Banter with a Bomb Tech

Accountant by day...sniper, bomb tech, and FBI field agent arresting America's most wanted by night!

Okay, that's not one hundred percent accurate. Barry Black switched by weeks or months from his life as an FBI accountant tracking down financial crimes, to working as a sniper, bomb tech, and chasing down dangerous criminals. Growing up in Alabama, Barry ended up traveling the world, visiting seventy countries and working on every continent except Antarctica. He found himself at some of the major moments of America's modern history: Waco; the Atlantic Olympic bombing; the bombing at the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma in 1995; and weeks at Ground Zero in the near-aftermath of 9/11.

On the thirteenth episode of Step into a Story, I had the privilege of talking with Barry Black about his unusual path from accountant to sniper and bomb tech, about his experiences at bombings, the psychological impact of such a job and its impact on family, his decision to write the book about it, and more.

His readings included the capture of a serial killer at his family's farm house and being summoned away to the Maldives. The drinks prepared for his readings included The Farm, a cocktail full of red peppers and herbs, and a cocktail full of muddled mangoes! 

Barry has been inducted into the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Hall of Fame in addition to many other awards, and continues to teach and speak.

The best part about doing a podcast interviewing authors is all the amazing stories I've heard at Books & Brews and at Step into a Story. I've met one of the few men ever to climb the north face of Denali, a spy hunter, Cosmo's Mr. November who spent two years alone in Alaska with his sled dogs, England's queen of historical fiction, my favorite childhood author, a search and rescue pilot, a Hollywood writer, a man who went from barely attending school as a child as he traveled with his nomadic father to earning a Ph.D., a speaker and vocal coach to celebrities, a Canadian filmmaker, comedians, magicians, and more!

I've talked with and learned from amazing people about almost every subject under the sun. I've heard stories of women traveling around the entire United States with their children--in 1965; of kids who witnessed the opening shots of the Vietnam coup in 1963; of a man who was briefly captured by Chiang Kai-Shek at the age of 8; and to the son of the man who led The Forty Thieves of Saipan behind enemy lines in World War Two. I've talked with the man who wrote a book about the family who believes their ancestor knew exactly who Jack the Ripper really was.

I've talked with authors about travel, war, history, aliens, survival, fantasy world, vampires, magic, and so much more.

Join me as I talk with Barry Black at Step into a Story and then check out some of the 150+ other authors I've interviewed!

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