When Eisler moved to Tokyo to train in judo, all this material building up in his mind was "like dry tinder, waiting for the spark which life in Tokyo came to provide. Because while I was there commuting to work one morning, a vivid image came to me of two men following another man down Dogenzaka street in Shibuya. I still don't know where the image came from, but I started thinking about it. Who are these men? Why are they following that other guy? Then answers started to come: They're assassins. They're going to kill him. But these answers just let to more questions: why are they going to kill him? What did he do? Who do they work for? It felt like a story, somehow, so I started writing, and that was the birth of John Rain and Rain Fall.

"What's strange, and probably fortuitous, is that I didn't move to Japan with intention or even idea of writing a novel there. I actually just went to train in judo at the Kodokan, to learn Japanese, and to experience first-hand a country and culture that I found fascinating. I think what happened is that living in Tokyo, which for me was a love-at-first-sight experience, catalyzed and expanded on a number of notions that were already lurking in my unconscious."

I asked Eisler about his literary influences.

"I love Trevanian, whose killers Nicolai Hel (in Shibumi) and Jonathan Hemlock (in The Eiger Sanction and The Loo Sanction) are sympathetic in part because they are superior human beings--superior in intellect, taste, and culture. Andrew Vachss, with his dark, gritty Burke novels and hard-boiled atmosphere, has also been an influence. Pat Conroy and Dave Gutterson have inspired me with the lyricism of their prose. The cadences and imagery of T.S. Eliot and Cormac McCarthy are certainly influences, as well. Stephen King has inspired me with his humor and honesty, and his admonition that the author's job is to tell the truth."

In his thrillers, Eisler favors "realistic action and tradecraft; exotic locations; compelling characters; current political backstory; and steamy sex. There are three general ways to get to know someone's character: time, stress, and sex. In a novel, you don't have time, meaning you need an accelerant, and that leaves you with sex or stress. Violence is one of the most stressful experiences we humans can face, which is why violence can be such a powerful tool in stories. But sex is also enormously revealing, which is why the biblical euphemism that Abraham knew Sarah is so apt."

In addition to his writing acumen, Eisler is also known to both established and aspiring writers as a fount of wisdom on the business side of publishing.

"Oh man, this is a huge and vital subject and I could go on about it for pages. Actually, I have gone on about it for pages, and for anyone who's interested in my thoughts on on all aspects of marketing and selling, including creating and maintaining a brand; how to get the most out of social networking sites like MySpace and FaceBook; how to choose a winning title (something I've learned the hard way); how to implement an effective and cost-effective tour; how to package a book; the sales cycle; how to recruit your publisher; and why you should see yourself not just as a writer but also as an entrepreneur, you find a lot on the For Writers pages of my website (www.barryeisler.com)."

I like to hear about the typical writing day of successful authors, and asked Eisler about his

"I wish there were typical days! I just write when I can--promotion is a huge part of the business. I find there's a ratio between thinking and writing, and when I'm just getting started on a book, the ratio is skewed heavily toward thinking, but as the story progresses and I figure things out, I can write more and need to think less. By the time I've reached the last ten percent of the book, I've discovered the whole story out and it's pure writing--an electrifying feeling, like I've grabbed the back of a comet and am struggling just to hang on.

"So at the start of things, I spend a lot time walking and thinking, and a 500 word day feels great. In the middle, I feel comfortable with 1000 or so and I'm spending more time in front of the computer. 2000 always feels good. By the last third of the book, my average gets closer to 3000 and I'm spending close to eight hours a day writing, with sanity breaks mixed in here and there. The most I've ever written in a day (22 straight hours), with my fingers a blur and my hair on fire, was 8200--the last two of which, not coincidentally, were 'The End.'"

Eisler's first stand alone thriller, Fault Line, is about to hit, and gave him the chance to use more of his background.

"Fault Line draws on the same CIA experience I used in writing the Rain books, but also incorporates my subsequent life as a technology attorney and startup executive in Silicon Valley. It was hugely satisfying to use my time in intelligence to craft the character of Ben Treven, a 'Military Liaison Element' (Google this if you want to read a fascinating and underreported story) tasked to 'find, fix, and finish' Global War on Terror targets. And it was equally pleasing to use my time in law and technology to shape Ben's younger brother, Alex, an ambitious, up-and-coming Silicon Valley technology lawyer and Ben's opposite in experience, temperament, and worldview.

"Much as I've loved writing all the Rain books, it was a special delight to create an entirely new universe of characters in Fault Line. Not just Ben and Alex, but also the beautiful, conflicted Iranian-American attorney Sarah Hosseini, whose presence exacerbates the brothers' caustic resentments and who becomes the fulcrum around which all three of them must change if they're to survive the forces they're up against--and to survive each other.

I'm excited by several traditional genre elements in this story: realistic operator tactics and action (again, drawing on my own CIA experience); exotic locations (the world of Silicon Valley venture capital and high tech law, and Istanbul, which like all the locations I use in my novels I visited for onsite research); sexual antagonism, and fulfillment, between one of the brothers and Sarah.

"But it's the non-genre elements that have me most fired up about this book: the tortured relationship between the brothers; the effect on a culture of a permanent state of war; the events that tear families apart, and the ties that hold them together. Fault Line is my most ambitious book yet, and I think my most successful. I had a blast writing it and hope my first standalone will be a hit with Rain fans and with new readers, too."

James Scott Bell is the author of Deceived (Zondervan) and Try Darkness (Hachette/Center Street), as well as two bestselling books on the craft of fiction. His website is www.jamesscottbell.com