincidence, we met again on our first day of college (we both went to the same school), and became fast friends there. From then on, we were D&D partners, and encouraged one another in writing as well as our personal lives. We currently live about a 20 minute walk from one another (he’s on the good side of town). He’s busy now, raising his daughter, but we still try to see one another at least once every two weeks or so.

Mihir: Peter V. Brett had mentioned this on his blog, “Myke has been one of my inner-circle test readers for many years, and vice-versa. There is a lot of him in The Warded Man, and a lot of me in Latent. Keep your eyes peeled for it.” In regards to this statement could you give us an example of a suggestion which was encapsulated by PVB in his series and vice versa.

Myke Cole: Well, I just gave you the Scylla-as-Magneto example. That (along with many other good ideas) absolutely transformed her as a character and took CONTROL POINT over the top, enabling it to sell to Ace.

If you’re looking for my influence in Pete’s DEMON CYCLE, I would point to Krasian culture. Pete spent a lot of time puzzling it out with me over the phone, email and instant messenger. Pete knew that I’d worked with Iraqis during the war, spoke Japanese and was a competitive Kenshi (Japanese fencer). I’d lived some time in Japan as well. Medieval Arab and Japanese culture (along with some other influences, such as ancient Sparta) played into Pete’s thinking about what he wanted Krasia to look like, so he had a lot of questions for me on that topic. When I read the Krasian characters in his books today, I can see some of those conversations playing out. It’s enormously gratifying.

Bastard: In your twitter stream, you said the following, 'Also occurs to me that when my goal was "get published," I didn't. Once my goal became "write a great book," I got published.' Can you expand on that, particularly on how it applied to the process of writing and publishing Control Point?

Myke Cole: I talk about this in the podcast I referenced earlier. For years, I focused on understanding the market, networking and trying to anticipate publishing trends. I wrote well, but that was never good enough. I had some minor successes (won Writers of the Future, sold short stories to some major magazines), but never hit my real goal of a book deal. Then Pete hit it and THE WARDED MAN was a runaway success. This caused me to take stock of what I was doing.

When I sat down and really thought about what Pete had done differently from me, the answer became obvious fairly quickly: He hadn’t concerned himself with “knowing the market,” or going to cons, or writing short stories as a gateway in. He hadn’t bothered to learn the names of the important agents and editors. Instead, he’d focused on CRAFT. He’d written the best book he possibly could and let everything else take care of itself.

And it did. THE WARDED MAN beat all expectations and established him as a major force in the fantasy field with record speed.

That was when I sat down and SWORE to myself that I would never submit another manuscript to Joshua (my agent, who had already rejected 3 from me) until I knew it was the best book I could ever write, even if that took me the rest of my natural life.

And that was when the switch flipped. Once I committed to WRITING AN AMAZING BOOK instead of GETTING PUBLISHED, accepted the possibility that getting published might never even happen, I was able to put in the kind of focused work necessary to produce something that actually could get published.

And it did.

Bastard: In my review I mention that author Mark Lawrence asked in the SFFWorld forums, "What was the last fantasy book that mattered to you?" To me it's currently Control Point as detailed in said review. If asked this question, which novel would you choose and why? And no, you can't pick your own novel, that would be cheating.

Myke Cole: That’s incredibly kind, thank you. Ironically enough, the last fantasy book that mattered to me was Mark Lawrence’s PRINCE OF THORNS. Jorg’s trauma is so honestly painted that it reminds me of my own struggles post-Iraq in some very resonant ways. He’s a brilliant author and I can’t wait to read his next one.

Bastard: Control Point takes Oscar Britton on a journey partly focused on making choices under tough extraordinary circumstances, often pitting duty and following orders against one's beliefs and core values. Being part of the U.S. Armed Forces and a security contractor, is it safe to assume that this is something you experienced and if so, how did you deal with these kinds of situations?

Myke Cole: I deal with this all the time, and the truth is this: I am not Oscar Britton. I don’t have the courage of my convictions and the bravery to buck the system when I feel it is wrong. When the military orders me to do something I don’t agree with, I do it anyway (provided it isn’t Illegal). If I ever reached a breaking point, I would likely simply resign my commission after carrying out the order.

Oscar is a hero. I’m just a regular guy.

Mihir: The character of Fitzsimmons is someone whom most readers will love to hate, what lead to his creation and what were your thoughts in his creation?

Myke Cole: I actually feel an incredible amount of sympathy for Fitzy. I wrote a lot from his POV (and necessarily had to cut it from the book). Usually, people like Fitzy aren’t the way they are because they like it. They are warped into those forms by sustained trauma. Fitzy isn’t so much a bad man as broken one, and I am hoping one day to have the opportunity to share his perspective with my fans.

Tim Marquitz: Oscar Britton is the lead in Control Point, but is he going to continue as the MC or do you have plans to explore other characters as the lead voice of future books?

Myke Cole: The SHADOW OPS series was never intended as Oscar Britton’s story. It is the story of our world and how it copes with the introduction of magic. Britton has a major role to play (and a diminishing one, I should point out) in FORTRESS FRONTIER and BREACH ZONE, but there are other characters I intend to move to the fore. You will be seeing a lot more of Harlequin and FORTRESS FRONTIER will be introducing an entirely new POV character as well.

If I’m lucky enough to be able to write SHADOW OPS books beyond BREACH ZONE, I do not want to be locked into writing Oscar Britton stories. The world is too big and too exciting for that. I want freedom to explore it fully.

Mihir: In your debut while you focused majorly on the US army and latents, I also noticed that you mentioned the French & Indian forces as well. So in your sequel books, which other nations and mythologies will you be exploring?

Myke Cole: Heh. Fitting Mihir should be asking this question. He was kind enough to consult for me on Hindi/Sanksrit and Hindu mythology for FORTRESS FRONTIER, which features the army of the Republic of India fairly in-depth. As I outline BREACH ZONE, it is looking more and more certain that the magic-using military of an independent Quebec will be integrally involved. Naomi Novik explores foreign militaries extensively in her Temeraire series, and I found that really compelling. I’d love to do the same thing in SHADOW OPS.

Bastard: During a portion of Control Point, it was mentioned that pilots aren't as well trained in physical close combat as other officers. Is this a truth currently in the military services, and is it something you think should be addressed if it is?

Myke Cole: Well, I’m not a pilot, so I’m going on research here. My understanding is that military pilots’ combat training is focused mostly on SERE skills, with “combat arms” roles providing more intensive weapons and hand-to-hand combat training. But, that said, you have to keep in mind that I am telling the story of a future military in a fantasy world. It is meant to extrapolate off the real military, but it is NOT the real military, and I have to be given some leeway on that point. Or, at least I hope I will J

Bastard: Portal magic could be a tool that represents freedom and escape, yet through much of Control Point it was a tool that enslaved (for lack of better term) and restrained its main character. Personally I found this dichotomy to be one of the more interesting factors in the novel. When you initially thought of using this power, was this an original purpose for its introduction or did it develop organically through the story's plotting?

Myke Cole: When I first conceived of Oscar Britton, he was a Terramancer! I very quickly determined that if he was to be a compelling protagonist, he’d have to be a lot more special. Portamancy’s singular nature helped provide that edge, as well as doing the double duty of a.) being awesome and b.) making him absolutely indispensible to the US army. He is not someone they can put low on their priorities list.

But yes, I did really enjoy that irony: the thing that most ensures freedom guarantees his slavery.

Bastard & Mihir: Thanks for stopping by Myke, good luck in the rest of the series and congratulations on your early success. Any final words or want to give a shout-out to someone?

Myke Cole: The military is not a perfect organization. Yet for all its drawbacks, I believe it to ultimately be a force for humanitarian relief, social mobility and global security. As our nation becomes more and more wary of pre-emptive foreign entanglements, I am hopeful our armed forces will take on an even greater role in domestic security and humanitarian aid missions. Military service has been an incredible boon in my own life and I invite others to consider a reserve commitment. If you can’t join the reserve, all 5 branches (in this country at least) offer auxiliary roles where you can still help out. Stand with me. I can’t do this alone.

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Myke, thanks once again for answering all the questions that were thrown at you, much appreciated. And the rest of you, make sure to go read my review from two days ago, or better yet just do yourselves a favor and buy Shadow Ops: Control Point. You can blame me...sorry, thank me for it later.

Also, please make sure to visit Myke Cole's website and you can follow him on Twitter @MykeCole.