The Knucklehead of Silicon Valley looks like a great thriller with spy and espionage elements. Will this be a series by any chance?
Yes. The book’s publisher bought two books from me based on the characters. The second book is ~67% complete and takes place in the thirty days immediately following the conclusion of the first Knucklehead book. As apparently there has been some early interest from Hollywood studios, the publisher has asked for more car chases, explosions and love scenes in Book 2.Ralph is an interesting character. Can you tell us a little about him?Ralph Gibsen isn’t your typical spy. In fact, he may not be a spy at all. He's older, lumpy, blundering and abysmal at chatting up the fairer sex. Yet, he is attracting a significant amount of attention from the worldwide intelligence community. After all, as a 30-year Silicon Valley mainstay, he can phish your passwords, bust firewalls, and has developed software used by millions to circumvent government censorship. And now, he thinks he has stumbled upon a tech cabal who is pushing to misuse his own technology to create a weapon of mass persuasion.
What inspired you when writing The Knucklehead of Silicon Valley?I started writing adventure missives when I first moved overseas at the age of 25. Long distance phone calls were terribly expensive, so I’d type my missives onto a single page and fax them to friends and family. My imaginary friend (Ralph - from when I was four years old) became my stories’ protagonist. This was so I could tell risque/knuckleheaded/dangerous stories about my adventures travelling the world, without worrying my mother. A few years ago, when my mother was passing due to Parkinsons, she asked me to connect all of these stories into a narrative arc and publish a novel.
Almost all of the Knucklehead story and ideas are real life experiences with some added embellishment. I’ve traveled 7.3 million airline miles and lived outside the US for more than 12 years. I work as a venture capitalist and many of these new tech ideas used in the novel are companies I am currently involved or invested in.
Did anything stick out as particularly challenging when writing The Knucklehead of Silicon Valley?
The writing was fun. The process of finding a literary agent and publisher was maddening. The process is arcane, silly and bound to be disrupted. Ten years from now, there will only be a handful of agents for diaper-wearing writers and dusty-old-school publishers.
What do you like to do when not writing?
Just like the protagonist in the Knucklehead story, I take great pleasure in continuously learning and laughing. They are worthy pursuits.
Where can readers find out more about your work?
Your local bookstore is probably best. They can order it for you. Or try https://www.amazon.com/Knucklehead-Silicon-Valley-Craig-Vachon/dp/1947521136/
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