Air Marshal Turned Thriller Author Gary Quesenberry
Today's Bonus Episode of The Thriller Zone with Dave Temple dives into a thrilling discussion with new author Gary Quesenberry, who's just dropped his debut book, *Homecoming*.
We kick things off by exploring the gripping world of his main character, Case Younger, an air marshal who's trying to escape a violent past but soon finds himself in a small town where chaos reigns.
Gary’s got a unique perspective on this, having been an army veteran and a Federal Air Marshal himself, which means he’s serving up some real-life insights mixed in with the fiction.
We get into everything from the nuts and bolts of being an air marshal—like how to blend in on a flight—to the emotional rollercoaster that comes with high-stakes situations.
So grab your headphones and settle in because this episode is packed with juicy tidbits and a sprinkle of wisdom for aspiring writers!
Takeaways:
- In this episode, Gary Quesenberry shares his exciting journey from being an Air Marshal to becoming an author, highlighting how real-life experiences shape storytelling.
- Dave and Gary discuss the importance of blending emotional depth with action in writing, making characters relatable and their situations believable.
- Gary's character, Case Younger, deals with trauma and the quest for peace, showing that sometimes, finding calm can come with unexpected challenges.
- The duo dives into the nitty-gritty of writing, emphasizing that having fun and letting characters guide the story can lead to unexpected and satisfying outcomes.
- Listeners get a glimpse into the writing process, where Gary reveals he uses personal experiences to create authentic narratives that resonate with readers.
- The episode encourages aspiring writers to embrace their unique stories and share their journeys, reminding us that every writer has something valuable to contribute.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- GaryQuesenberry.com
KEYWORDS: podcast episode, Gary Quesenberry, Homecoming book, thriller novel, Federal Air Marshal, writing advice, thriller zone podcast, Case Younger character, military veterans, PTSD in fiction, human trafficking themes, book cover design, author interview, emotional reactions in writing, situational awareness, aviation security, writing process tips, character development, storytelling techniques, crime fiction
Mentioned in this episode:
GARY QUESENBERRY SPONSOR
Learn more about Gary Quesenberry's new Case Younger Thriller, HOMECOMING. Learn more at: GaryQuesenberry.com
GARY QUESENBERRY SPONSOR
GARY QUESENBERRY SPONSOR
Transcript
Hey there, it's your buddy Dave Temple here on the Thriller Zone.
Speaker A:And today represents a bonus episode where I have the pleasure of welcoming new author Gary Quesenberry.
Speaker A:He's got a book called Homecoming.
Speaker A:So let's jump into this bonus episode with Gary Quesenberry.
Speaker A:Gary, welcome to the show.
Speaker B:Hey, David.
Speaker B:I appreciate you having me on.
Speaker B:It's an absolute honor.
Speaker A:Well, this book, first of all, you know me and book covers.
Speaker A:I love this book cover.
Speaker A:It came to me a few weeks ago, and I'm like, Gary's kind of dialed it in pretty good.
Speaker A:I mean, that, that' kind of a book cover I'm looking for.
Speaker A:And for some reason, this guy looks like.
Speaker A:What's his name from Jack Ryan, the guy who plays Jack Ryan.
Speaker A:So I, I automatically went, oh, that's going to be a good book, you know, subconsciously.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Good.
Speaker A:Anyway, here's what I want to do.
Speaker A:I want to do.
Speaker A:I am so excited about this book and about the opportunity that I have to speak to you because, you know, you're, you're in a, you're in a line of work, army veteran and a career Federal Air Marshal, which I've always thought would be kind of a cool job.
Speaker A:So can you, in like 60 seconds, tell me what it's like to be an air marshal?
Speaker B:Well, you're, you're just a regular passenger, really, you know, on a plane.
Speaker B:But you're there for a very specific reason, which is to stop a terrorist hijacking.
Speaker B:So you're armed, you circumvent security.
Speaker B:You sit there with your.
Speaker B:I'm going to date myself a little bit.
Speaker B:You sit there with your newspaper, printed newspaper, right.
Speaker B:And, and a cup of coffee, and you blend in.
Speaker B:You have conversations with people, and you just keep an eye on what's happening.
Speaker A:So the key for you is to not draw any attention to yourself, just to be a regular guy.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Your anonymity is kind of your, your, your protection on that flight.
Speaker B:So that's, you know, we put a lot of stock in that.
Speaker A:Now, have you ever been in a situation where the proverbial, pardon my French, shit hit the fan and you had to step up and do your thing?
Speaker B:There's been several occasions.
Speaker B:My first field office, when I started working with the federal as the, as a Federal Air Marshal was the Las Vegas field office.
Speaker B:I flew out of Las Vegas for six years.
Speaker B:Things can tend to get a little wild coming into and out of Las Vegas.
Speaker B:More so coming into.
Speaker B:So there, there are a few things, you know, nothing, you know, major a Lot of the stuff that I was involved in that you would consider major was kind of a slow burn type thing.
Speaker B:Human trafficking events and stuff like that that were taking place on the plane normally going internationally overseas, places like Amsterdam, Germany and stuff like that.
Speaker B:So homecoming, you know, I kind of touch on that, you know, that human trafficking aspect.
Speaker B:And as this, these books progress in this series that's going to become more and more prevalent.
Speaker A:Well, let me say this.
Speaker A:The prologue is so tightly constructed and man, it hits all the nerve points required to launch a thriller just the way you expect it.
Speaker A:But I literally felt my stomach drop because that, that thing hit me so viscerally.
Speaker A:I'm like, oh, I am on for, in for a ride.
Speaker A:Glad.
Speaker B:I'm glad.
Speaker B:That's, that's, that's the feeling you got from that.
Speaker B:That's what I was shooting for.
Speaker A:Well, mission accomplished.
Speaker A:Now let's talk about Case Younger.
Speaker A:It's a Case Younger thriller.
Speaker A:Air Marshall.
Speaker A:Surprise.
Speaker A:I love the fact that I learned this little tidbit, folks.
Speaker A:I think I'm following you on Instagram and I saw your knife and you said that's where you came up with the first name.
Speaker A:Is that right?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:My, my, my trusty pocket knife.
Speaker B:As a matter of fact, I have it right here.
Speaker A:Oh, he's got it on him.
Speaker A:Let's see it.
Speaker B:This one is actually one that, that I bought to kind of commemorate the book launch on April 1st.
Speaker B:So this is a new one.
Speaker B:But I was outside in the field, we were talking earlier.
Speaker B:You know, there's a few cattle and stuff.
Speaker B:Property I've got.
Speaker B:It's a little farm, you know, and I was out there one day just cutting twine and I was going back and forth in my mind on the first name I wanted for this character.
Speaker B:I already had the last name.
Speaker B:I wanted to be something kind of rebellious, a little bit of a, of, of a outlaw kind of vibe to it.
Speaker B:So I went with Younger and because of the Younger gang, you know, back in the Old West.
Speaker B:And I was trying to think of a first name and I was going back and forth on all these different names and one day I just looked down at my knife when I was cutting twine to feed some cattle and case right there, you know, perfect.
Speaker B:So it just stuck.
Speaker B:It sounded great.
Speaker B:So I loved it.
Speaker A:Here's why I love that.
Speaker A:That's called Serendipity in action.
Speaker A:Now if anyone ever knows.
Speaker A:And this is going to be a little bit of a tangent, but bear with me.
Speaker A:Jackson Pollock was a.
Speaker A:One of the probably One of the most famous painters of the 20th century.
Speaker A:And he came up with that splatter approach.
Speaker A:And his theory was art creates itself if you'll simply get out of its way.
Speaker A:And I've always appreciated that.
Speaker A:So when I saw that, I instantly, for some reason, I thought of Jackson Pollock and I thought of, here's a guy who's a real artist who's allowing a random, serendipitous moment to help drive the narrative.
Speaker A:And so, kudos for that.
Speaker A:But here's the real bottom.
Speaker A:I want to know about Case Younger.
Speaker A:Where did he come from, what's his story, and what's he doing in this story?
Speaker B:Well, you know, Case Younger is a guy with a little bit of a.
Speaker B:Not so much a violent past, but a traumatic past, so to speak.
Speaker B:He lost his mother at an early age.
Speaker B:His father, who was a Vietnam veteran, had a touch of ptsd.
Speaker B:They didn't really understand his anger.
Speaker B:And these mood swings came from.
Speaker B:But this man's got to raise these two boys, Case and his brother Bobby, on his own.
Speaker B:Case inherited some of that anger and then developed his own, you know, issues through combat and stuff.
Speaker B:You know, his experiences in the Army.
Speaker A:There's.
Speaker B:There's some violence that takes place in the course of his job as a Federal air Marshal, and he decides that he's done with it.
Speaker B:He's done with the violence, you know, and everything that's kind of taking center stage in his life, and he wants to get away from it.
Speaker B:So he goes back home to his small town in Virginia, Pikesville, which is a fictional town, and things go very, very bad for a lot of really bad people that are there in Pikesville.
Speaker B:And Case learns the hard way, peace sometimes comes at a price.
Speaker A:That right there, dude, there's your pitch.
Speaker A:Peace comes at a price.
Speaker B:It does.
Speaker B:Sometimes people have to learn that the hard way.
Speaker A:You're one of those guys.
Speaker A:And this happens maybe more often than not, on this show, where I get an author who has done exactly or nearly exactly what they're writing about.
Speaker A:So you're the quintessential example of write what you know.
Speaker A:Now, there are other guys like me who rely on our imagination about a particular thing, like a female detective.
Speaker A:One of my first novels that I wrote, and people would say, well, how do you do anything about that?
Speaker A:Because you're not a female nor a detective.
Speaker A:But my point to you is I love the fact that you're going to bring relevance insights.
Speaker A:You said ptsd.
Speaker A:You're going to have little nuances of all that.
Speaker A:That layer this character that makes him so real and memorable.
Speaker B:You know, there were certain things I knew I wanted to accomplish when I was writing this book, and one of them was not so much the technical aspects of.
Speaker B:Of the day to day inner workings of tactics or being a Federal Air Marshal or being a, you know, an army veteran or anything like that, but I wanted to.
Speaker B:I wanted the emotional and the reactionary piece of things like the violence that's encountered in the book.
Speaker B:So, you know, there's a scene in one of the opening chapters, there's a hijacking.
Speaker B:You know, it's kind of the incident that sets Case Younger off and sends him, you know, fleeing from the media spotlight and back to the seclusion of Pikesville, Virginia.
Speaker B:And I didn't want necessarily to write three pages about how he gripped his gun, you know, because everybody knows if you're a movie buff, you're a movie buff, like, you like movies and TV shows and stuff, you see, and that, you know, and they're doing it wrong and it kind of pulls you out of the story a little bit.
Speaker B:So I touched on those things and I made sure I got it right.
Speaker B:But the one thing that I wanted to get right was the reactions of other people on that flight.
Speaker B:You fight flight or freeze responses whenever your body's under a tremendous amount of stress.
Speaker B:What does that look like?
Speaker B:And as a Federal Air Marshal, one of the things that we had to train for was how do you work around that?
Speaker B:Because people are going to do these erratic things and you're in a 30, you know, 30,000ft in the air in a tube with no backup.
Speaker B:How do you handle that?
Speaker B:So, you know, those are the kind of things that I wanted to ingrain in that book so that readers could get a feel for what he's working through.
Speaker B:Not just the technical aspects of gripping the gun or making a shot, but dealing with personal, you know, personal reactions that people are having to this incident.
Speaker A:Two things popped in my head right there.
Speaker A:One is what my.
Speaker A:Both my sister and my wife suffer from, which is claustrophobia.
Speaker A:So they don't do real well in a.
Speaker A:In a.
Speaker A:Tight spaces.
Speaker A:And when you're so.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:It made me think of when you're on a flight and you just said this, you're now in a confrontational situation.
Speaker A:There's really no way out.
Speaker A:So, A, you.
Speaker A:You can't be claustrophobic.
Speaker A:B, you gotta be.
Speaker A:Really have some novel ideas on how to disarm a situation.
Speaker A:And the other thing is, you know, when you.
Speaker A:When you bring this kind of experience to the story.
Speaker A:I like the fact, I appreciate the fact that the guys like you and I think of Jack now, Jack Carr is a little bit.
Speaker A:He'll.
Speaker A:He'll.
Speaker A:He'll give you every minutia of detail about every grain of ammunition that's in a bullet, right?
Speaker A:Mark Graney will do similarly, and that's great.
Speaker A:That's their.
Speaker A:That's their world.
Speaker A:But I kind of appreciate the fact that you said he picked up a gun, he shot the guy versus he picked up this gun, and this is its heritage and this is what it does, and this is the speed, velocity of the bullet and so forth.
Speaker A:Kudos to you for that.
Speaker A:That's what I'm trying to get.
Speaker B:I appreciate it.
Speaker B:And, you know, the one thing I wanted was, you know, the people that are fans of Jack Carr and Mark Graney and guys like that who.
Speaker B:They do go into a amount of detail.
Speaker B:You know, I wanted people to be able to pick that book up and there's a scene where he's lining his sights up on his threat, you know, on the airplane, and everything that's going through his mind.
Speaker B:What's to the left, what's to the right, what would happen if he missed.
Speaker B:All the stuff's running through his mind.
Speaker B:I want people that understand, you know, those things, you know, military veterans, law enforcement officers, and people that have been in those types of situations, I want them to read this book and say, okay, he knows what he's talking about.
Speaker B:Not going to so much detail that, you know, people are skimming through the pages trying to get to the end of that description, and they get more into, like I said, the visceral reaction to that, that level of violence is what I was more interested in conveying to the reader.
Speaker A:So, well done, by the way.
Speaker A:Not for nothing, but as I'm looking at your book that clocks in at two, two and a quarter pages, 227 versus Jack usually falls around four, 4:50, and.
Speaker A:And Mark Graney's around, and they've been at it a little bit longer.
Speaker A:But I'm telling you something.
Speaker A:There's.
Speaker A:You can tell reading your style, you can tell, you've been there, you've done that, you got insights, and you just said something that triggered my mind.
Speaker A:And I wanted to bring this up, and I've often thought about this.
Speaker A:When you have a.
Speaker A:When a person has a gun in their apartment and they're, you know, just wanted to, you know, protect themselves, people have to think about the fact of what the caliber of that gun is, what the cal.
Speaker A:Well, I'm not going to use the right word, what kind of bullet you have in there, because if it's an apartment complex and a guy comes in the door and you go to shoot him, you have to be thinking of, correct me if I'm wrong, where that bullet will go through walls, usually in thinner walls in an apartment complex.
Speaker A:So other people may be in danger.
Speaker A:I'm pretty close to that, right?
Speaker B:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:That's one of the four cardinal firearm safety rules is always be aware of your target, backstop and beyond.
Speaker B:You know, so people are always asking because, you know, once I got out of the Air Marshal service, I started teaching a little bit, you know, some personal defense stuff.
Speaker B:Some of that dealt with firearms, hand to hand situational awareness courses and stuff like that.
Speaker B:And you know, I always tell them, like you were saying, if you live in an apartment, you don't want a super powerful, you know, AR or something like that that's going to, you know, go through three or four walls.
Speaker B:And then also, you know, the type of bullet that you're using, whether it's a hollow point ball, you know, jacketed ammo, that all has an impact on, on the safety of the people beyond what it is you're shooting at.
Speaker B:You know, as an air marshal, the one question we used to get all the time was, you know, do you guys shoot some kind of special bullet?
Speaker B:Like it hits something and disintegrates and blah, blah, blah.
Speaker B:Like no, it's a regular bullet.
Speaker B:And everybody's like, well, what if you miss?
Speaker B:You know, isn't everybody going to get sucked out of the aircraft?
Speaker B:Or, you know, if there's a hole in it and no, that's Hollywood.
Speaker B:An airplane is just one giant controlled leak in the first place.
Speaker B:You could blow that thing full of holes.
Speaker B:It's going to be just fine.
Speaker A:Okay, now you have just then now officially blown my mind because I have completely bought hook, line and the aforementioned sinker that if you shot a gun in an airplane, everyone be sucked out the window or the hole or whatever.
Speaker B:Yeah, makes for great, you know, images on movies and television shows and stuff.
Speaker B:But that's not the case.
Speaker B:There's been aircraft that have actually, you know, sustained grenade blasts on the inside at elevation or a certain elevation, you know, depending on how high up you are, there's more pressurization in the cabin, the less damage it can sustain and still be okay.
Speaker B:But if a pilot, you know, a grenade could go off and a pilot can drop you down to 10,000ft.
Speaker B:Feet, equalize that pressure and you're going to be just fine.
Speaker A:Well, excuse me if I look like an ignorant ignoramus, because it won't be too hard.
Speaker A:By the way, want to mention real quickly you sent me Gary, besides being an up and coming number one novelist, also has four.
Speaker A:I have three of the four.
Speaker A:Am I right?
Speaker B:Four.
Speaker A:You have four nonfiction books?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Yeah, I didn't realize you were missing one.
Speaker B:I should have sent you the other one.
Speaker A:That's okay.
Speaker A:And the reason I bring this up is because it's fascinating to me.
Speaker A:Spotting danger before it spots you.
Speaker A:Build situational awareness to stay safe.
Speaker A:Spotting danger before it spots your.
Speaker A:Your kids before it spots your teens.
Speaker A:And the reason I bring that up is here's a guy who has got quite a bit of writing behind him.
Speaker A:So non fiction, check.
Speaker A:Fiction homecoming, check.
Speaker A:This book is you.
Speaker A:Like my buddy, our mutual friend, Jeff Clark.
Speaker A:A Course of action podcast said, sharp, gripping, highly entertaining.
Speaker A:He took the words right out of my mouth.
Speaker B:Appreciate it.
Speaker B:It means a lot for me to hear that.
Speaker A:Well, folks, once again, homecoming Gary Questenberry.
Speaker A:And you want to pick this up?
Speaker A:Since I've now turned this into a bonus episode, I gotta close with the same question I ask everybody.
Speaker A:And I know you're relatively new to the writing circuit, but best writing advice you wanna share with my audience.
Speaker B:Well, you know, I thought about this.
Speaker B:Every time you ask this question, you know, on the podcast, I think to myself, if I was ever in front of Dave and he asked me that question, what would I say?
Speaker B:And I think, you know, everybody kind of says, just, just write.
Speaker B:Everybody has a story in their head, right?
Speaker B:Like everybody story that they want to tell.
Speaker B:Get your first sentence down on paper, your first paragraph, maybe think of an ending like where you want this character to go, where you want him to be, and then have fun filling in the middle.
Speaker B:You know, the way everybody always asks me if I'm a panther or a plotter.
Speaker B:And I'm a little bit of a plotter, but.
Speaker B:But I'll stray off course quite a bit.
Speaker B:And I've always looked at it as like a land navigation course, like in the military.
Speaker B:So I have my start point, that first paragraph.
Speaker B:I have my ending.
Speaker B:This is where I want this guy to go.
Speaker B:And these little bullet points that I have in the middle are just my waypoints.
Speaker B:They're to get me from point A to point B.
Speaker B:And if I have to stray off course to go around an obstacle or something, or some obstacle I've created in my head, that's fine.
Speaker B:And sometimes that Leads me into greener pastures when it comes to writing.
Speaker B:And, you know, I find I just let my.
Speaker B:My character do the navigation, try to stick to the waypoints as best I can, and I'll get to that end I want with a more satisfying middle.
Speaker A:Well, you used one word right there at the beginning of that explanation that caught my eye, caught my ear.
Speaker A:Rather, have fun.
Speaker B:There you go.
Speaker A:And I think this is something that sometimes writers get a little bit too.
Speaker A:They lose track of it.
Speaker A:Yeah, I've got my beginning, I've got my end.
Speaker A:Oh, geez.
Speaker A:Think of everything I've got to do in the middle versus, hey, let's have fun here.
Speaker A:Let's see where it goes.
Speaker B:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:And you'll be amazed at what.
Speaker B:What your characters will lead you into.
Speaker B:And I always thought that was a bit of, like, I don't know, you know, kind of weird.
Speaker B:You know, people would say, well, let your characters guide you.
Speaker B:This is a dude I'm making up in my head.
Speaker B:How's that ever going to happen?
Speaker B:And I thought that way until I actually started writing.
Speaker B:And I realized that these people have a trajectory, you know, and even though I'm the one making it up, there are certain things that the more I got to know these characters, the more I would realize, well, you know, Case wouldn't do that, you know, and so.
Speaker B:So maybe he would do this.
Speaker B:And that's where I start kind of veering off, off course a little bit.
Speaker B:But I always come back to the middle, and then I always try to work my way towards that.
Speaker B:That finish line I'm looking for.
Speaker A:You can't negate the fact that there is some form of a muse.
Speaker A:If.
Speaker A:If you've ever been an artist or had any artistic inclinations, be it a canvas or sketching or singing or whatever it is, you have to know that there's some kind of still small voice that pushes you in that direction.
Speaker A:And if, in my opinion, my theory, if you just relax and lean into it and allow that to happen, you're going to be very satisfied and you're going to come up with that inner small voice that says, hey, here's a story.
Speaker A:So I love that.
Speaker B:Reveal itself.
Speaker A:Yes, exactly.
Speaker A:Folks, once again, book is homecoming.
Speaker A:Gary Questenbury, thank you so much for spending time with us, and we wish you the biggest success.
Speaker B:Well, hey, I certainly appreciate you having me on.
Speaker B:I know this was kind of a spur of the moment thing, bonus episode and all, but just the fact that you're willing to give me a shot on it and give the book a read and enjoy the story that means the world to me.
Speaker B:I really appreciate it.
Speaker A:Your number one podcast for stories that thrill the Thriller Zone.
