Strike Zone

Dale Brown: We all know characters like these — the hot dogs, the dedicated ones, the smart ones, the obsessed ones. So all of my characters are based on folks I know. But it’s also true that the characters take on a life of their own. Jim DeFelice and I talk about the characters as if they’re real persons: “Bree wouldn’t do that”; “Mack would say this.”

Interviewer: The novel depicts certain rivalries among those on the ground and those who take to the air. It’s the latter group who get the glory, yes?

Dale Brown: No one likes to admit it, because it doesn’t fit in with the “whole force” politically-correct concept, but the pilot is and will always be king of the U.S. Air Force. Only seventeen percent of USAF personnel are pilots, but they make up most of the unit commanders. Even if in ten to fifteen years most USAF combat aircraft will be unmanned, the pilot will still be king.

Interviewer: Life in a secret establishment such as Dreamland — or even on a “normal” military base — must be hard enough without the staff having relationships. In your experience, do these relationships lead to difficult situations?

Dale Brown: All the time — that’s why we authors put them in our stories! We are always looking for conflict. It’s another complication in wartime.

Interviewer: Since the end of the Cold War, threats to “our way of life” are not so neatly geographically placed. Nor, aside from Saddam Hussein and various terrorist groups, is it clear where we should place our military priorities.

Dale Brown: There are plenty of bad guys out there — but it sometimes takes more background to explain why they are the bad guys. Fifteen years ago, everyone understood why we were fighting the Soviets. But if you set a war story in Ukraine or Lithuania or the Philippines, you need to take some time and explain why we’re fighting there.

Interviewer: What effect has the advent of improved technology had on the art of being a fighter pilot?

Dale Brown: It has changed it completely. The “dogfight” — two pilots, two planes — is all but dead. Life and death takes place in split-second battles that happen across dozens of miles, usually without either adversary ever seeing the other. Pilots are more systems operators than fliers nowadays. Sooner than most folks think, our fighters won’t even have pilots in them!

This interview was first published, in a slightly different form, at www.fireandwater.com, the website of HarperCollins UK.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

DALE BROWN is the author of multiple New York Times bestsellers including Flight of the Old Dog and Wings of Fire. He also created the Dreamland series, co-authored by Jim DeFelice. A former U.S. Air Force bombardier, Dale Brown is an instrument-rated private pilot and can often be found flying his own plane across the United States. He lives near Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

JIM DEFELICE’s technothrillers include Brother’s Keeper (2000) and Havana Strike (1997). Jim has also written more than a dozen works of fiction and nonfiction for young people. He lives with his wife and son in upstate New York.