T. R. Hendricks, debut author of The Instructor

00:00:15:07 - 00:00:36:07 DAVID Hello and welcome to the Thriller Zone. I'm your host, David Temple. And welcome to one of the fastest growing podcast in the world. You could call us let's call it your front row seat to the best thriller writers in the world. That's what we are. And, you know, every once in a while we debut authors, the debut authors who are breaking out with their very first killer novel.

00:00:36:23 - 00:00:57:07 DAVID We feature them as in today. T.R. Hendriks has a book called The Instructor, and I don't want to go in too much because I want you to hear all the juice in the show. But this thing is dynamite. It is hot. It's on fire. It drops this week. His debut is this week. It's a big, big week for T.R. Hendrix.

00:00:57:07 - 00:01:20:23 DAVID And I am thrilled. We've been talking about getting together for well over a year. And as they say, the planets have finally aligned. And I could not be more happy for this guy. He has lived it, researched it and put in the sweat equity, and he deserves everything coming his way. So put your hands together, kick back and relax.

00:01:20:23 - 00:01:40:26 DAVID Pour yourself a cocktail, whatever it is, iced tea, you name it, and get comfortable because you're in for a heck of a ride for a guy who is right there on the edge and about to skyrocket into the atmosphere. Please welcome T.R. Hendricks on the thriller Self. Ladies and gentlemen, first of all, welcome to the Thriller zone. I'm your host, David Temple.

00:01:40:26 - 00:01:50:21 DAVID T.R. Hendricks is with us. We're talking about the instructor. And boy, oh, boy, oh, baby, oh, baby, oh, boy. So good.

00:01:50:21 - 00:01:53:21 TIM That's what I like to hear. That's an intro right there.

00:01:54:27 - 00:01:56:15 DAVID Welcome to the show, dude.

00:01:56:21 - 00:02:07:08 TIM Oh, man. Thank you so much for having me. It's like we've been saying online, It's. It's a long time coming, and I'm pumped. I'm good. I'm. I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for. Thanks for having me.

00:02:07:27 - 00:02:26:29 DAVID Man. The pleasure is mine. I got it. We're going to get to the book in a second. But a couple of things. I was going I was drilling down in our dear D messages on Twitter, and I'm like, All right, how long's it been since I've been talking to Tim? Yeah. And I check back and I go, Our first diem was Thanksgiving 2021.

00:02:27:10 - 00:02:28:17 Speaker 3 Wow. Okay.

00:02:29:04 - 00:02:34:24 DAVID Because I think let's see, I launched in June of 21.

00:02:35:06 - 00:02:37:11 Speaker 3 Okay. 23. Yeah.

00:02:37:21 - 00:02:47:09 DAVID And then you started showing me some TV love, and I was like, Man, this guy's just coming out of nowhere a lot on me. And I'm like, Dude, thank you for your support. That was in Thanksgiving.

00:02:47:19 - 00:02:48:02 Speaker 3 Mm hmm.

00:02:48:13 - 00:03:04:22 DAVID Coming up a few months later to three, 20 to 5 days before my birthday. Thank you very much. You? Yeah. You and I reached back out and we discussed. Hey, you know, you said maybe one day we can collaborate on a show, and I'm like, Dude, count on it or something to that effect.

00:03:04:25 - 00:03:05:03 TIM Yep.

00:03:05:15 - 00:03:14:12 DAVID And here we are, a year and two months ish later, you're a debut author. You got a kick.

00:03:14:21 - 00:03:15:26 Speaker 3 Ass.

00:03:16:09 - 00:03:22:06 DAVID Starting out of a great rock star novel. And you're on your way.

00:03:23:02 - 00:03:54:17 TIM It's. It's wild. It's. It's just today is like the first day that it's, like, really, really hit like. Like full on hit like a freight train. Because everything leading up to the debut, it was like, Have I done enough? You know, there is always something to do. You know, it's it's if I'm not working on books two and books three, you know, editing or creating.

00:03:55:01 - 00:04:19:28 TIM It's have I done enough blog posts? Have I done enough podcasts or social media? You know, have I reached out to all the people that I can do? Have I done everything that I can do to make this launch as successful as possible? You know, and it starts with writing a good book, of course, but, you know, but then pushing it from there and so there was there was always like that distraction.

00:04:19:28 - 00:04:25:21 TIM People would be like, aren't you excited? It's four days away. It's it's three days. And I'm like, Yeah.

00:04:25:21 - 00:04:27:22 Speaker 3 But but I got to still do this, this and this.

00:04:27:22 - 00:04:41:16 TIM And then like, it finally, like, hit. Whereas like, okay, it's, it's out in the wild now, you know, it's, it's done and I can just sit back and enjoy the ride at this point. So it's awesome. It's a great time.

00:04:42:00 - 00:05:04:17 DAVID Dude. I, as you know, being a fan of the show, I've had what, 100 and, I don't know, 20, 30 people on and I've had some biggies. And the biggies are as nervous as you are. The biggies are as wigged out as you are. The big E's wonder, who did I talk to the other day? And this blew me away.

00:05:04:17 - 00:05:07:06 DAVID Oh, Robert to go. And Bobby got him.

00:05:07:11 - 00:05:07:21 TIM Okay.

00:05:08:09 - 00:05:27:13 DAVID And he was telling me I. I don't know if he said it on the show or off the mic, but he said, Oh, David. Yeah. Every time I get the jitters, I wonder, is this bullcrap? Is anyone going to like it? Are they going to what if they go, Oh, Bob, you just dropped the ball this time? I'm like, You're kidding me.

00:05:27:13 - 00:05:29:16 DAVID Do you got like 20 some books?

00:05:29:18 - 00:05:31:11 Speaker 3 Yeah, I was.

00:05:32:06 - 00:05:48:26 TIM I'm glad to hear that. That's not just the rookies coming out. The gate that that have that feeling, because that's a that's a little reassuring that those that are, you know, 20 books in are still getting those those butterflies and jitters every time they put pen to paper, as it were.

00:05:49:12 - 00:05:49:21 Speaker 3 Yeah.

00:05:50:05 - 00:05:52:23 DAVID Yeah. Dude, I have to take it. May I call you dude?

00:05:53:11 - 00:05:55:06 Speaker 3 Sure. Call me whatever you like.

00:05:55:08 - 00:05:57:20 TIM Your show. I'm. I'm just here. I'm here for the ride, baby.

00:05:58:06 - 00:05:59:09 Speaker 3 I got.

00:05:59:24 - 00:06:09:09 DAVID I love as you know, I was up or I was up at 450 this morning trying to finish the last of this book. And I was doing a little bit social media posting on your behalf.

00:06:09:13 - 00:06:10:14 TIM Mm hmm. I appreciate it.

00:06:11:02 - 00:06:30:26 DAVID Yes. And of course, I've looked at you for quite some time. And nice spirit, by the way. Thank you. But what's really nice is the sweater. And I was like, I turn to my wife, Tammy. Do you think do you think Tim's going to show up in a sweater? I mean, someone's going to sweater or maybe it's just because he's wearing a sweater on his promotional.

00:06:30:27 - 00:06:41:08 DAVID Maybe he always wears a sweater. I think I've seen them wear sweaters. So I'm like, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to have this ready. Welcome to TR Hendricks.

00:06:42:17 - 00:06:46:25 Speaker 3 The instructor. It's a beautiful day.

00:06:48:15 - 00:06:54:29 TIM I'm got to take off my my, my dress shoes and put on my sneakers just to sit down on the couch.

00:06:54:29 - 00:07:00:04 DAVID It's TR Hendricks. Wait. Here he comes. Okay.

00:07:02:11 - 00:07:04:10 Speaker 3 That's great. So what I do.

00:07:04:10 - 00:07:14:03 TIM I do love my sweaters, though. Yeah, I love the ease of putting on just a sweater over. Over the attire. During the winter, you know?

00:07:14:07 - 00:07:16:02 Speaker 3 Sure, sure. Well, they're.

00:07:16:15 - 00:07:26:25 DAVID Just having some fun with me because I saw that, and I'm like, I almost. I almost broke out my big fat cardigan because I sometimes I will dress to match the gas. I used to do it.

00:07:26:25 - 00:07:29:07 Speaker 3 Ted Bell Oh, yeah. So, yeah.

00:07:29:23 - 00:07:35:04 DAVID I'd, I'd put on a suit and an ascot sometimes, and I have a martini in my hand and we do the show.

00:07:35:09 - 00:07:35:23 TIM Nice.

00:07:36:26 - 00:07:37:26 Speaker 3 She told me we were done.

00:07:37:26 - 00:07:45:23 TIM Corrigan episode. It would've been great, you know, we could have, like, changed midway through and stuff, you know, just. Just kept having costume changes. Yeah.

00:07:46:06 - 00:07:46:13 Speaker 3 Maybe.

00:07:46:16 - 00:07:47:24 TIM Maybe we'll do that for the sequel.

00:07:48:00 - 00:07:48:10 Speaker 3 Okay.

00:07:48:19 - 00:07:49:26 TIM We'll have a cardigan session.

00:07:50:06 - 00:07:51:27 DAVID Yeah, Cardigan. Wednesday, we'll call it.

00:07:52:05 - 00:07:54:16 Speaker 3 Yeah.

00:07:54:16 - 00:08:09:06 DAVID All right, Well, I do want to. I got a couple of things to cover. Anybody who follows you on social media like me knows that you love your family. You're 40 Niners, and you're woodworking. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody knows this.

00:08:09:10 - 00:08:09:23 TIM Which is.

00:08:10:03 - 00:08:33:28 DAVID Totally cool. And if you haven't followed him on Instagram, we'll tell you about how to do that later in the show. Yeah, but on a professional note, they likely some will likely know that you're former United States Army captain who served as a tank platoon leader, then a military intelligence officer. Now, I'd like to know something. If you were to boil it down by the way, thank you for serving.

00:08:33:28 - 00:08:35:20 TIM I thank you. I appreciate that.

00:08:36:12 - 00:08:55:10 DAVID If you were to boil it down and had the list, let's say the top three things. I don't want to put pressure on you, but I want to get to know you in a way that I haven't gotten to know you before. So. All right. Give me three things that you learned in the service that that you think that they can be.

00:08:55:10 - 00:09:12:02 DAVID These are the things I learned in the service that really helped my career. These are the things in the service that help me save my butt. And I'm kind of referring as it relates to the book, or these are the three things that really, really set me on my course to becoming who I am today.

00:09:13:20 - 00:09:14:09 Speaker 3 Okay.

00:09:15:09 - 00:09:53:08 TIM That's a great question. The stuff that immediately comes to mind is a couple of, you know, army slash military mantras. No plan survives first contact. Right? And it's you can draw up the greatest plan in the world. You can have everything ready to go, all the details. And then the moment hijinx ensue and stuff starts flying back and forth both ways, that plan can go out of the window, go right out the window, and you need to be adaptable, You need to be resilient.

00:09:53:15 - 00:10:20:19 TIM You need to be calm. Under pressure, you know, is coming from, you know, all ranks. You want that. But particularly on the officer side, because your men are looking for you for that leadership. So, you know, that certainly translated over into civilian life that that, hey, you know, sometimes things aren't going to go the way you think that they are because you have your plan laid out.

00:10:20:19 - 00:10:45:11 TIM And just because it's perfect and in your mind, everything is going to go accordingly. Life throws you curveballs, you know, and you got to be able to adapt to those and move on. So that was that was a huge lesson, both from just the service aspect and then the deployment side. That was that was really a big takeaway is I think the top one, I would have to say.

00:10:45:24 - 00:11:00:18 DAVID Okay, well now as we head toward the instructor, because I'll make sure for those folks who don't stay with me for the entire 35 to 45 minutes that I get all the good stuff, all the juice of a.

00:11:00:18 - 00:11:02:05 TIM Heat up, everyone. Yeah.

00:11:02:22 - 00:11:27:09 DAVID But here's what I'd like to know. How does that past as intelligence officer, Officer inform your writing today? Because I'm telling you something without breaking out into my review in such, it is so clear that you know what the hell you are talking about. So how does that past inform that writing outside of the obvious? Well, I learned this, so I wrote that in the book.

00:11:27:21 - 00:11:29:12 Speaker 3 Yeah, I think.

00:11:30:18 - 00:12:02:22 TIM And I recently did a piece on this where I describe this also, where I'm amazed at individuals who weren't necessarily on active duty or who didn't deploy how well and convincingly they can capture our military veterans military training. You know, guys like Nick Petry and Connor Sullivan come to mind right off the bat and just two guys that I read their books and I was like, they had to have been veterans themselves.

00:12:02:22 - 00:12:36:18 TIM They've they nailed this. And then I was surprised that they weren't, you know, So it's not necessarily a a prerequisite that you have to have it. But in my experience, you know, just both from being in the Army, being on active duty, having to deployments to Iraq under my belt, having gone through the schools that I went through, it just lends a ease of authenticity to my writing.

00:12:36:18 - 00:13:07:04 TIM You know, where where I can pull so easily upon what the sights and sounds are like. I can tell you what downtown Baghdad smells like. You know, I can I can tell you how the sand would part over your boots like it was confection and sugar, You know, like like those are descriptions and details that other people can incorporate, but they have to do like the research for it.

00:13:07:04 - 00:13:42:21 TIM And but having been there and lived it and, you know, I hate to be cliche, but write what you know, it certainly comes through. And that goes for everything, not just from the experiences, but like the day to day interactions with, you know, the Iraqis or my fellow soldiers or the experiences that we were in, the situations that we were in the like you alluded to the training that I've had and, you know, the different intelligence methodologies.

00:13:43:04 - 00:14:12:18 TIM It all goes into the mixing bowl, as it were, you know, and then I stirred on up and throw a bunch of crazy in there from whatever my my imagination can come up with and people it's funny, I have read a lot of the reviews on good reads in particular, and a lot of people come forward with like, Man, I wasn't ready for for how violent this book got or, or there's some some brutal scenes in it.

00:14:12:18 - 00:14:14:17 TIM And I'm like, It's kind of normal for.

00:14:14:17 - 00:14:18:22 Speaker 3 Me, you know? So, you know, I'm like.

00:14:18:22 - 00:14:27:21 TIM Like, man, I'm I really am messed up up there. But that's how it comes through. And that's, you know, how that has helped in the writing.

00:14:28:02 - 00:14:28:11 Speaker 3 Yeah.

00:14:28:11 - 00:14:52:11 DAVID And there's a couple of things I want to ask, and I don't want to dive into a place that you're not comfortable, so you can push it aside if you like. But you know, this cat Derek, is he's a little fked up in his head, rightly so. And, and I find myself, as I read authors like yourself, I find, oh my God, I have no idea what it was like.

00:14:52:11 - 00:15:09:22 DAVID I think I have an idea. Yeah, I watch television. I think I have an idea. I watch movies. I got a pretty good idea. I got no idea the shit that you guys went through and what you bring back and how it stays up in your cranium. And I wonder, do you suffer that? Do you suffered and go, You know what?

00:15:09:22 - 00:15:25:10 DAVID It was part of what I went through. I can compartmentalize it because it was yesterday, because I'm now in the States. I'm safe and secure with my family, etc.. Or are those those deep, dark moments in the back of your head, in the dark of the night, when you wake up in a sweat and you go, Oh, yeah, they're okay.

00:15:25:10 - 00:15:26:10 DAVID I'm not there, I'm here.

00:15:26:21 - 00:15:58:20 TIM Yeah. And the answer is both. And it's not it's it's not off topic. Like I'm, I'm perfectly comfortable talking about it. And I actually like using these opportunities to discuss it because I personally feel that the more I relate my experiences and the more just knowledge there is out there about PTSD, the more people can advocate for the services that they need.

00:15:58:20 - 00:16:21:01 TIM And you never know. I mean, this is a podcast about thriller novels, but maybe there's a vet or maybe just somebody who experience trauma out there that says, Wow, you know, this is the wake up call that I needed. And that's kind of the path that I led. You know, it was been a long, bumpy road, you know, since I got out in 2008.

00:16:21:29 - 00:17:06:18 TIM I like to call it a rollercoaster because it has its peaks and valleys. And when you're high, it's great. When you're low, it's it's hard. And I got really, really low. And it took the better part of a decade plus of counseling and just going through things and these rough episodes that finally brought me to a place in just recent years where I was able to accept the things that not only happened over there, but accept how it impacted my life after the military and all the hardship that had come with that and the integration that would come with that.

00:17:08:05 - 00:17:39:09 TIM And so that puts me in a good place as we sit here now discussing about it. But it certainly wasn't without its trials and tribulations, and the writing actually was a big part of the therapeutic process for me because like you said, jumping up in the middle of the night screaming or crying or putting my wife at the time in a in a headlock, you know, like those things happen and they happen often.

00:17:39:20 - 00:18:10:16 TIM And my particular symptom that was so devastating was these infinitely intricate, detailed, horrible nightmares, you know, So I started because I was always a decent writer, you know, through high school and college and everything. So I started writing those nightmares down on the page, on paper, you know, or I just I type them out when I'd get to work, because if I didn't, it was just living rent free in my head.

00:18:11:00 - 00:18:36:18 TIM So I found that if I put the nightmare onto the page, it somehow expunged that, you know, the horrible experience of the night before. And I and I and I wrote some really messed up stuff. It's like you, your brain, just like it comes up with things when you're sleeping and you think your guard's down, but it's not.

00:18:36:18 - 00:19:09:00 TIM And that kind of like I very early on I learned like, okay, this is a therapeutic method for me. And then I started writing more and more like short stories, manuscripts, and I would incorporate more and more of my experiences into the writing. Yeah. So again, I could blend that authentic city to the characters, but also it was a healing process for me as well, you know, to expunge that and get it out.

00:19:09:14 - 00:19:15:19 DAVID Yeah, I get that. And in the yeah, you used a great word. It's healing. Catharsis.

00:19:15:26 - 00:19:16:05 TIM Yeah.

00:19:16:16 - 00:19:45:23 DAVID And you said something a second ago that made me think, and I want to make sure I get this point across, because you made the phrase. Oh, right. Which, you know, which I used to go, Yeah, whatever. We're writers. We get to do it, you know, That's what that's what we're doing. We're creating shit. Sure. However, as I have progressed through the years, I realized that, yeah, that does make a lot of sense because of the authenticity and the minutia of details with which you can tell a story like little tiny things in this book.

00:19:45:23 - 00:20:06:18 DAVID The instructor that you say that I found my spell self, especially when it came to survive. I'm going to say this again in a minute. I found myself going, Oh, and I was a boy. I was a Cub Scout. Boy Scout, Eagle Scout. So some of these things. Yeah. So I got a pretty good working knowledge of it, but I was like, Wait a minute, I don't recall ever that.

00:20:06:21 - 00:20:07:04 TIM Yeah.

00:20:07:29 - 00:20:27:28 DAVID Like, for instance, I'm going to pull something out of thin air the way you got out of a plastic cuff. That was brilliant. Okay? That was the way you carved a knife out of a rock. But it was the type of rock in the water that you found that enabled you to be able to chisel it off to the point that you could get a good edge to be able to create it.

00:20:27:28 - 00:20:51:04 DAVID And I'm like, okay, I did not. I don't think I know that now. So any tiny little things that made me do that. But here's my point. Tim Sawyer went off on a tangent. Here's what it is you don't have a problem with, like you mentioned, Connor and the message. Nick Right. Both guys did not surf. However you buy it when they talk about it, you really buy it.

00:20:51:19 - 00:21:09:03 DAVID Now I'm going to admit something. I when I first started writing, I thought, I'm just going to try my hand or something. I didn't know any better. I didn't know any different. So I just made up this character and all went with it. And I a little thing called NaNoWriMo and I banged up 15,000 words in a month and I'm like, okay, it's great exercise.

00:21:09:03 - 00:21:09:10 DAVID Now.

00:21:09:10 - 00:21:11:05 TIM I'm a I'm a veteran of nine oh myself.

00:21:11:15 - 00:21:35:10 DAVID Yeah, you can't beat it and aroma. So but what I did was I wrote something that I was interested in, but I didn't have a lot of knowledge and so I kind of faked my way through it. He's a four mill. He was former sniper, now retired. La la la. Now, if I handed it, you to that to today, I wouldn't hand it to you today because it was my first while I wrote three in a row and it's my first attempt.

00:21:35:10 - 00:21:37:02 DAVID And you'd go, Well, you have.

00:21:38:10 - 00:21:38:16 Speaker 3 You.

00:21:38:16 - 00:22:00:10 DAVID Ever did? We didn't know this, and it's clear that you're not aware of that. However, it was my interest and I was just trying to do the exercise. But the real point I'm trying to get in as you read an author, and if they don't have the true experience but they show in their work that they do know what they're talking about, you got no problem.

00:22:00:10 - 00:22:02:06 DAVID When they do, you don't care at all.

00:22:02:06 - 00:22:32:03 TIM No. I mean, my biggest fear as an author and and I like to joke around with with friends and family that know that I was particularly in the Army because I write about a marine protagonist, an Air Force antagonist. And it's like, why did you choose those two services? Because even though we're all on the military, the terminal G is different, the procedures are different, the slang is certainly different.

00:22:32:03 - 00:22:53:20 TIM So I've had to do a lot of research, you know, to get down to the minutia of, okay, what would the Air Force term for a pilot slang term for the pilot be for the ground crew that fuels the jet and wants to, you know, give the guy a hard time like, geez, I got to go find that because I don't know it off the top of my head.

00:22:53:27 - 00:22:59:25 TIM And what is it? Zipper suited sun gods.

00:23:00:05 - 00:23:05:12 Speaker 3 I think. Yeah. Which I felt was very appropriate.

00:23:05:12 - 00:23:12:06 TIM From what I've learned. You know, I just, I just, I we're all in the same team, but.

00:23:13:24 - 00:23:14:12 Speaker 3 I.

00:23:14:25 - 00:23:48:27 TIM My biggest fear as an author is an Air Force veteran picking up the book and like I'm talking specifically about the sequel now, but like in picking up the book and going that that's no that's completely wrong. I would like, you know, that would never happen or, you know, survival or people that are interested in wilderness survival and hiking and camping and everything like, you know, no, that's that's completely wrong.

00:23:48:27 - 00:24:14:27 TIM He made that up. This guy obviously lives in the city and has an a night out in the woods ever in his life, which is it? Far from the truth. Like I don't regularly get out into the woods. I'm not a survival expert, but I am a very good researcher. And I do have primary source friends who are survival experts that were willing to lend some of those details.

00:24:15:12 - 00:24:39:27 TIM And that's where they merged together with the writing is, okay, I can I can take these seemingly innocuous points of the charity of the Onondaga Church, which is, you know, something I research worth with a friend telling me about how to make a stone knife, you know, with percussion, knapping and I can blend that in to the story.

00:24:41:00 - 00:25:00:29 TIM And I don't have to necessarily know it. Like, I'm never going to know everything. I'm not going to be a 30 year survival expert. Right. Who built his own teepee out in the back, Right. You know, Woods of Arizona or anything. So you're never going to get to that level. But could a survival expert pick up my novel and be like.

00:25:01:24 - 00:25:04:15 Speaker 3 Okay, this guy, is he he.

00:25:04:15 - 00:25:19:19 TIM Did enough research and put in enough details in the right places to be convincing that, you know, this is how, you know, this character would actually go about things. And that's my my biggest point with with the authenticity, you know.

00:25:20:00 - 00:25:33:07 DAVID Okay. And that is the perfect place to take this pause. I'm going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we're going to discuss some of the key elements in the book. And it happens to be survival skills. Imagine that. What great.

00:25:33:18 - 00:25:35:21 Speaker 3 About that. Yeah.

00:25:35:21 - 00:25:40:15 DAVID You're with TR Hendrix on the Thriller zone. We'll be right back.

00:25:40:15 - 00:25:46:17 Speaker 3 The best thing is the thing in the sun. And now back to the show.

00:25:47:08 - 00:26:06:25 DAVID And we'll come back. We're with TR Hendricks and his debut thriller called The Instructor. And we're going to yeah, over his shoulder in my hand. This thing is here. Here's the thing. It's a hell of a read that you're going to want to be ripping through the pages. And there's a lot of times when I get a thrill or I want to rip through the pages, of course.

00:26:06:25 - 00:26:08:12 DAVID But then again, like.

00:26:08:12 - 00:26:10:09 Speaker 3 A tasty steak.

00:26:10:09 - 00:26:42:07 DAVID I want to savor it. I did not want this thing to end right. All right. We mentioned before the break, Tim, that we were talking about survival skills. So I feel like I already know the answer, but I'm going to ask anyway how much of the pure survival skills are on point? As I say, meaning no movie influenced Rambo B.S. But I mean, like how much percentage wise, roughly of because there's this thing is packed full of survival skills.

00:26:42:07 - 00:26:50:18 DAVID You can almost read this book and go if you picked me up and threw me in the wilderness, I could almost get out of it alive.

00:26:51:02 - 00:27:15:00 TIM Well, yeah, sure. I mean, well, thank you for that. That's that's a compliment. Like we said earlier, you know, that's the the authenticity that I like to go for. So and I love hearing that. I love hearing that from readers, like, oh, I can't wait to grab my backpack and go hiking now because I read your book. I just don't go out into the woods, you know, where they have to send search and rescue after you, you know, because I don't want anybody putting that on me.

00:27:16:15 - 00:27:21:15 TIM But but yeah, the the I would say.

00:27:22:03 - 00:27:22:28 Speaker 3 The vast.

00:27:22:28 - 00:27:27:03 TIM Majority, like 95% or more, is.

00:27:27:03 - 00:27:29:21 Speaker 3 All factual.

00:27:30:15 - 00:27:54:17 TIM Survival, you know, mantras and and proven theories and practices that these experts have utilized. You know, in terms of using the rule of three, you know, the three days without shelter or I mean, three days without water. And I'm screwing them all up now, again.

00:27:55:01 - 00:27:55:28 Speaker 3 I'm not the expert.

00:27:56:12 - 00:28:14:06 DAVID That's okay. But but there's a few that in there. You can go you can go many days without food, but you can only go through three days. I think it is without water. And I think another thing I learned is it was the order in which you need to prepare yourself shelter.

00:28:14:06 - 00:28:15:09 TIM Water, food, water.

00:28:15:23 - 00:28:21:24 DAVID Fire, food. Yeah. Now I'm like, okay, I mean, you would kind of assume that, but yeah.

00:28:21:27 - 00:28:49:02 TIM Those are the well, my assumption was always water first, you know, And then they're like, no shelter, because I think that's what the rule of three was. It's like 3 hours without shelter, three days without water, and then three weeks without food is roughly how it goes. And you just don't realize how vicious exposure to the elements can be.

00:28:49:02 - 00:29:11:22 TIM And that's why they say, no, get your shelter built first, you know, because sleeping out in the rain, you know, it's a death sentence. You're done. You know, you can go a couple of days without water, you know, so you got to work towards those. I did mesh them up a little bit. Not that those the the rule of three and the four priorities aren't established practice.

00:29:11:22 - 00:29:53:02 TIM They are. I just kind of mashed up how Derek himself prefers to teach them to his students. You know, she kind of kind of puts a couple of the priorities on an even playing but things like using the dog being plant or how to scrape dry battery so that you can have tinder for your fire, you know, how to actually do a tinder bundle and keep the bundle in your hands, moving in a figure eight so that the cold doesn't wink out while you're taking another breath off to the side and the smoke doesn't, you know, get in your eyes.

00:29:53:14 - 00:30:26:12 TIM Those were all things that were either research or imparted on to me by a very close friend who is a survival instructor, you know, and we would we would talk over these things and had a couple of phone sessions where he would give me these tidbits and whatnot, and I would just kind of mesh them all together if I had to pick one without spoiling anything, If I had to pick one thing that was maybe a little embellished that that a real survivalist would roll their eyes out.

00:30:26:13 - 00:30:41:18 TIM It's probably the use of the slingshot. Yeah, but I liked it, you know, I said, and I have fun with it in the sequel. And, you know, it's just it was this interesting thing to me because there's so many.

00:30:41:18 - 00:30:43:00 Speaker 3 Like, you.

00:30:43:00 - 00:31:02:06 TIM Know, different guys have different things that there are their specialties. You know, one guy's got a ninja star or whatever. And I was just like, what's what's something that could be very plausible in a survival situation that really hasn't been done yet or at least not done to my knowledge. And so.

00:31:02:20 - 00:31:03:24 Speaker 3 Let's let's give the guy a.

00:31:03:24 - 00:31:08:06 TIM Slingshot and some ball bearings and yeah, and go from there. You know, I owe this one.

00:31:08:23 - 00:31:35:04 DAVID It's so funny you should mention that. That's the only thing. You know, that phrase, it called taking you out of the story. Yeah. So there was I that was the only time in the whole book that I went, Oh, wait a minute. Rubber tube, piece of leather ball bit precision really is that. And then because I used to shoot a slingshot, you know, I had one as a kid, everybody, every, every boy had a slingshot at one time or another.

00:31:35:22 - 00:31:49:04 DAVID And I'm like, you got to you got to really, really, really practice this. And, and and I think it was the distance with which and the specificity with and the ease with which he killed that I was like, wow, he must really be good.

00:31:49:04 - 00:31:49:18 Speaker 3 Yeah.

00:31:49:18 - 00:31:55:06 TIM Yeah, exactly. That's when you got to take it with a little bit of plausible deniability. But yeah.

00:31:55:15 - 00:31:59:05 DAVID And Tim, that's why they call it fiction.

00:31:59:05 - 00:31:59:23 Speaker 3 Thank you.

00:31:59:23 - 00:32:01:20 DAVID So how you doing? I mean, come.

00:32:01:20 - 00:32:14:22 TIM On, all you slingshot experts out there, don't ask me, you know. Oh, well, you know, your ball bearing was an eighth of a circumference larger. Like, get out of you, you know? Yeah, it's fun. If you come over.

00:32:14:22 - 00:32:15:10 Speaker 3 Here, I'll.

00:32:15:10 - 00:32:17:06 DAVID Show you some ball bearings, you know? But.

00:32:18:05 - 00:32:21:03 TIM Yeah, I'll show you what we can do with that rubber tube.

00:32:21:17 - 00:32:27:05 Speaker 3 Yeah, we will be the. All right, well.

00:32:27:05 - 00:32:41:08 DAVID I'm going to fit. I'm going to wrap that little piece by going. I like the details. I can suspend my belief. It doesn't matter. It's an escape from the ordinary life. That's why we read.

00:32:41:13 - 00:32:43:02 TIM That's why we read. That's why we write.

00:32:43:15 - 00:32:58:11 DAVID Yeah. Now, in fact, I'm going to tell you some this is really interesting. And this popped into my head about halfway through the book for some reason. And this I'm going to sound like Captain Obvious, so that's okay.

00:32:58:16 - 00:32:58:27 TIM All right.

00:32:59:10 - 00:33:31:07 DAVID But I'm surprised it took me this long to come to this full realization. But while reading the book, I came to really appreciate, like in a new way, exactly why I and other readers like me so thoroughly enjoy reading the type of military thrillers that you and Don Bentley and Jack Carr and Brett Taylor and Andrews and Wilson, to name just the few that pop off the top of my head and who've been on the show minus Jack Carr, because he can't go on the show just yet.

00:33:31:07 - 00:33:49:29 DAVID But all of that is because we wish and this is what it is and I'm like, How did it take me so friggin long to realize it's because we wish we could have experienced what you did in some form or fashion? Okay, I know you were in the shit and I know it was hot and hairy in a lot of different ways, but in some form or fashion.

00:33:49:29 - 00:34:03:06 DAVID Here's the key. And I'm and it's going to sound a little over the top, but I. I mean it. We want to be heroes, just like you guys were.

00:34:03:06 - 00:34:48:18 TIM And I. I deeply appreciate that sentiment. And I think it's great. I wrestle with being labeled as a hero. I think I served my country. It was something I wanted to do since I was a boy. It was a life goal, you know? And while I experienced some of the more extreme and unsavory portions of service, you know, namely things blowing up and people shooting at you, there's always somebody that's experienced more and has experienced greater hardship and have done the truly heroic things.

00:34:48:18 - 00:35:14:12 TIM You know, the the ones who sacrifice themselves for their brothers and sisters in arms, you know, the ones that jumped on the grenade or ran into a burning vehicle and pulled their body out, you know, Medal of Honor winners like those, those are the the true heroes. I did my part and I appreciate that. But yeah, that that's that's that's kind of how I view it.

00:35:14:17 - 00:35:39:07 DAVID And I get it and I get that. And look, I didn't want to get heavy handed on that. And I realize I completely relate to what you're saying. And I'm not talking about I'm not talking about the hero on the pedestal. I'm talking about dude, literally the fact that you showed up. Yeah. The fact that you said I'm willing to do this for my country in part makes you a hero to me.

00:35:39:07 - 00:35:41:15 DAVID That's. That's me. This is a great thing. Okay.

00:35:41:27 - 00:35:43:23 TIM I appreciate that.

00:35:43:23 - 00:35:51:00 DAVID Because I for whatever reason, back in the day, of course, I'm quite a bit older than you, son.

00:35:51:00 - 00:35:51:24 Speaker 3 So pull up a.

00:35:51:24 - 00:36:12:21 DAVID Chair. It's that I didn't I didn't get the opportunity. I didn't do it right. So. Yeah. So it's it's the you guys have done something that I I go, God, I wish I could have done some, some of that now. Sure. My son is in the army. He's up in Fairbanks, Alaska right now, and he's just taking care of business.

00:36:12:21 - 00:36:30:06 DAVID Yeah. And I respect the hell out of that kid. And, you know, he was one of those guys that played in the dirt and played army with his buddies, and that's all he ever wanted to do. Way, way, way, way back. And he's living it today, and I couldn't be more proud. And so, Jake, to you, wherever you are, you know, take care.

00:36:30:29 - 00:36:38:03 DAVID Anyway, I just want to say that that's cool. Now, I got to get to what I love about the instructor.

00:36:38:14 - 00:36:38:19 TIM Okay?

00:36:38:25 - 00:37:09:08 DAVID And and if you've been listening to this show as long as you have and my friends who listen, you know, I can be a little bit hyperbolic, maybe because I get excited about shit. Okay, there I get to do what I do best, which is talk to people and entertain and educate. And I love to read. But I got to tell you something, I'm going to dive down on this thing and you don't fluff this off because I mean every word I'm saying, I don't just like blow hot air up your skirt to make you.

00:37:09:08 - 00:37:11:12 Speaker 3 Oh, he liked. Yeah.

00:37:11:14 - 00:37:29:24 DAVID Not a So here's a few things that are like number one strong open first line. Everything capable of combustion has an ignition point. That's one, two, three, four, five, six, eight words. And I was already in.

00:37:30:27 - 00:37:35:04 TIM Yeah, I'm proud of that line. That's like, one of the best lines I've ever written.

00:37:35:23 - 00:37:36:05 Speaker 3 Dude.

00:37:36:25 - 00:38:00:21 DAVID That opened the door and I. You not. I went, Okay, I'm in. And then. And then you go right into it. The key to survival is knowing when and how to produce the flame. Okay? And then now I'm like, okay, I know it's about flame. The cover says it's about flame. He's survivor, survivalist instructor, and so forth. Anyway, so there's number one.

00:38:01:07 - 00:38:08:06 DAVID Number two. And on a semi-related poetical fashion, the exceptional slow swimmer.

00:38:08:14 - 00:38:12:00 Speaker 3 Mm hmm.

00:38:12:00 - 00:38:28:12 DAVID You know, man, that was tasty art, masterfully calculated back story, meaning you didn't like you didn't you didn't like. Is an old girlfriend of mine. You say, Oh, I don't I'm not giving you all the candy in the lob.

00:38:28:12 - 00:38:28:26 Speaker 3 Body.

00:38:30:23 - 00:38:38:14 DAVID And that was cool. Number four, the way you drip, drip, feed, drip fed your reveals.

00:38:39:16 - 00:38:39:23 Speaker 3 Great.

00:38:39:23 - 00:39:05:22 DAVID Just a little bit of time. These are all things that are really like folks in case you're taking notes. Memorable characters, well-drawn, not over-the-top, not cartoonish, not not stupid, great characters. And perhaps most importantly, here's my favorite part. And the guy on the covered the bottom of the cover. Mark Raney, big fan of the show, been on here several times.

00:39:06:10 - 00:39:26:27 DAVID A regular said it best with his blurb packed with action, tension and humanity, the instructor delivers. And probably my favorite part of that is the humanity which really shines in this book. Let's absorb that for a moment. Yeah. And that good.

00:39:27:05 - 00:39:33:10 TIM That's. Yeah, that's. That's high praise from both you and Mark. Yeah, absolutely.

00:39:34:00 - 00:39:48:19 DAVID Well, as far as I'm concerned, you got Nick Petrie crackling with intensity, vivid with authenticity and emotional back. You got Mark Graney on the cover. If you need if you need a blurb on your next and just let me know because we can probably fit it up in some corner somewhere.

00:39:48:19 - 00:39:49:08 Speaker 3 Yeah, sure.

00:39:49:24 - 00:40:04:07 TIM And of course, Simon Davis and Connor Sullivan, they also they also blurbed it too. So yeah, just great guys and great supporting encouragement from them along the way. I'm I'm deeply fortunate and grateful for their endorsements.

00:40:05:11 - 00:40:13:06 DAVID Well, I save the sip of fine scotch or the robust bro booster cigar for the end because this is my finale.

00:40:13:11 - 00:40:13:22 TIM All right.

00:40:14:00 - 00:40:35:05 DAVID And I think the best compliment I can pay you and I don't think I exaggerate very often on the show, maybe not too much, but in a no takes away. It takes away nothing from the masterfully talented, superbly gracious man Lee child. But I think Derek Harrington is the next new Jack Reacher. Wow.

00:40:36:10 - 00:40:39:13 Speaker 3 You heard it here first, folks. Whoa. That's.

00:40:40:06 - 00:40:46:29 TIM I mean, wow. That's. That's why I thought you said high praise before. That's. That's crazy. That's awesome.

00:40:47:25 - 00:41:13:20 DAVID And let me tell you why I say that. This is not just ask anybody who really, really knows me. I don't sit around in hyperbole too much because here's why This guy reminded me of Jack Reacher a lot. The way he enters the scene, the way he suffers all these skeletons in the closet, and the harrowing nightmares and the disgruntled, the broken apart marriage, etc., and the little boy.

00:41:13:20 - 00:41:35:24 DAVID I mean, there's so many things and he's big and he's bold and he's broad and he's bashing brains and kicking ass. But the humanity and the well, the humanity of and the the heart of him comes through in so many different little ways. And I'm like, man, I just want more of this guy. I just want to see what he does next and I want to see it.

00:41:35:25 - 00:41:48:26 DAVID And I thought, you know, Tim's going to he's got a hit on his hands. I mean, I wonder if people understand how big of a hit he has and does he understand it? Because I think it's I think it's north bound. Baby.

00:41:49:22 - 00:42:16:05 TIM That's awesome. Thank you so much. I mean, from from your lips, right? You know, let's let's hope it takes off the way it is. And we can have a long standing relationship with Derek and all his supporting cast. You know that. That's the dream right there. And, you know, I'm always said that being a published author and having my book on the shelf was like a lifelong dream.

00:42:16:23 - 00:42:24:13 TIM If I get to do that repeatedly, I mean, wow, that's that's just icing on the cake, You know, that's that's where we're going from there.

00:42:24:13 - 00:42:49:09 DAVID So I got this theory I'd like to share with you. And I don't know how your what your belief in God, Jesus, higher power a heaven hell is. It doesn't really matter in the big picture. What I think it really matters is how it resonates inside your soul. Right? But but there's this without getting preachy and I may or may not leave this in the show, I may cut it out.

00:42:49:09 - 00:43:36:03 DAVID Who knows? But this thing I have and I grew up as a peak, so I know where I'm coming from when I say this because Preacher's kid, there is a verse in the Bible somewhere where it's talking about God will give you the desires of your heart. So here's my theory I don't believe that a higher power will use God, Universe will give, will will embellish you with a certain myriad of beliefs and or passions, and then develop in you and allow you to develop yourself because you are God in and of yourself to develop those talents, rise to the occasion, want to perpetuate it, and then go, Oh yeah, yeah, about all that dream

00:43:36:03 - 00:43:38:24 DAVID stuff. Yeah. No, you're not going to actually get it right?

00:43:38:24 - 00:43:39:08 TIM Right.

00:43:39:21 - 00:43:47:14 DAVID I don't think that's I don't think that happens. I think if that is your desire and you're woven, it's woven into who you are and that's your path, you're going to get it.

00:43:47:24 - 00:43:48:14 Speaker 3 Yeah.

00:43:48:14 - 00:44:16:28 TIM And that that's I'm, I'm on board with that because that's something that I've felt from the very early on when when I started writing, seeing that I had the talent for it. And then certainly when I made the decision, the conscious decision to be like I want to pursue not only publishing but being traditionally published, you know, and, and getting my book on the shelf one day, the doubt of will I ever be able to achieve it?

00:44:17:14 - 00:44:49:16 TIM Never really settled in like I never doubted myself because I knew I had the talent and I knew I had the determination and the perseverance to get there. Now, I didn't know when I was going to get there, but I was willing to take those hits in stride and just put my head down, Keep going. So that's kind of the biggest advice I have for other writers out there with the same dream is don't quit just believe in what you have.

00:44:49:16 - 00:45:09:14 TIM Believe in what you're doing. You know, you have to put the work in and talent only gets you so far. You know, it's like the NFL draft. It's it's you know, there's the guy that can run the for 140 but you know, the guy that outwork him runs a four flat. So, you know, you got to put the work in you got to perfect your craft, you got to do your research.

00:45:10:19 - 00:45:30:18 TIM But if if you have that belief, you have that determination, you'll get there. And that's honestly how I felt is I'm going get there eventually. I don't care if I'm 80 years old. Eventually my book will be on that shelf because it it feels pre-ordained to me. You know, there's no doubt in my mind that I'll achieve that goal.

00:45:30:29 - 00:45:33:13 TIM I just got to put the work in to get there.

00:45:35:06 - 00:45:37:08 Speaker 3 I know. Boom.

00:45:37:08 - 00:45:57:00 DAVID Yeah, dude, that. That right there is that that I love hearing because that tells me you got where you got the goods. It's very obvious you got the goods, but that you got the heart and the drive. So I want my listeners to walk away with that. And of course, you anticipated my finale question. You've listened to the show.

00:45:57:00 - 00:46:03:00 DAVID You know, I always in the show with what your best piece of writing advice and you just did it and I didn't even have to ask.

00:46:03:00 - 00:46:05:24 TIM Yeah, yeah. See, unprompted, we got a rhythm going here.

00:46:06:02 - 00:46:06:16 Speaker 3 Baby.

00:46:06:16 - 00:46:09:29 TIM I am, I think, up hills.

00:46:10:18 - 00:46:29:24 DAVID All right. The only thing left to do and, you know, I thought, you know what? I'm going to save this. And if he wants to play along, if you got an extra couple of minutes, folks, today, we're recording this on Tuesday. The book drops today. This will actually air on Wednesday. So today's your big day. I know you're you're stuffed up to here with the promotions and marketing.

00:46:30:02 - 00:46:35:03 DAVID Yeah. So if you want to give me 60 more seconds, we can play rapid fire questions If you wanted to.

00:46:35:03 - 00:46:36:13 Speaker 3 Really? Let's do it.

00:46:38:04 - 00:46:44:01 DAVID This just in. All right, We'll start off easy. Pen and paper or keyboard. It's a fake.

00:46:44:01 - 00:46:45:15 Speaker 3 Board, a.

00:46:46:10 - 00:46:56:16 DAVID Knife and a piece of parachute cord or fire igniter and a compass.

00:46:56:16 - 00:46:59:00 TIM Go with knife. Oh, that's a tough.

00:46:59:00 - 00:47:01:07 Speaker 3 One.

00:47:01:07 - 00:47:01:24 DAVID I'm good for.

00:47:01:24 - 00:47:03:19 Speaker 3 That. Yeah. Yeah. All right.

00:47:04:17 - 00:47:22:10 DAVID I'm going to go. I'm going to dig a little deeper, Mr. Survivalist. You suddenly find yourself in the wilderness, You have shirts, pants, socks and boots way good. However, you only have two things in your pocket to help you survive, only to what are they and why?

00:47:23:25 - 00:47:54:27 TIM Well, I'd go with a feral rod for fire, starting because it has thousands of strikes to it. So that's, you know, conceivably hundreds and hundreds of fires that you'll be able to start. And then I got to go with my stat gear Survival survival knife, because it's like this own little survival kit all in one super sharp blade, but it's got all these incredible incorporated features.

00:47:55:06 - 00:48:02:20 TIM So it's like a very versatile towards a bunch of tools and one. So yeah, I'm going with that survival knife in particular and my feral rod.

00:48:03:18 - 00:48:10:06 DAVID All right, I'm going to pause one second here. Survival knife. Now, what's the brand name on that again? I'm going to give him some props.

00:48:10:07 - 00:48:14:04 TIM Stat gear estate, GTA are.

00:48:14:18 - 00:48:16:28 DAVID All right. And the second thing, spell the feral rod.

00:48:17:26 - 00:48:19:09 Speaker 3 F e r.

00:48:19:10 - 00:48:20:05 TIM R Oh.

00:48:20:18 - 00:48:25:08 DAVID Yep. And that's just a it's a it's an igniter. So that is right there. Yeah. You got your.

00:48:25:08 - 00:48:27:00 TIM Foot like a flint in steel. That's all.

00:48:27:12 - 00:48:32:23 DAVID Cool. And finally, if you're attackers, you're still back out in the.

00:48:32:23 - 00:48:33:24 Speaker 3 Wilderness and.

00:48:34:05 - 00:48:54:07 DAVID They're on your trail. You suddenly came to a cliff with only one way of escape. How long? It's a long drop to a small body of water. You don't know how long, but it's pretty long. You don't know how deep, but it's maybe not very deep. What would you do? Would you turn and face the music or rigid leap and take your chances?

00:48:54:18 - 00:48:56:19 TIM I think I would.

00:48:56:19 - 00:48:57:23 Speaker 3 Like to.

00:48:57:24 - 00:49:20:02 TIM Split the difference where I set it up so that my attackers think I've gone over the edge and as they approach it to confirm, said Leap, I come out behind them and kick their asses off the side.

00:49:20:02 - 00:49:24:16 DAVID True military mind at work. Ladies and gentlemen, there you have.

00:49:24:16 - 00:49:28:23 Speaker 3 Hell, yeah. We're not going out without a fight. Yeah.

00:49:28:23 - 00:49:35:17 DAVID All right, folks. To learn more, visit TR Hendrix Author XCOM sponsored by Authorized.

00:49:35:17 - 00:49:36:04 Speaker 3 Sites.

00:49:36:13 - 00:49:42:27 DAVID And follow him on Twitter at TR Hendricks. Tim, this has been dadgum good.

00:49:43:00 - 00:49:46:05 TIM Yeah. Awesome. Awesome episode. Great, great stuff.

00:49:46:24 - 00:49:59:03 DAVID I hope and I wish for you. I don't hope because hope implies I'm not really sure I wish for you because I know huge success. You're right here on the precipice, buddy. Right on the edge. I promise you.

00:49:59:16 - 00:50:12:09 TIM Thank you. I appreciate it. I appreciate all the support. Appreciate all the shout outs and encouragement on the socials and I can't wait to do this again. Let's let's come back in a year when the sequel hits.

00:50:13:11 - 00:50:28:15 DAVID Well, speaking of which, they're a little mister literary agent represented Guy. When do you anticipate I know you're working on the next one already. Do you have a title? Are you talking about it yet? If you're not, it's totally cool.

00:50:29:05 - 00:50:29:16 Speaker 3 Yeah.

00:50:29:16 - 00:50:59:10 TIM The So the sequel is finished. It's slated for this time next year, April 20, 24. It's finished in the sense that I've completed several rounds of revisions and turned it into my editor, Robert Davis at Forge, and he has it now and he's going through his magic that he does. So I'm waiting on getting that back and getting his and notes and going back into the process.

00:50:59:10 - 00:51:32:24 TIM But in terms of a complete manuscript, yeah, I've I've already put the 100 K words together for the sequel and it's slated, like I said, April 2024, the tentative title because it hasn't been approved per say yet, but I've named it the Infiltrator, so we shall see if that gets approved. I haven't heard any detractors from it except I think Brad Taylor had a book under the same title, which I didn't know until after I had written it.

00:51:32:24 - 00:51:37:13 TIM But whatever, you know, it's it's fine, you know? Yeah. Different authors can use the same title.

00:51:37:17 - 00:51:44:29 DAVID Dude, look at this. We got out in exactly an hour outside of a huge day for you. So, so happy for you.

00:51:45:01 - 00:51:46:09 TIM Thank you. Thank you so much.

00:51:46:24 - 00:51:57:00 DAVID How about that? How good, right? Don't you feel you're just excited for TR? It's Tim we like to call. And this book, the instructor Dynamite.

00:51:57:14 - 00:51:59:03 Speaker 3 Just solid.

00:51:59:27 - 00:52:16:15 DAVID You'll walk away going. You'll be halfway through. You'll be a third way through going. This is no way. This is his breakout novel. But it is and I loved it. Just can't say enough about it. Anyway, I'm your host, David Temple. I'll see you next time for another edition of the thrillers.

00:52:17:20 - 00:52:25:21 Speaker 4 It's been ten. I feel more popular.