"The Profession: A Thriller" by Steven Pressfield

Jeff Glor talks to Steven Pressfield about "The Profession."

Jeff Glor: What inspired you to write the book?

Steven Pressfield: I've been obsessed with issues of empire for years; a trip to Afghanistan made me think for the first time about our American empire and where it might be, a generation from now. That hooked me.

JG: What surprised you the most during the writing process?

SP: I've never written something set in the future. The whole book crashed halfway through. I had to go back to the drawing board and really study the thriller genre and the sci-fi genre--and invent an amalgam of my own. Not easy!

JG: What would you be doing if you weren't a writer?

SP: I'd be the world's lousiest (and most irritable) plumber.

JG: What else are you reading right now?

SP: I just finished Yael Dayan's "Israel Journal June 1967." Great: should be a movie. And another very similar love story set in the North African desert, Lady Hermione Ranfurly's "To War With Whittaker." Are those obscure enough?!

JG: What's next for you?

SP: I'm superstitious and never talk about stuff till it's done. But thanks for asking!