Les Carroll is the author of the new novel Last Day on the Blue Wonder. His other books include Charlie Minto's Pyramid Scheme. He served in the Air Force and the Air National Guard for 28 years.
Q: What inspired you to write Last Day on the Blue Wonder, and how did you create your character Andy?
A: Last Day on the Blue Wonder developed from a vacation in the New England states in 2023. I flew into Boston and attended my first Red Sox game at Fenway Park – Bucket List item. Then I spent two days in Gloucester, chasing the boats and captains from the Wicked Tuna television series.
I decided then that I would base a novel in Boston and Gloucester just so I would have an excuse to visit there many times in the future. Now I’ve been to Boston and Gloucester four times and I’ve attended three games in Fenway Park.
I developed the characters of Andy and Amanda from accounts I had read of battlefield courage and heroics, about warfighters and medics.
Q: How did your experience serving in the Air Force and Air National Guard inform the writing of the novel?
A: My first novel, This Troubled Ground, is autobiographical and based on my deployments as an Air Force public affairs officer to Afghanistan and a stateside deployment to the Air Force Mortuary at Dover AFB.
I made the main character in Charlie Minto’s Pyramid Scheme
a United States Marine. So, in keeping with my commitment to write about the
service and sacrifice of America’s combat warriors, I made the main characters
in Last Day on the Blue Wonder soldiers, an Army Ranger and Ranger-qualified
Army medic.
Q: How would you describe the dynamic between Andy and Amanda?
A: Andy and Amanda “met” under the most stressful of
circumstances. Maybe they fell in love too easily. But based on what they both wanted and
needed in their lives, it was very natural to bring them back together fairly
early in the story.
Q: How was the novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: One of the plot points, or conflicts, is that Andy is in danger of losing his father’s tuna fishing boat, the Blue Wonder, and doesn’t really understand why.
During a radio exchange with Captain Bob of the Fat Tuna, Andy states: “I hope
this isn’t my last day on the Blue Wonder.” I wrote that line before I had a
title, and that became the title. I never gave another thought to what the
title might be.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I am working on a novel wrapped around the current war
with Iran. I’m also having conversations with a retired four-star general and
an Army special forces officer about writing their biographies or collaborating
with them on their memoirs/autobiographies.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: My best work is still ahead, I think.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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