Carrie:  What is the primary message you’d like your readers to take away from 65 Below?
Basil:  Who Dares, Wins. Heroes are not born that way, they merely act on their convictions regardless of the potential price.

Carrie:  What is your favorite scene in 65 Below? Why?
Basil: While the book itself is a fast-paced action thriller, my personal favorite scene is the peaceful lake scene that is based on the swimming hole in my home town.  The lake is frozen solid in mid-winter, stars sparkling above, glittering on the snow.  As I wrote the scene, I pictured the real location and enjoyed many pleasant memories of my own children playing there.

Carrie:  Which character do you identify with the most in your book? How much of yourself did you put into these characters and did you realize you showed up in the book?
Basil:  I guess bits and pieces of me are in most of the characters, but the one with whom I most directly identify would be Aaron Michaels, an Alaska State Defense Force sergeant who encounters the bad guys unexpectedly. The character was based on my own experience as a Scout in the ASDF militia. Mojo, I suppose, was based on the career goals I had as a 19 year old Marine. But much like the Michaels character, those dreams of mine were dashed by a pair of broken ankles.

Carrie:  What are you reading right now?
Basil:  Ken Follett’s World Without End ~ terrific story

Carrie:  Who are your favorite authors and who influenced your writing?
Basil: A couple of my favorites these days are Frederick Forsythe and Ken Follett both of whom have influenced my writing as well as the early works of Jack Higgins.  Recently, I have come to enjoy Alex Berenson’s work as well as Vince Flynn and Brad Thor too.

Carrie:  Can you offer a glimpse into your “real life” and share with us a bit of your personal life—Outside of writing, what’s important to you?
Basil:  In my day job, I am a computer network administrator.  While my job is tolerable, my real passions are my family and my church.  I love to spend weekends and week nights in the summer with my sons doing “geo-caching.” A hobby involving getting coordinates of objects, some as small as a two inch long pencil, hidden in the woods or the city and then searching for them.  I have also, until recently, served for the past several years as a youth minister of my church working with youth and children.  I am also an avid weight lifter and until a few months ago, when I broke my shoulder skiing, could bench press nearly 400 pounds.

Carrie:  Tell us something surprising about you and/or something very few people know about you.
Basil:  Surprising ~ I love the smell of Lilacs, and truly enjoy brightly colored flower gardens
Something few know ~ I’m a college drop-out, finished three years but due to job and family was unable to complete it.

Carrie: What has been one of your biggest struggles and/or successes (professional/personal) and what have you learned from it?
Basil:  My biggest struggle has been, and is, trying to get my novels sold in the traditional manner.  I have podcast them and reached a great audience of tens of thousands who have had nothing but accolades for them.  I had a top named agent for most of a year, but after that much time, she decided to drop all her fiction titles and carry only self-help and biography titles, thereby sending me back to square one.

Carrie:  Have you ever had a nickname? Tell us about it.
Basil: When I was a child my family called me “Buck.”  As a boy growing up in Ohio and Alaska it seemed wise to me to carry on that nickname as Basil seemed sissified. But by the middle of high school I realized that Basil was actually a name that I liked, and since it was my legal name, I decided to go by it from then forward.

Carrie:  Who is your biggest fan?
Basil: Well, that’s an interesting question.  Of those who have actually listened to my stories, there are several who come to mind.  Some are former or retired military intelligence or special forces personnel, those have become pre-readers of my manuscripts and one has become the admin of my chat forum.  But I would say my wife and kids are most definitely my most dedicated overall fans, although she and my two youngest sons have not listened to the stories yet. My oldest son, a high school senior, has read them and loved them.

Carrie:  What was the best advice you’ve ever received—do you follow it?
Basil:  Don’t give excuses for failure, accept it and find a new path towards the objective.  Never Ever Give Up.

Carrie:  What is your favorite literary turn-of-phrase / quote / word picture?
Basil:  Who Dares, Wins.  English Special Air Service Motto.

Carrie:  What did you learn about yourself while writing this book that you may not have expected?
Basil:  There is a violent side of me just under the surface that somehow has never found need to surface, thank God.

Carrie:  What’s next for you ~ Anything else you’d like to offer?
Basil:  After 65 Below I almost immediately wrote a series of ten short stories which I also recorded as podcast stories, then wrote and recorded another novel titled Faithful Warrior which ties in to the same backstory as 65 Below and my first podcast novel Karl’s Last Flight.  I am currently working on the early version of the co-sequel to both 65 Below and Faithful Warrior.  After that there are several more stories in outline waiting to find there voice.  Whether I sell via the traditional route or not, those who listen to my audio books or read e-books will have many years of stories from me to look forward to. 

Basil has agreed to provide one Lucky Winner with 65 Below:

• a pdf version and

• a full set CD audio version

• Simply leave a comment below to be entered to win!