CHANTICLEER 10 QUESTION AUTHOR INTERVIEW SERIES
with Award-Winning Author, Ralph R. “Rick” Steinke
Hello friends, we have another fabulous interview for you today. Rick Steinke took home the 2023 Chanticleer Grand Prize in the Global Thriller Awards for his fascinating novel Jake Fortina and the Roman Conspiracy. Here, he tells us how his Jake Fortina character came to be and the subsequent heights it is now reaching! Take a minute or two and get familiar with Rick. You won’t be sorry!
Chanti: Your books go deep into international intrigue. How did you come to write such high stakes thrillers?
Steinke: I started writing when I was passed over for a senior US government service position that I coveted and thought I’d be a good fit for. Shortly thereafter, I began to write, and it was like pushing through an open door for me. I felt spiritually led in that direction and realized that I very much enjoyed writing!
Chanti: The thriller genre seems to fit right into your professional history, but they include so much more. Tell us about your military background and how you are able craft such authentic environments in your novels.
Steinke: Political and political-military, high stakes global thrillers best describe my genre and work to date. I also love to write suspense stories in general. My almost 42 years of combined service in the US Army and US Department of Defense, as well as 28 years of overseas service, led me to write in the global thriller and suspense genres. While writing is obviously about fiction, I try to keep my work as authentic as possible. As my stories also have US-European settings to them, I also like to write about local culture. Thus far, that has meant a lot of French and Italian culture.
Chanti: How do you come up with the trouble your character, Jake Fortina, faces in your novels?
Steinke: For now, I like the “ripped from the headlines approach,” focused on real world scenarios, particularly when they involve major US national and international security issues or interests. But I’ve also written about national security issues that I’ve come across in my professional experiences. I also try to feature certain professional groups that I’ve served with or interacted with during my public service, including the military, law enforcement, diplomatic, and intelligence communities, as well as US military noncommissioned officers (sergeants) and military families.
Chanti: With your background in the military, are you able to apply the same high discipline to your writing time?
Steinke: A full “writing day” is often a luxury, but I do my best to remain consistent, given the many family and travel opportunities throughout any given year. When traveling, I try to fit my writing into “downtime” as much as possible. I tend to always travel with my laptop, so most days – but not all days – allow for at least one and some days even two hours of writing. If I’m home, I try to get an early start, often rising around 5 a.m. and sometimes as early as 4 a.m., with the goal of getting in 3-4 hours or so of focused writing or editing. If I do much more than that in a day, I feel like I’m less effective.
Chanti: What do you do to grow your author chops? Do you have any authors you turn to learn from?
Steinke: For starters, I keep learning. I believe learning should be a proactive daily and lifelong process. I still occasionally let the passive voice creep into my writing, but thankfully I have an excellent editor who is attuned to it. My best writing investments were in three Master Classes, taught by James Patterson, Dan Brown, and Ken Follett. I would say my writing style tends more to James Patterson’s style than the latter two. I strive to keep my chapters relatively short (3-5 pages, on average) and crisp.
Chanti: What craft books have helped you the most?
Steinke: Without a doubt, Stephen King’s On Writing was the most consequential and revelational “craft book” for me. As Mr. King says, “Don’t write b—s—t.” That concisely sums up his style and wisdom!
Chanti: How do you relax when you aren’t writing? Tell us a little about your hobbies.
Steinke: I love spending time with my family, traveling the world with my wife Susan, going fly fishing, and participating in other outdoor activities like hiking and increasingly, pickleball. I’m trying to get in a bit more snow skiing but I’m not sure how much longer my body will stand up to the wear and tear of the ski slopes!
Chanti: What can we look forward to seeing next from you? Will Jake Fortina be taking on more terrorist groups?
Steinke: Change of Mission, the third book in the Jake Fortina series, was released last summer. Just like the first two books, Major Jake Fortina and the Tier One Threat and Jake Fortina and The Roman Conspiracy, this story is about an ordinary US Army officer who finds himself facing extraordinary national security threats. Thus far, thankfully, Change of Mission has been well received. In it, we follow Lieutenant Colonel Jake Fortina as he decides whether to continue with his same career path or make a change in his life’s mission. Meanwhile, he and his Italian bride, a Carabinieri officer, must confront a confluence of threats from Iranian extremists, as well as the Italian and Russian mafias.
I’m currently more than halfway through writing my fourth book, Vital Mission, A Jake Fortina Series Love Story. Jake Fortina will be called upon by a dear Ukrainian friend to help with the rescue of two Ukrainian children who were abducted from their bombed-out Ukrainian city and taken to Russia. This latest book in the Jake Fortina series is projected for publication in the July-September 2025 timeframe.
Chanti: What is the most important thing a reader can do for an author?
Steinke: Leave a review—and hopefully it will be a good one — on a major book selling or endorsing platform, such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, or Audible. In today’s social media world, authors live and die by readers’ reviews.
Chanti: What excites you most about writing?
Steinke: The conceptual challenge and the entire creative journey! It’s like putting a puzzle together, but you must first create the pieces from pretty much a blank slate… or a good outline! I also enjoy entertaining, educating, and even occasionally enlightening readers. I would like them to experience the organizations and professionals out there who keep the United States and our Allies safe, with much of their work done behind the scenes, while we sleep comfortably.
Ralph Richard “Rick” Steinke is the award-winning author of the Jake Fortina global thriller series, including Jake Fortina and the Roman Conspiracy, awarded the Grand Prize for 2023 in the Global Thriller – High Stakes category at the Chanticleer International Book Awards (the CIBAs) in April 2024. The Jake Fortina series, beginning with Major Jake Fortina and the Tier One Threat, was also selected as a Book Series Finalist at the CIBAs.Steinke has spent a lifetime in US national security roles, including twenty-eight years in the US Army and fourteen in the Department of Defense. His official duties have taken him from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to over thirty countries on the Eurasian landmass, including Afghanistan and Ukraine.
He holds master’s degrees in West European studies and diplomacy from Indiana and Norwich Universities, respectively, as well as post-graduation certificates in national and international security affairs from Harvard and Stanford Universities. His passions include faith, family, fly fishing, and travel.
The GLOBAL THRILLERS Book Awards recognizes emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Lab Lit and Global Thrillers. The GLOBAL THRILLERS Book Awards is a division of Chanticleer International Novel Book Awards and Writing Competitions. (The CIBAs)
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