Sunday Morning News

CNN Executive Producer Becomes Bestselling Author

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, lots of journalists dream of writing the great American novel, myself included. Often those manuscripts end up forgotten in some drawer in circular file, perhaps.

But that's not the case with Dan Silva, a man who made the leap from CNN executive producer to best selling author. His latest is "The Kill Artist," which already is number 26 on "The New York Times" top 30 list and has been given four and a half out of five stars by Amazon.com. I'll give it five stars based on what I've read so far. It's a great read.

Dan Silva is here with us. Good to -- welcome home.

DANIEL SILVA, "THE KILL ARTIST": Thank you. It's good to be home.

O'BRIEN: And it's good to have you here. It's a fun read. Are you having a ball?

SILVA: I am having a ball. It gets, I thought it would get easier to write books as it went on, but it does get harder. You put more pressure on yourself with each one. It doesn't get any easier. But it is a lot of fun.

O'BRIEN: Because you're trying to live up to expectations all of a sudden?

SILVA: You have expectations. You want top try to get, write better. You edit yourself a little bit harder. It's sort of like a golfer who just can't quite go for the flag anymore. It changes as it goes on, but it's a lot of fun.

O'BRIEN: I guess it's a lot different than getting in front of the computer screen sort of in between engagements at CNN with no expectations for it even being published, right?

SILVA: It was a labor of love, that first novel. It was something I did in the morning before going into work, just, I had reached that point at CNN where I wasn't writing anymore. I needed a creative outlet and that was "The Unlikely Spy" and it changed my life.

O'BRIEN: To say the least.

SILVA: To say the least.

O'BRIEN: All right, give us the, if you can give us a 30 second plot synopsis, if you will. It's a twisting turning plot. We're not going to do it justice here, there's no question about it.

SILVA: We shall try.

O'BRIEN: But it has a cast of characters including Yasser Arafat fictionalized.

SILVA: It's a story set in the indeterminate near future about the Middle East and a Palestinian terrorist who used to be a ally of Yasser Arafat sets out to destroy the peace process. Israeli intelligence wants to counter that and keep that from happening so they bring back an old assassin named Gabriel Elan (ph), who also happens to be one of the world's finest restorers of old master art, thus the title "The Kill Artist." And it goes from there.

And it's, what makes it interesting is that this manhunt is essentially set in a London art gallery, so it's a lot of fun.

O'BRIEN: It's an interesting juxtaposition. All right, now, in reading it, I can see where you draw upon your career at CNN for some source material. You worked in the Middle East, as well. But the art aspect of it, is that just something you happened upon or has that always been a passion of yours or...

SILVA: Art has always been a passion of mine. Art has crept into all four of the novels. But I happen to live around the corner from one of the world's best art restorers. His name is David Bull (ph). He is a friend of mine. And as I was walking down the street in Georgetown trying to figure out how to bring this character to life, what wrinkle can I add to his character, my wife said, you know, you have dinner -- we have a dinner engagement tonight with David Bull. Bingo. There it was.

O'BRIEN: And there it was.

SILVA: And he took me into the lab at the National Gallery. He taught me how to restore a painting, let me wander through his life a little bit and that gave birth to this character.

O'BRIEN: And so you sort of alluded to it, you do a fair amount of research. I mean some will tell you they just draw from, pluck from the depths of their soul and make it up. You do a fair amount sort of journalistic style?

SILVA: I do a fair amount journalistic style. I want to get, I'm not an exhaustive, exhaustive researcher, but I want to get just enough so that I can create verisimilitude, so I can make you believe the lie and then let the imagination take over from there.

O'BRIEN: Well, tell me this, you say this verisimilitude, you have some people reading your books who know the real deal. It's in "Vaunted Places." Let's take a look at this particular fan of yours. That would be the former President of the United States... SILVA: The big guy.

O'BRIEN: ... who is reading your book, a thriller set in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and he gives it a -- well, we don't have an actual review from him.

SILVA: We don't have a...

O'BRIEN: Did you ask him for a blurb?

SILVA: No, I didn't ask him for a blurb.

O'BRIEN: What's that like when you know it's being read by the people who know whether you're faking it?

SILVA: Abject terror. Abject terror because he's arguably one of the most important statesmen in the history of this conflict and I just hope he finds it entertaining.

O'BRIEN: All right, and in a nutshell, are you enjoying the success? Do you miss anything about this room?

SILVA: Of course I miss things about this room. I sit in front of my television during breaking news and yell at it because I want to be producing.

O'BRIEN: Which is exactly what a producer's job is, folks.

SILVA: Yell at the TV.

O'BRIEN: In case you didn't know.

SILVA: It's very simple.

O'BRIEN: Usually it's in my ear. All right, listen, Daniel Silva, congratulations on your continued success.

SILVA: Thank you very much.

O'BRIEN: It's a great read.

SILVA: Thank you so much.

O'BRIEN: Thanks for coming by. The latest book from Daniel Silva, "The Kill Artist," an instant best seller, as they say in the trade, on the charts with a bullet. All right, thanks again for coming by.

SILVA: Thank you.

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