Flight 3911 now on sale here and at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578844443
The Backstory of Flight 3911
The seeds of Flight 3911 were planted on November 1, 2001, at a media reception in New York celebrating the release of my first novel, Abuse of Process. The event was hosted by Randy Jones, founder of Worth Media, and attended by several notable guests, including actor Lorenzo Lamas of Falcon Crest, former CNN anchor Jan Hopkins, and internationally bestselling author Barbara Taylor Bradford.
The city was still raw with grief. Ground Zero continued to smolder. The shock of September 11th was fresh in every conversation, every expression, every breath. In that room, surrounded by writers, journalists, and public figures, the tragedy was not an abstract headline — it was a wound still open.
Barbara Taylor Bradford and I spent time discussing the writing life. She was gracious, encouraging, and generous with her advice. She congratulated me on my first novel and urged me to keep writing. With more than thirty books to her name, she spoke with the authority of someone who had lived the craft for decades.
As the evening went on, a small group of us — Lorenzo Lamas, Jan Hopkins, Randy Jones, and myself — began talking about the extraordinary courage shown by the passengers of United Flight 93. Todd Beamer’s now‑iconic words, “Let’s roll,” were still echoing across the nation. We found ourselves wondering aloud:
What might have happened if their attempt to retake the plane had succeeded?
That question stayed with me long after the reception ended. It followed me home. It grew roots.
From that conversation — in a city still grieving, among people still processing the unthinkable — the storyline for Flight 3911 was born.
Lorenzo Lamas with Billy Paul Smith