Q&A With Jeff Ayers 

Happy New Year! To start off 2025, I’m delighted to be doing this Q&A with Jeff Ayers who is one half of the pen name A.J. Landau, his other half who writes under that name is Jon Land. The novels they’ve written together are Leave No Trace, which came out in 2024, and the ones coming out this year are Leave No Trace in Paperback & Cold Burn! I know I can’t wait to read them! 

Q: Jeff, would you please give a brief description of each of your novels and where the ideas for them came from? I enjoy reading mysteries! What made you & Jon want to write them?

A:  My first book is a guide to Star Trek novels that I wrote for Simon and Schuster, Voyages of Imagination, and I’ve been hooked on writing ever since. I had a SWAT thriller set in a library called Long Overdue and a co-authored YA titled The Fourth Lion that both came out from small presses, but the dream was to write fiction and be from one of the big five publishers. I had the idea of writing a thriller about the National Parks for a while, and I wrote a complete outline and tried a couple of drafts. When I asked for beta readings, they responded, “It’s boring,” or “This doesn’t work.” I asked Jon Land for advice since I knew he would be honest with what I needed to do to make my “Die Hard in the National Parks” idea work. He said, “You need to blow up the Statue of Liberty on page one.” He was right. We talked more; the next thing I knew, we had written the first fifty pages together. I gave those pages to my agent, and he loved it. Fast forward three months, and we had a two-book deal with Minotaur.

Q: Jeff, how did you and Jon meet and become friends and co-authors? When you both work on a novel, do you write one chapter, and Jon writes another chapter? 

A: I’ve been a fan of Jon Land’s books since 1987 when I discovered The Doomsday Spiral, his debut novel. At the first ThrillerFest in New York, he was the author I was most excited to meet, and we became fast friends. When ITW announced that Sandra Brown was editing an anthology, Love Is Murder, in 2012, Jon and I pitched separate stories. The person helping Sandra contacted us both and asked if we would consider writing a story together, and the result was Last Shot. Writing with him reinforced our friendship, and we talked often, helping each other with our various projects and hoping that someday we would get to write together again. 

We talk out the entire story on Zoom in fifty-page chunks, and Jon quickly writes it out, leaving blank spots in the narrative like (need detail of the setting here) or (need to flesh this out a bit). I edit and fill in the blank spots, then he edits. A couple of passes between us, and we move on to the following fifty pages. 

Q: What lessons & emotions do you hope readers learn and feel after reading your work?

A: I hope readers will love our characters as they go on a rollercoaster ride through various National Parks. My favorite books are page-turners, and they also provide an opportunity to learn, so each chapter of an A.J. Landau’s novel opens with a fact about the setting of that chapter. The series was also designed to be a love letter to the exceptional individuals who comprise the National Park Service and the National Parks. Readers have told us how much they have learned about the NPS and reading Leave No Trace made them want to visit these locations we cover. Expect the same in Cold Burn.

Q: What made you and Jon write under the pen name of A.J. Landau? What is your advice for anyone wanting to co-author a novel with someone else whether it’s with a family member, a friend, or a spouse?

A: The publisher wanted one name for cataloging purposes, telling us it was easier to find one name than two on bookstore and library shelves. We also discussed not having our names associated with the project and having the identity of A.J. Landau is a mystery. I’m glad Jon and I can tell everyone that it’s us. 

I am a massive advocate of co-writing, but some elements must be considered. Writing is challenging, so find someone who can be yourself, be honest, and, most importantly, leave your ego at the door. I can’t say how often we would hit a roadblock in the story and have an answer that the other person didn’t like. Rather than fight, we would sit on it for a couple of days and devise a third option that was better than the other two. The story is key, but the relationship is more important, so being honest with each other and leaving egos out of the writing is critical to success. The cliché that two heads are better than one works.

Q: Can you reveal any details about what you are writing right now whether it’s with Jon under the A.J. Landau name and/or by yourself?

A: Cold Burn comes out in April and will take Michael and Gina to The Everglades in Florida and Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. Here is some news for your readers: Book three is a go, and Jon Land cannot write with me this time due to a significant project taking up all his time. I am writing with a new co-author, and I’m excited to work with this person and continue these National Park thrillers. Michael Walker’s life is about to “erupt.”

I’m also one-half of J.B. Abbott with my friend, author Brian Tracey, and our cozy mystery, Picking Up the Pieces: A Jigsaw Puzzle Mystery, comes out from Crooked Lane in August. 

My family is concerned for me since I have all these other names with which I’m living. 

Q: Has Hollywood gotten the right to your work yet? Who would be your dream cast to play the characters you & Jon created? 

A: A film/TV agency has the series, so we hope that in 2025, a possible deal will happen. From the initial idea to becoming a physical book, the actor to play Michael Walker has always been in my mind, Kristoffer Polaha. I had the opportunity to have Kristoffer read Leave No Trace, and he gave us this terrific blurb: 

“Landau’s monumental debut novel brings us a brand-new action hero who will easily make the jump onto the big screen. I can already hear Hollywood calling to set up the next big franchise. Landau weaves in historical information about the national monuments, making this book both a seat-clutching, thrill ride and an education. I’m in!” ―Kristoffer Polaha, actor and author

Q: I see that you live in Seattle. It’s a state I would love to see one day! Where are your favorite places in Washington? Can you describe them to me as though they were scenes in a book you wrote?

A: It’s fun writing with someone who lives across the country! Zoom has made a vast difference in making talking and organizing our writing easier.

I live near three National Parks: Mount Rainier, Olympic, and North Cascades. When writing about these locations, opportunities to work with Park Rangers and NPS staff in the parks make a difference. Standing in one of these locations, with nothing but the sound of nature surrounding you, a stunning view of mountains or waterfalls rejuvenates your soul.

When my family went to Zion National Park in Utah for the first time, we arrived at night. I got up and looked out from our lodge window the following day. My wife found me in almost a catatonic state, staring at the park landscape from our room, and asked if I was okay. I responded, “This must be what heaven looks like.”

Q: For future authors who want to write mysteries, deal with unsupportive people who don’t support their writing and have any self-doubt, what advice do you have for them regarding all three?

A: If you want to write, don’t be discouraged. Find a group of writers and form a critique group. (Writing organizations and local writer conferences are a great place to look). Find someone who will be brutally honest about your writing, and don’t take the feedback personally. Keep writing and keep improving. Most of all, be patient. The publishing world is slow, and nothing happens overnight, so don’t stop and wait to see what happens when you have finished a manuscript. Start something new while you are waiting.