23 min
Interview with Crime Writer Les Abend — S. 5, Ep. 12 The Crime Cafe
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- Books
Debbi Mack interviews crime writer Les Abend on the Crime Cafe podcast.
Read along with the podcast or, if you’re in a rush, download a copy of the show notes here.
Debbi: [00:00:13] Hi, everyone. This is the Crime Cafe, your podcasting source of great crime, suspense, and thriller writing. I’m your host, Debbi Mack. Before I bring on my guest, I’ll just remind you that the Crime Cafe has two ebooks for sale: the nine-book box set and the short story anthology. You can find the buy links for both on my website DebbiMack.com, under the “Crime Cafe” link. You can also get a free copy of either book if you become a Patreon supporter. You’ll get that and much more if you support the podcast on Patreon, along with our eternal gratitude for doing so.
Debbi [00:01:02]: Hi, everyone. Today, our guest is a writer with one of the coolest jobs anyone on the show has had. He's an airline pilot, and his proverbial second act is as a crime writer. Author of the novel, Paper Wings, it's my great pleasure to have with me today, Les Abend. Hi Les, how are you doing today?
Les [00:01:27]: I'm doing great, Debbi. Thank you for having me on.
Debbi [00:01:31]: Well, thank you for being here. I wanted to touch on, first, your previous experiences in writing for the trade publication Flying Magazine. You weren't entirely a newcomer then to the world of writing and publishing before your novel came out, correct?
Les [00:01:51]: That's correct. Yeah, I've been writing for Flying Magazine now as a columnist for, I guess, 18 years. So, yeah, I was familiar with writing stories—the stories I write for Flying Magazine are a little bit different. They’re actual experiences and I just try to convey some insight to the general public, to the ‘flying’ public and more particularly, to general aviation pilots.
Debbi [00:02:16]: Mm, that's very interesting. So, the audience for that magazine is general aviation pilots?
Les [00:02:23]: For the most part, unless you include mom and dad. So, yeah.
Debbi [00:02:28]: (chuckles). And do you write about your experiences as a pilot?
Les [00:02:30]: I do, I do. And often times, you know, if it's not my experiences, it's other folks’ experiences or something that I'd like to highlight about the industry. But primarily, my experiences.
Debbi [00:02:40]: That's really fantastic. It was a great training ground for you, I would think.
Les [00:02:46]: It was and honestly—this is sort of a segue to where I get to the book—the objective was for me to get some notoriety so I could move forward with a novel, which has always been a goal of mine since I was young. And I sort of got sidetracked with Flying Magazine; you know, I’d send in some unsolicited articles and so on and so forth. And the editor-in-chief was looking for somebody at that very time, so it worked out very good and he wanted me to continue. He said, “most airline pilots can only write one article. I'll tell you what, if you can write another one, you might have a little bit of a future”. And well, the rest is history, so I'm very grateful.
Debbi [00:03:34]: Well, it's really fantastic and it's a wonderful demonstration, kind of like a case study of how one person got into writing a book for publication. Because you've trained yourself through writing these stories for the magazine. Something for people to think about, I think.
Les [00:03:56]: It's been very helpful and it's been a great experience. And actually, the most gratifying thing to me, as probably you as a writer and screenplay writer, is that somebody enjoys it or somebody is motivated to move forward. With my career, some of the best moments I've had is somebody taking me aside and saying, “because of you and the columns that you presented,
Debbi Mack interviews crime writer Les Abend on the Crime Cafe podcast.
Read along with the podcast or, if you’re in a rush, download a copy of the show notes here.
Debbi: [00:00:13] Hi, everyone. This is the Crime Cafe, your podcasting source of great crime, suspense, and thriller writing. I’m your host, Debbi Mack. Before I bring on my guest, I’ll just remind you that the Crime Cafe has two ebooks for sale: the nine-book box set and the short story anthology. You can find the buy links for both on my website DebbiMack.com, under the “Crime Cafe” link. You can also get a free copy of either book if you become a Patreon supporter. You’ll get that and much more if you support the podcast on Patreon, along with our eternal gratitude for doing so.
Debbi [00:01:02]: Hi, everyone. Today, our guest is a writer with one of the coolest jobs anyone on the show has had. He's an airline pilot, and his proverbial second act is as a crime writer. Author of the novel, Paper Wings, it's my great pleasure to have with me today, Les Abend. Hi Les, how are you doing today?
Les [00:01:27]: I'm doing great, Debbi. Thank you for having me on.
Debbi [00:01:31]: Well, thank you for being here. I wanted to touch on, first, your previous experiences in writing for the trade publication Flying Magazine. You weren't entirely a newcomer then to the world of writing and publishing before your novel came out, correct?
Les [00:01:51]: That's correct. Yeah, I've been writing for Flying Magazine now as a columnist for, I guess, 18 years. So, yeah, I was familiar with writing stories—the stories I write for Flying Magazine are a little bit different. They’re actual experiences and I just try to convey some insight to the general public, to the ‘flying’ public and more particularly, to general aviation pilots.
Debbi [00:02:16]: Mm, that's very interesting. So, the audience for that magazine is general aviation pilots?
Les [00:02:23]: For the most part, unless you include mom and dad. So, yeah.
Debbi [00:02:28]: (chuckles). And do you write about your experiences as a pilot?
Les [00:02:30]: I do, I do. And often times, you know, if it's not my experiences, it's other folks’ experiences or something that I'd like to highlight about the industry. But primarily, my experiences.
Debbi [00:02:40]: That's really fantastic. It was a great training ground for you, I would think.
Les [00:02:46]: It was and honestly—this is sort of a segue to where I get to the book—the objective was for me to get some notoriety so I could move forward with a novel, which has always been a goal of mine since I was young. And I sort of got sidetracked with Flying Magazine; you know, I’d send in some unsolicited articles and so on and so forth. And the editor-in-chief was looking for somebody at that very time, so it worked out very good and he wanted me to continue. He said, “most airline pilots can only write one article. I'll tell you what, if you can write another one, you might have a little bit of a future”. And well, the rest is history, so I'm very grateful.
Debbi [00:03:34]: Well, it's really fantastic and it's a wonderful demonstration, kind of like a case study of how one person got into writing a book for publication. Because you've trained yourself through writing these stories for the magazine. Something for people to think about, I think.
Les [00:03:56]: It's been very helpful and it's been a great experience. And actually, the most gratifying thing to me, as probably you as a writer and screenplay writer, is that somebody enjoys it or somebody is motivated to move forward. With my career, some of the best moments I've had is somebody taking me aside and saying, “because of you and the columns that you presented,
23 min