STEPHEN COONTS

How he started writing: 600k WAV audio file 2Mb QuickTime movie On his women readership: 200k WAV audio file 750k QuickTime movie Coonts' book Fortunes of War

ATLANTA (CNN) -- Stephen Coonts has come a long way since the days when he flew combat missions over Vietnam. He is now a best-selling author with a new book titled "Fortunes of War". He recently spoke with Miles O'Brien on CNN Sunday Morning about his new work, and about how he became a writer.

MILES O'BRIEN: Give us a plot synopsis of your latest work. I do not know if you saw our earlier guests this morning. They were talking about how future wars might be cyber wars. This one is a little more conventional in the fact that people are going after territory, right?

STEPHEN COONTS: That is correct. The plot presupposes a Japanese invasion of Siberia to gain the mineral wealth there. It is set ten years in the future. It is designed to allow us to put heroes in high-tech cockpits that are currently under development in the United States, and that might be developed by Japan in the future.

O'BRIEN: And part of this also plot includes the idea that Japan's economy is in trouble. Russia's economy is in trouble. And, apparently, Russia has given up its nuclear warheads? Is that part of it, too?

COONTS: Yes, indeed. What it presupposes is that the current trends will all continue unabated in the direction they are currently going for about 10 more years. The problems on the Pacific Rim, the economies in trouble ... Russia will continue to stagger along in trying to become an industrial power, and not quite making the gap. And the Russian military will continue to disintegrate.

O'BRIEN: Well, I am curious. As you write a book like this, are you trying to get people to sit up and take notice? Is it, in any way, a warning? Or is it just a good read?

COONTS: Well, hopefully, it is a good read and, in some small way, a warning. But I do intend to entertain. That's the whole name of this game.

O'BRIEN: What is universally accepted is your best ability is to relate the excitement of being at the stick of a high-performance aircraft. Tell me, obviously, it was easy for you to do the research there because you had flown so many missions. In this case, the F-22 -- just a few test pilots have gotten their hands on that one. How did you do it?

COONTS: I was fortunate enough to get down to Marietta, Georgia, to fly the F-22 cockpit concept demonstrator, which is a nonmotion simulator. It allowed me to see how the airplane is going to fly, how fast it is, and how the electronic suite is going to find an enemy aircraft, and how the pilot is going to keep track of his tactical situation, engage enemies with his weapons, and so on. So that was the basis of experience. Because I wanted to see what the airplanes of the future would be like before I even attempted to write about it.

O'BRIEN: Were they reluctant to let you do that? Were they concerned you might give away some secrets?

COONTS: No, this motion simulator is part of the political push to get the F-22 funding that is going to be necessary to get this program completed all the way through -- get the airplanes in the Air Force inventory.

O'BRIEN: So, you were part of the PR campaign?

COONTS: Well, I was allowed to see what various congressmen and staffers from congressional committees see. When I would ask a classified question, I would not be given the answer.

O'BRIEN: They would kind of look sheepish and tell you to go away?

COONTS: Yeah.

O'BRIEN: It has been said your books exclude a large body of people. I do know, for example, your books are predominantly read by men. Do you try to include women in the fun, at all?

COONTS: Oh, yeah. In fact, I would take issue with (the idea of readers being) predominantly men. I used to think it was about an 80-20 split, male/female. But now so many women write to me and talk to me and tell me they have read and enjoy action/adventure and my stories, that I think there is a larger and larger female audience out there.

O'BRIEN: Tell us a brief story on how you got in to writing. You flew in Vietnam, but then you went into other areas. And then by a certain twist of fate, you ended up writing. Tell the story.

COONTS: Well, I was a lawyer practicing for an oil company as an in-house counsel in the mid-'80s when I got a divorce. And for the first time in my life had plenty of time and no money. And so I sat down to write this novel that I had always wanted to write and never before had the time to write. I got the manuscript finally completed. It was rejected by 34 publishers. And then it was finally picked up by the Naval Institute Press, a little academic publisher that had done a small short story by this fellow named Clancy called "The Hunt for Red October".

And they were looking for another novel. This book, finally, got published. And, amazingly enough, became a huge bestseller, 28 weeks on the best-seller list. So when I got laid off by my oil company, about four months later, I decided to try to make a living telling lies. And so far I'm eating pretty regular.

O'BRIEN: And five bestsellers to follow. We like to ask our authors what they like to read in their spare time.

COONTS: Well, I read history when I am writing. Of course, I read a lot of the so-called military action/adventure techno thrillers. But right now I am working on Taylor Branch's new one "Pillar of Fire." And it is really good.