ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What is the first thing ever that you remember writing?
BRAD TAYLOR:The first thingEVERwould be my name, over and over on a piece of paper.
What is the last book that made you cry?
Credit: William Morrow (2)
Watership Downby Richard Adams.
Which book is at the top of your current To-Read list?
Rise and Kill Firstby Ronen Bergman.
Where do you write?
Which book made you a forever reader?
I don’t think it would be a book.
It would be a library card in fifth grade.
I spent so much time in the library that my teachers thought I was skipping school.
What is a snack you couldn’t write without?
I will say that Cheetos are the worst snack.
While I love them, they really screw up a keyboard.
If you could change one thing about any of your books what would it be?
I wouldn’t have killed Decoy inRing of Fire.
And it’s not only me.
I got a little bit of hate mail when he was killed.
But combat is unforgiving, and sometimes bad things happen to good people.
At the end of the day, though, I wish I’d let him live.
What is your favorite part ofAmerican Traitor?
Probably the chase and rescue of Dunkin from a group of Chinese assassins.
After multiple re-writes, I think I created that.
What was the hardest plot point or character to write?
Actually, the hardest plot point came not from my writing, but from outside events.
I was in a little bit of a quandary, because I write current events in a real-world setting.
How could Pike and the team go globetrotting across the world when nobody was allowed to fly?
And how would they conduct such things as surveillance on crowded Taipei streets when the streets were now deserted?
Write a movie poster tag line forAmerican Traitor:
Betraying a country for money is easy.
With Pike Logan, living long enough to enjoy it is hard.
