Fiction's First Patriot': Thriller Novels Are Only Part of the Brad Thor Message

For those of you who don't know who Brad Thor is, today is your lucky day. Townhall Magazine has kindly granted The Blaze the exclusive right to republish the magazine's excellent profile of the best-selling thriller novelist. The profile, titled Fiction's First Patriot, will appear in the May issue of Townhall Magazine--and it is yours to enjoy below:

----

Fiction's First Patriot

Best-selling author Brad Thor has made a career as an unapologetically pro-American writer who is always ahead of the curve and willing to take on our nation’s enemies.

By Guy Benson

It’s a dreary Friday in downtown Chicago, and Brad Thor is sitting down for lunch at the upscale RL Grill, steps from the city’s famed Magnificent Mile. His dining companion is “Mr. M,” a flinty former intelligence officer and longtime military contractor with deep ties to the special operations community. Mr. M is clutching a dossier of information he’s compiled for his friend, a New York Times No. 1 best-selling author whose obsession with staying two steps ahead of the news places his work on the cutting edge of the popular thriller genre.

“A thriller writer’s job is to beat the news,” Thor says, eyeing the unopened package sitting on the table. “I’ve got to be as current as tomorrow’s headlines.”

After a leisurely lunch during which they trade jokes about how Thor’s literary protagonist, Scot Harvath, would have dealt with the 14 renegade Wisconsin state senators who fled the state to stall a budget bill (answer: “bag-over-their-heads rendition” to Wisconsin State Patrol), Thor and his guest get down to business. They pour over the contents of Mr. M’s file: a pile of marked-up photocopied documents, a thick packet of media clippings and a flash drive.

“Brad’s books are true to form,” Mr. M. says. “I’m still amazed by what he knows, and the incredible stuff he’s been read into. I just try to do my part to help.”

The debriefing ends, and the two men get up to leave. On his way toward the door, Thor stops to chat with a fan—Maggie Daley, the wife of Chicago’s outgoing Democratic mayor.

“Mrs. Daley is a big fan of the books,” Thor says after the cordial encounter. An unapologetic conservative, Thor says his brief exchange with the wife of a prominent Democrat underscores the point that his craft—churning out page-turning thrillers—is a nonpartisan exercise with a broad audience.

How broad an audience? Thor’s novels have been translated into more than a dozen languages in twice as many countries. He’s scanned millions of books, reaching the pinnacle of his profession in 2008 with “The Last Patriot,” which topped the New York Times best-seller list. It’s an accomplishment Thor treasures. “Making the best-seller list is a big deal; it’s like being nominated for an Oscar,” he says. “Hitting No. 1 is like actually winning the award. It’s very gratifying.”

Thor credits his success to his belief that national security isn’t a partisan issue but an American issue and that patriotism does not exclusively reside on either end of the political spectrum.

Thor proudly points out that two of his earliest reviews came from opposing sides of the political aisle. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said Thor’s “explosive” work “reminds you that our enemies can be more clever, more patient more vicious than any think tank’s rational projection of the future.”

Carter administration Budget Director Bert Lance called Thor’s work “terrific” and stated that Thor had “captured the nuances and subtleties of Washington and its power structure in a most amazing manner.”

MUSLIM BAD GUYS

But not everyone was thrilled with what has been, to date, Thor’s signature work. Its plot features several incendiary propositions: that the Prophet Muhammad was assassinated by his own followers and that the Koran—the Islamic holy text—is incomplete. Even some of Thor’s close friends counseled him to reconsider publishing it.

“[Glenn] Beck begged me not to publish ‘The Last Patriot.’ He predicted I’d be murdered within a year. Thankfully, he was wrong. I’m still here.”

Not that serious threats never materialized—they came pouring in from across the United States and the Islamic world. The book itself is banned in Saudi Arabia. Thor takes a number of precautions to protect himself, his wife, Trish, and their two young children.

“The threats ebb and flow, based on my profile,” Thor says, explaining his approach to handling the threats. “People can be pretty bold behind a keyboard, but you have to take things seriously. I no longer make public appearances without security, and I moved my family in 2008.”

In spite of the risks, Thor is a zealous defender of his ability to write whatever he pleases and refuses to be cowed into censoring or softening his creative product because certain groups may object. “My right to write is equaled by a right just as powerful: the right not to read it,” he says.

As for criticism that he focuses too heavily on Islamist antagonists, Thor says he consciously avoids falling into a villain rut: “I, of course, think about whether my readers are getting fatigued of Muslim bad guys, which is why I’ve mixed things up a little and added a few interesting twists. But you’ve got to write what’s real; we’re not at war with the Irish.”

JOURNEY TO SUCCESS

Thor’s love affair with writing is in his DNA. Recognizing a knack for creative writing early in life, he enrolled at the University of Southern California to hone his talent. After college, Thor packed up a laptop computer and traveled to Paris, setting out to produce a great American novel. “I got to Paris, and I stopped the creative process. I stopped because I was afraid of failure,” he explains.

“I learned later in life that conquering that fear is success.”

Having temporarily abandoned his literary career, Thor began traveling throughout Europe on the cheap. After almost a year, he decided his experiences would make for excellent TV. He financed a pilot, pitched the idea to public television and rounded up sponsors. The show got picked up. Thor hosted and produced “Traveling Lite” for two full seasons.

Several years later, Thor still had the travel bug but was no longer flying solo. On their honeymoon, he and Trish bought a pair of ’round-the-world airline tickets and set out on a lengthy excursion.

They were in Italy when Thor’s true passion was jolted from its dormant state. “Trish asked me, ‘What would be the one thing you’d regret not having done on your deathbed?’ Without even thinking, I blurted out, ‘Writing a novel and getting it published.’”

Days later, a serendipitous meeting on a train with a sales representative from publishing giant Simon & Schuster cemented a plan to pursue the dream. Trish set aside “protected time” for her husband to write each day. In 2002, Simon & Schuster published Thor’s debut novel, “The Lions of Lucerne”—named after a statue in Switzerland that captured his imagination during his travels.

STICKING TO HIS POLITICAL GUNS

A fiction writer is an entertainer first and foremost, and Marketing 101 dictates that entertainers who seek the widest possible audience should try to avoid alienating large swaths of potential customers.

Thor speaks of offering his readers a “white-knuckle thrill ride” in every novel, but might many potential book buyers’ blue-state politics prevent them from even considering acquiring his work?

It’s a real consideration, and some friends and advisers have privately urged Thor to dial back his political activism. Thor says he appreciates and understands this counsel, but as an American, he must do what is right. “Too much is at stake right now, and I won’t shy away from the fight just to enhance my own narrow career,” he says. Listening to Thor talk politics for five minutes makes clear he doesn’t merely harbor right-of-center sensibilities—he’s a movement conservative.

He seamlessly weaves quotes from Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Dennis Prager into political debates. He’s an active member of a number of conservative think tanks and nonprofits from Washington-based titan, the Heritage Foundation, to Chicago’s Sam Adams Alliance. He meets regularly with a shadowy and influential Illinois-based conservative operative (“Mr. Pink”) to discuss strategy.

When the battle over Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s controversial budget bill began to draw national media attention, Thor accompanied right-wing gadfly and liberal tormentor Andrew Breitbart on a last-minute road trip to Madison, where they attended a large tea party rally near the state Capitol.

At the gathering, Thor delivered an impassioned impromptu speech, drawing roars from the crowd. Despite penning thrillers for Americans of all stripes, his political persona is enough to make a risk-averse publicist wince.

Thor isn’t shy about his opinions. He believes President Obama’s election was simultaneously a disheartening development for the country and a galvanizing moment for the conservative movement.

“In some ways, it’s better that Obama got elected than McCain,” he pontificates. “I’d rather be stabbed in the chest with an Obama steak knife than to have been slowly bled to death with McCain paper cuts. Say what you will, but Obama has brought about a patriotic and civic renaissance the likes of which I have never seen.”

Asked about his preferences for 2012, Thor doesn’t hedge. “We need a leader. Someone we can trust to really do what they say they will do. To me, two of those people are Sarah Palin and Rick Santorum,” he says, later name-checking Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels as an option that intrigues him. But what about concerns over the electability of a Palin or Santorum in a general election?

“We’ve got to stop letting the hard Left dictate who’s electable and unelectable in this country. If Republicans cede that power to them, it’s like letting Lucy hold the football over and over again.”

Thor isn’t afraid to throw punches at the Right. He gives congressional Republicans mixed marks in the new Congress, expressing concerns that some “establishment types” (he cites House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Va., by name) may “already be getting squishy” on spending. “November was the beginning of a two-step process,” Thor explains. “We need to clear out the elitist Republicans from the Beltway. The tea party is clearing gunk out of the fuel lines of this country. It started with throwing out Democrats, but the Republicans are going to be next. We’re doing what needs to be done for the sake of the country.”

HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING

So far, Thor’s take-no-prisoners approach to politics hasn’t obstructed his rekindled dream from blossoming into a very successful career—a career that may soon launch into the pop cultural stratosphere.

In November 2010, Thor inked a lucrative deal with Warner Bros. The iconic Hollywood studio laid claim to the rights to Thor’s Scot Harvath novels, as well as a parallel series he introduced last year with “The Athena Project.” Thor’s latest

enterprise follows the exploits of an all-female Delta Force team composed of what black ops enthusiasts call “tier one assets.”

In Thor’s fictionalized account, the Army’s Combat Action Group (CAG), commonly known as Delta Force, recruits a team of elite female warriors to carry out high-risk covert operations for the U.S. government across the globe. Although some critics scoffed at the plausibility of such a unit, Thor was once again ahead of the curve.

“Oh, it absolutely exists, but nobody will admit it exists,” Mr. M. confirms. “The number of women involved and their missions are highly, highly classifi ed. This is what makes Brad unique as an author in the genre. What he knows and writes about is true.” Truth or fi ction, the concept is undeniably marketable and sexy—a potent combination for a major movie studio.

Warner Bros. is currently weighing its options with both of Thor’s signature products. Thor says they’ve pitched the idea of adopting Scot Harvath, his novels’ primary hero, as the centerpiece of a Jason Bourne-style franchise of thriller fi lms. Beyond the model for success, Thor bristles at comparisons between Bourne and Harvath.

“[Clive] Cussler has Dirk Pitt, [Tom] Clancy has Jack Ryan and I have Scot Harvath,” he says. “He’s my alter-ego. He thinks the way I do, but he’s single, so he can do all the stuff Trish won’t let me do,” he jokes. “You did go to Afghanistan,” she deadpans from across the room.

Unsurprisingly, the conversation takes a political turn. “Jason Bourne is the ultimate liberal superhero,” Thor says. “He doesn’t remember who he is; he was turned into a killing machine by an evil U.S. government; and he’s always portrayed as a persecuted, perpetual victim. Scot Harvath is none of those things.”

If Warner Bros. pulls the trigger on a Harvath series, Thor won’t have editorial control over the films, but he will serve as a creative consultant in the process. He says he feels confident with the studio he’s signed on with. “At the end of the day, my books aren’t about politics. They’re about action and the producers really get that. There were several suitors for this deal, but Warner Bros.’ pitch just felt right.”

Thor adds that the studio’s willingness to defy political correctness in Clint Eastwood’s 2008 fi lm “Gran Torino” showed courage and helped cement the deal in his mind.

As seductive as silver screen success may be, Thor’s first love remains writing. He’s sketched out a very rough 10-year roadmap for both his series and his career, with an intense focus on beating his competitors to incorporating new technology and groundbreaking geopolitical narratives into his writing. Thor is currently putting the fi nishing touches on his 11th novel, “Full Black,” which is scheduled to be released in late July. “The title comes from a term within the special operations community used to describe the most sensitive and dangerous operations,” he says.

“There are threats against this country beyond just Islamic terrorism, and ‘Full Black’ will address a threat nobody’s done before in a thriller. I’ll introduce readers to an enemy who wants to tear away American sovereignty,” Thor says, declining to elaborate beyond asking a question: “If money were no object, how would an individual or group clear the United States’ pieces off the global chessboard?”

The answer, he says, will be explored in “Full Black,” building off a theme he first teased in his latest Harvath novel—2010’s “Foreign Influence.” Thor says the overall concept was inspired by reports of a Chinese “unrestricted warfare” program against the United States. “The Chinese realize they can’t defeat us on a traditional battlefi eld,” so they’re looking to undermine us with an aggressive array of tools they have at their disposal, including “fi nancial terrorism and cultural disruptions,” Thor says.

These concerns may strike skeptics as the stylings of a vivid imagination gone wild—ideal for compelling fiction, but completely untethered to reality. The Departments of Homeland Security and Defense might beg to differ. They’ve recruited Thor, along with an elite handful of creative minds, to dream up seemingly far-fetched tactics foreign powers and NGOs might employ to undermine American interests [see “Real Live Fiction” by Elise Cooper in the May 2010 issue of Townhall]. Thor won’t reveal much detail about the program, except to say it’s designed to help the U.S. government with “contingency and scenario planning” for “out-of-the-box” forms of asymmetrical warfare.

It’s a remarkable testament to Thor’s work product that the government came knocking. He was recruited to lend his creativity to national security efforts; he was targeted specifi cally for his imagination. The governmental agencies tasked with protecting America from harm recognized Thor’s ability to help anticipate heretofore unforeseen threats—a talent his legions of fans have relished for years.

As someone who prides himself on being “as current as tomorrow’s headlines,” this is perhaps the ultimate

affirmation and highest compliment Thor could possibly be paid. Well, second highest, at least. At the top of the list?

“Someone putting down $25 of his or her hard-earned money to buy my product, then doing it again because they felt the payoff was worth it,” he says. “That’s as good as it gets for an author.”

Guy Benson is political editor for Townhall.com.