~Michele Benner interviews RJ: "Forty Days to Armageddon."~

Michele Benner interviews Reynold Jay after reading Watchdogg: Somalia Retribution. Part two. Novel has been retitled "Forty Days to Armageddon." AKA "Mr. President, Terrorists have Taken the White House."

Rj “In your note to me you mentioned that the LE Blanc chapter might have been “filler” material. This tells me you were playing lose attention as that chapter was a problem for me. Originally I had it placed as the very last chapter and Le Blanc ended up wiping out Denver and then escaping. It was intended to leave the reader up in the air and want to read a sequel. James Ryne ( a respected Amazon critic) was my first reader and he said he loved everything except the placement of that chapter. I felt it was too good to throw away and it predicted that something along this line would actually occur. I wrote this two years ago and half the stuff I wrote has already occurred, including this event. If you remember, a few months back Iran had mysterious shutdown of the computers that operated the manufacture of the plutonium. Gosh, what a mystery how something like that could happen? You are right that the story could run along nicely without that one chapter, but I think of it as icing on the cake, really scrumptious to leave that exciting chapter right where it is. It’s part of my mandate to get the thrill back into a thriller.”

Mo - The chapter itself was beautifully written and completely action packed! It was a great chapter. I might consider moving it to the end also, given that by then the States is in such turmoil and considering how they can possibly recover, and it might point even more closely to a sequel than it does with its current placement. Also, the Landenberger twist at the end?! Brilliant! I was ready to be terribly upset - I even exclaimed aloud to my husband!

Rj “If you have ever read a political thriller better than this one, I’d like to know the title. I’m determined to be number one, so I want to read the competition.”

Mo - I have to be honest, my absolute favorite is "The Whole Truth" by David Baldacci. I picked it up on a whim having never heard of him and read it in about two hours. I went through a gamut of emotions through the novel, and fell in love with the central character as well as his love interest. "The Day of Confession" by Allan Folsom is probably my second favorite in the genre.

Rj I’ll need to pick up the Allan Folsom novel and then take another look at “The Whole Truth” as I do know that I read that one. It’ll all come back to me, I’m sure.

Rj “By the way, I have a prequel planned. My thought is that I’ve destroyed most of the Northern Hemisphere in Watchdogg and that I must go to any earlier time with a story where the world is back in good order. Maybe I’ll destroy it in a whole new way! What do you think? Is another Watchdogg in the cards? My feeling about writing anything is that it must be extraordinary in vision and scope—otherwise why take the time to write? Another part of me says it must be a work of art, something that is indescribable. I’m not humble in that regard. I think I have a project here that has attained all my artistic and prophetic goals.”

Mo - My questions for you: What made you want to take on a project inside of which would be so many global ramifications?

Rj “My feeling was that I see the world situation as something that could be redirected. If readers were confronted with the terrible things that could occur, that hopefully decisions would be made that would keep these catastrophes from becoming a part of history. I can add to that too. I did not want to write another detective story—something that might make a good television show. I wanted big events with larger than life characters that would translate well into a big blockbuster movie.”

Mo - In your opinion, do you feel that there really is this much happening that the average global citizen isn't aware of?

Rj “I think most people go to work everyday and have a tiny inkling of the global perspective. They are busy living their lives and do not have time to take it all in. This is true for me. It is only that I am retired and can take the time to become informed. It shows up in the polls all the time. Rational thinking on a global scale is a fairly rare event. For example Obama made that comment about sending Israel back to 1967 and then expected the Israeli President to civil. Obama lost 40 Million Jewish votes with that utterance. Jay Leno suggested that maybe we should all go back to 1492 when Columbus discovered America. I imagine that much of this will simply go unnoticed as unimportant to many even though the press caught it all. Thank you, Michele for your time putting together this interview

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