It was important to him that the characters were authentic.

Mostly the things that the government is concerned with in the world where I worked is where they are and what they do in that place, so I just changed the place.” “I’ve changed it enough so that nobody will have a problem, but I’ve kept it the same enough that it’s absolutely authentic. “A lot of the details I can’t say, and a lot of the details I’ve changed in the book,” said Bill. While sitting down to write, he was surprised by how many things he had done in his lifetime that could easily be added into the story. His job, which he said often turned adventurous, took him all around the world and threw him into intelligence situations that eventually turned into chapters in his book. “One is don’t quit your day job, and the second is to write what you know. “There are two cardinal rules in being a writer,” said Bill. This day-to-day thought process eventually inspired him to begin his book. As part of his job, he had to imagine potential security situations and figure out how to prepare for them. He began writing Nonofficial Asset, a thriller about a security expert on the hunt for a stolen nuclear weapon in the Middle East, while he was working on a security project in Abu Dhabi. “If they only knew the day-to-day they’d think, ‘Oh my God,’” added Bill. “To Bill it’s not all that unusual, but to other people it’s fascinating,” said Nancy. Nancy, who also worked in the intelligence community, knew that Bill’s knowledge would make a compelling novel because of his natural storytelling ability. “I would go ‘Wow! Nobody knows these things that’s not what most people experience in their life, you need to write them down!’ I think in some ways it gave him the confidence to make it into an actual book.” “It was interesting because when I first met Bill he would tell me some of these stories that he had personally experienced, and to him it was normal,” said his wife Nancy.

Sewell, previously a systems and security designs specialist for the government, began his novel in 2009 after his wife suggested he put his experiences on paper. But the wink in his eye said differently. William Sewell, the author of the new international spy mystery novel Nonofficial Asset, was never a “spy,” he said. This article was previously published in Peninsula People…īill Sewell, author of Nonofficial Asset, mined his experiences as a security specialist Photoīill Sewell will be signing his book, Nonofficial Asset, at the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore at 2810 Artisia Blvd on Saturday November 3 from 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. Bill Sewell sits in his cottage office in Palos Verdes Estates where he finished writing his first novel, Nonofficial Asset.

Nonofficial Asset by William Sewell