Your Happy Hour - The Stack Series ~ "Flying into Darkness” ft. Don Vallee

Episode Date: September 20, 2026

Welcome to The Stack Series! ✨The Stack Series features new books and emerging authors sharing their stories, inspirations, and journeys with us. In this special episode, we celebrate the launch of a new book into the world written by author Don Vallee who shares his unexpected journey from IT professional to published author, discussing the inspiration behind his novel 'Flying into Darkness,' the writing process, and tips for aspiring authors.Check out more about the book here.🎧 Stay tuned for stories that inspire, uplift, and spark your abundant life!The Stack Series is produced by swartkat.co - captured via riverside.fm & shared via rss.com.

And we're back with another feels episode and we're on the feels podcast and a very specific and special series called the Stack series, which is all about authors celebrating new books in the world. And I'm very, very excited today to have an author with me that has just published his new book and it's called Flying Into Darkness. And so a big, big welcome to you, Don Valley to the field space. the Stack series and yeah just to the Fields podcast overall. Thanks for having me. Of course. It's so lovely to have you and you're in a place where I've been and it's so wonderful to be able to chat to people around the world and you're in Austin, Texas, right?

So you're feeling all the, all the heat there, but it's it's a it's good to feel that kind of I guess adrenaline and rush while you're also enjoying your first publication out there in the world. So a huge congratulations on that. Oh, thank you. I'd love for you to just take us in a little bit of a journey today and like into your what it's been like to become an author. And where did this book find you? How did you find it?

It's kind of surreal having something published because I never imagined I would ever publish a book. But, you know, it's the story is going to go like most stories during COVID. You know, my wife and I were home. We were bored because things were shut down. And my wife said, oh, I think I'll write a book. And I said, that's a good idea. Maybe I'll write one too. So we both sat down at our laptops.

And 20 minutes later, my wife's like, oh, no, I don't feel like doing this. It's like, but I started writing a story. And my story was about how I, got into flying airplanes. So I started writing the first chapter and read it, and I thought, well, this is boring who's going to want to read about someone learning how to fly? And I started thinking about it. And like my character in the novel, I'm a huge fan of true crime, you know, Dateline, 2020, all those crime series on Investigation Discovery Channel. And I decided, well, maybe I'll write a book. about a serial killer.

So I went back and I just started typing. And I really didn't know where the story was going to lead to, but I just typed and had a yellow legal pad alongside me. And I just started taking notes as I typed, writing down character names. And it just went from there. I mean, I don't really know where the story came from, just that it came.

I think a lot of authors say that to me. It's kind of like it just, it's there and it wants to be in the world, and you get to kind of witness it and write it as you see it and experience it. Yeah, I think that's what it was. And like I said, I wanted to write about flying because I'm a pilot, and I really enjoy flying airplanes. But again, I thought it'd be boring, just writing about something like that. So there's a lot of my life in the book.

other than being a serial killer and murders and all that. I was going to be sure, yeah. Even in the first chapter on how my character gets into flying really happened to me, except I switched it up a little bit, but I lived in Albany, New York. My first wife was from Long Island, and her father was sick with cancer. And we were actually driving from Albany to Long Island. I don't know, almost every weekend. And one of the trips my ex-wife looked at me and said,

too bad you didn't know how to fly, we would get here a lot faster. And within a week, I was enrolled in flight school. And that's sort of in the book, except I switched it around some. But yeah, and when I started writing the book before it became a thriller, that was in there, the true story of it, but then I changed it. to meet the narrative of a serial killer. So, yeah, there's a lot of true stuff in that book. That's amazing.

And it's always fascinating to me, like, what are the inspirations, the catalyst, the moments in your life from different people, places, or spaces that lead you onto a path? And you might never have thought you're going to be writing a book about this one day, you know, so. Not at all. I mean, I'm a former, you know, IT person. I was a data architect and I built data warehouses.

I'm not an author by any means. Well, I guess I am now because I'm published, but I didn't start out as one. I just thought it'd be something to do. Like I said, during COVID. And as I was writing it, it started to become fun if that kind of makes sense. And I just really, I don't know, it was just fun. And it just fell onto the paper.

And, you know, I'd go back and change things, you know, fixed timelines or change character names because I didn't like a character's name. But yeah, it just flowed from there. And it's funny, my main characters, Evan and Jenna in the book, are actually my nieces and nephews names. And I always like saying Evan and Jenna, Evan and Jenna just, I don't know, I just flowed off the tongue. So I named my characters Evan and Jenna with a different last name, obviously.

I just liked the way that sounded together, Evan and Jenna. Yeah, so that's where that came from. I love that you've kind of drawn on inspiration and moments in your life and characters. And I'm curious what it felt like for you writing. Like you said, it fell into the pages. But like, did you sit every day? Did you have a routine? How did that look?

Almost every day. Not hours every day. You know, like you said, we're in Austin. and my wife and I are fortunate to have our own pool. So we spent a lot of time in the pool. But also when I was in the pool, you know, I'd do my laps or whatever. And the last half hour in the pool, I'd sit on a float with a beer, you know, to cool down. And while I was sitting on the float is when things would pop into my head.

So when I got out of the pool, came inside, I would start writing that stuff down. And again, because I'm not a trained author, you know, I, you know, I didn't take journalism in school. You know, I was an IT person. I had trouble getting it in order. So that's why I had the legal pad next to me just to keep track of what I was writing so I could go back and straighten it out. But it took, it didn't take as long as I thought. It took about three or four months to write the book. And then I put it aside.

I just, I had my wife reading it, obviously, and she kind of liked the story. I had her sister reading it, and she kind of liked the story. And then a friend of mine, an ex-collegiate of mine that I worked with in Albany, I had her reading it, and she became my editor. So she would actually do the editing, correct spellings, or even make suggestions. It's like, would someone who's, you know, a psychopath really do this? or would he do this?

Because, again, I'm not a trained psychiatrist either. So, you know, it's just stuff that I gleaned off of, you know, watching true crime shows is how I built the character. But I pushed it aside and it sat alone on a bookshelf for five years. It just sat there. I never thought about it again. Yeah. And they?

What a cliff hang there. And then? And then my daughter who lives in Connecticut, she's her and her husband and my two granddaughters, they've been doing like rehab homes. So they've been moving a bit from house to house. So the granddaughters don't really have a true home. So she wrote a little children's book.

It's only like 12 pages long. It's very simple book and put it out on Amazon. And I'm like, well, geez, she published her book. maybe I should publish mine. And over those five years, my sister-in-law, my friend would ask me, you know, what did you do with that book? What did you do with that book? So I pulled it off the shelf and I dusted it off.

And then I revised it. The first version in the prologue, young Evan only wounded his father. He didn't actually kill him. It was his father that died and Evan was going back to Long Island to help his mother. Well, I revised that, and I changed it to Evan actually killed his father, and it was his mother who was dying. And then he had to go back to Long Island to take care of her estate, sell her home. And that's what separated him from Jenna. And then, yeah, and then I just started looking for publishers and couldn't find anyone that was really interested.

And I don't think, I think it's because I wasn't a known honest. author. So I think a lot of these, they just, you know, this is nobody, they didn't even bother reading it. So then I went to self-publishing route and I found Parker publishing and, you know, paid a little bit of money for them to publish it. And it's just taken off from there. I mean, it's, I know, I've had plenty of people read us saying, oh, this would make a great movie. It's like, well, now I've got to figure out how I can get it to be a movie, especially since it's about airplanes, you know, John Travolta, Tom Cruise, they're both pilots. I get them.

But I don't know how to do that. I'm sure the right stars were aligned, you know, and I think taking a book into a script is often quite much easier than one expect. So I agree. I feel like it would be a great movie, and I really appreciated reading it. And also, like you said, the chapters and the timeline, and there's something very, like, it's like deeply simple and easy to follow, you know. Yeah.

And when I dusted it off and went back, that's when I started adding the timeline so readers could keep track of when things were happening. You know, so, you know, at the top of each chapter has the date and maybe even the time of day just so they could follow. And I wanted to keep it simple. My wife and I read a lot of books, and we get frustrated with writers who do a lot of flourishing or even use. what I call Ivy League words where what the heck does that mean I can get out a dictionary and look it up I didn't want to do that I wanted it to be simple and fast I just wanted people to be able to just read it through you know you probably notice there isn't a lot of extra flourishing it's just a straightforward read and I did that and I went you know like high school

students 16 year olds all the way up to nursing home residents to be able to sit there and read the book and enjoy it. Yeah, I was going to ask you kind of what do you, what would you love your audience, your readership, you know, to feel and take away from the book that's maybe something you experienced when you were writing it or? Oh, geez, that's that's a good question. I never really thought about it. I just want them to really just enjoy the story. And, and I think, you know, going back to the movie thing, I think it's kind of cinematic. So I think people as they read it, I can actually picture what's going on. And almost like when you're watching a movie, you just enjoy,

it just enjoy how the story is unfolding. And hopefully I keep the readers wanting to read the next chapter to see what's going to happen next. I love that. Yes, I feel that. And I also feel like, because it's such a, I mean, the premise might not happen as often. Maybe there is a story, true story out there like that.

of someone flying. Who knows? What? There is one, you know, the butcher baker out of Alaska, right? He, he would take prostitutes and fly them into remote areas of Alaska and hunt them down like they were animals. And that's a true story. And that's not where I got my inspiration from. Like I said, I just wanted to write about myself. But I wanted to incorporate. flying. And that's where in the book, you know, I mentioned this organization called Angel Wings. Well, it's based on a real organization that I actually flew for where, you know, I volunteered my time and my airplane and fuel because as a private pilot you can't get paid

and fly, you know, patients that had to go for treatments, long distances that couldn't afford to fly commercially or weren't able to. I incorporated. I incorporated. I incorporated that my book because I needed a way to have Evan flying to all these cities that kill. I mean, there had to be a reason, not just he got an airplane and flew off. So I incorporated angel wings, and that's not what it's called in real life. It's similar. And then I thought it'd make the character complex, too, because here he is helping people, but he's also killing people. although he thinks he's on an honorable mission, right?

I mean, his mission is, you know, he thinks he's honoring or avenging all these married men. It's kind of giving me like Dexter vibes, you know, for the series Dexter. I don't know if you ever watched it. Oh, my God, my wife and I, that was our favorite series. And then they have the new ones that are out. And, yeah, we really love Dexter. Yeah, yeah. And, well, yeah, Dexter is a serial killer, but he was killing criminals.

Evan isn't killing criminals, per se, although in his mind, the women are criminals, right? Because they're staining, in his mind, they're staining their marriages, right? They're, yeah. And where that came from, I have no idea. I really don't know why, you know, the wife cheating on Evan. And like I said, I just started typing. The story just started coming. And I think I got that truly from watching my true crime shows because there's a lot of

especially this one show called Snap. It's always about a wife who kills her husband, right? I think that's where that came from. But like I said, it was just fun. I wanted to write a fun book. You know, some people might think, well, the book about murders isn't really fun. It's like, well, you know, it's real life. It happens.

And I try to make it fun or try to make it interesting, I guess I should say. Yeah. And I think it's a really relevant topic. You know, I think a lot of this kind of the emotions are out there. These things are being felt by people, you know. And everyone is kind of reacting to them differently in the world. And obviously, you know, our main characters chose in one root. Well, with the digital age, too, right?

With the digital age, I mean, it's so easy for people to do these things. You know, in my book, it's called Bored Wives, but I got that from a true site called Ashley Madison. I don't know if you ever heard of Ashley Madison, and I heard of it because it was on the news several years ago where there was a data breach. And, you know, all these people were worried because Ashley Madison was actually a site geared towards married people. people, right? It's for married people to have affairs, you know, discreetly. And that's where my board wives came from, except that I wanted to gear towards the woman to give Evan a reason to go out and do what he was doing. It's fascinating how things find us and how a lot of things that we've seen and absorbed in our lives kind of come together in accumulation of a compilation

of writing, you know, in that way. And how do you feel like the book has changed you? Like just the process of writing, you think of who you were before and now after? It's strange because, you know, now if I Google my name, you know, first thing that comes up is the book. And to see the book and go out on Amazon or Barnes & Noble and all these other sites that it's available on, it's just, it's just, I don't know, it seems strange. And then, you know, on Amazon, it's got like a 4.6 or 4.7 rating right now. And I read some of those reviews. It kind of like makes me feel good, you know?

It's just. Yeah. So everybody keeps asking me if I'm going to write another one. It's like, I don't know because I don't know if I have another story. Like I said, this one just fell on the page. So maybe that's what I need to do is just sit with a blank laptop in front of me and just start typing and see if it leads anywhere. Yeah, yeah. Authors have ideas or they have outlines or they have, you know, what they want to do.

I didn't then and I don't now, but I didn't then. There's a book, so I don't now. So there could be another one. You never, never know. And sometimes you just need those, like you said, those 20 minutes where you prompted into a direction. And then sometimes you put things aside. I know Stephen Spielberg, one of his greatest books, was also just kind of lying in the cupboard for a very long time. And his wife pulled it on and she was like, hey, what are you doing with this?

But I think there's a right time in place for a book. You know, as a reader, the time that you pick it out, it finds you. But as an author as well, the time that you publish it, the time you write it. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, you don't, I don't know, maybe this winter when we're not swimming in the pool, not that our, winters are long in Texas, but maybe long enough for me to start a new book. We'll have to see. Yeah. Yeah, well, I was going to ask you, what's next? You know, what can we celebrate with you going forward? So you'd have to keep us posted on what's emerging in the world of

your authorship. I definitely, definitely will. I definitely will. And, you know, my wife and I keep busy with a lot of other stuff, as you know, so, you know, I'll maybe find some time in between there to start another book. Yeah, and this is something I wanted to ask you as well. I mean, you do a lot of different things creatively, actually, you know, being an actor as well and you guys doing that together. How was the publishing process for you and all of that for authors or maybe new time authors that are listening and thinking, oh, this is daunting, I would love to publish a book.

Do you have any advice or any experience that you can shape? Yes. I just Google, you know, I don't even remember the, the site that I use, but to try to get an agent or someone interested in my book, and that wasn't working. So I just went out and Googled, you know, publishers, you know, a lot of these self-publishing companies. And this is a word of warning. I found one. They seemed legit. I chatted with them, you know, through the computer. Sounded really legit. They sent me a contract. Looked good. I signed it. and everything seemed like it was going along well and then they started asking for more money.

They told me I had to if I wanted a print on demand, which is Amazon and they do it on their own, I had to spend $20,000. And then they said I needed an author's license and that was going to cost $30,000. And then I needed to, and they wanted all this money. wired. And then they said I had to purchase the royalty rights. And that was $60,000. But if I wired it today, yeah, if I wired it today, I would get all of it back except for the $5,000 to hold the royalty rights. Well, them asking for all this money, I started getting really nervous. It's like, that's not what the contract said. It was like from beginning to end. So I contacted Parker publishers.

And I started talking to this guy, Eric, explaining to him everything that was going on. He's like, dropped him. He's like, that's a scan. You need to get away from them. So I talked to him for probably a good two hours because I was, now I'm nervous, right? And I just asked him questions and talked to him for hours. And I signed with them. And for the amount that I paid, which was less than the first publisher, they actually did everything.

they promise and the book got published and it's out there now I want to turn it into an audio book so we'll see how that goes but so that's a big warning is is if if you know you can't get a an agent a literary agent you know that wants to you know represent your book and you go about Googling for publishers, just be very careful and because there's scams out there. There's scams. I swear to the first publisher, they kept transferring me to another person

as I was getting angry about them asking for more money. And I swear to God, the next person, and the next person and the next person all sounded like the same person. Probably was. Probably was. Yeah, sitting in their living room. Yes, it is, unfortunately. Yeah. In my previous life, I used to be a financial crime investigator and I was trying to help people not be scammed. So I really am sorry that you had that experience.

Yeah. And I'm usually, you know, because, you know, I'm an IT background, right? And, you know, I'm fairly intelligent and I don't typically fall for scams. But I think I was so excited about publishing the book and I let that excitement get away from me. So, you know, it was a lesson learned, a costly lesson, but it was a lesson learned. But, you know, any new authors, you know, if you can't get a literary agent interested in you, you know, maybe contact two or three publishing companies and try not to let the excitement get ahead of you, you know, really get back and understand what they're offering. Yeah, that's a really good advice. I feel you because I've also been a little bit of my own process with my writing. And it's really daunting when you're starting out to know what is the right way. And there are all these options. So, yeah, it's really important to put your book in the right hands.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Amazon has their own self-publishing. Like I could have just submitted it to them and it would have gone on, you know, on Amazon as a Kindle. But I wanted it more than just a Kindle book. I wanted to actually have something I could hold, you know, and read. And I wanted it in more places than that. And that's what, you know, my publisher offered.

So you can do just Amazon and just do Kindle, which I know people that have done that. But I want, you know, it's in Barnes & Noble. It's in, you know, Apple Books. It's in numerous places, plus international. It's just available internationally. my publisher is working on trying to get it into bookstores. And that's kind of like, I wanted it to be a real book, not just, oh, I wrote a book and I put it out on Amazon and that's where it is. So, yeah, that's why I was willing to pay a little bit more. And it's important to think about it as an exchange. And like you said, if someone's giving you that service back. And I feel like with any kind of art and a book is very much like that, you know, you, you, It's a long and lonely journey.

And it's really lovely when someone's holding your hand and being the promoter for you in your art, you know. And that's the job of a publisher. So it's great that you found. That's how we met, right? Exactly. There we go. And, you know, I even had an interview on a local TV station a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, so that's what my publisher is doing.

So it's helping. You know, it's helping drive sales. and, you know, get the reviews out there. I mean, the sales aren't great, but, you know, I've sold, which is a lot to me. I've sold, you know, a little over 300 so far, which that is decent, but just to know that there's strangers out there that are holding a book or a Kindle that has my name on it. I think that's just kind of, it's kind of cool. That's amazing.

Kind of unexpected. Yeah. Life is so unexpected in that way and I'm so so happy that you could feel this feeling and that we can celebrate it with you and yeah thank you for sharing all of that with us here today and for the people listening out there maybe you are author that is keen on writing something

and just needs to like have that prompt and take that plunge you know maybe into the poor or maybe you're just unsure about the publishing journey but yeah I just know that there's always a way and if your heart's in it, you know, go for it. It can be a very rewarding feeling, you know. Like you said, how do I feel like, you know, having a book published? Well, you know, it feels kind of surreal, but it feels really good.

And it feels like a legacy I'm leaving behind, right? Because, you know, however long Amazon survives or prints survives, you know, I could be long gone and, you know, 100 years from now, someone might pick up the book. Who knows? We never know where it's going to go to. It changes the world in a little way and it's you sharing your, you know, the stories that come through you. So that's amazing. And do you have any kind of last messages that you'd

love to share with the audience? Oh, no, just, you know, give my book a try. I think you'll really enjoy it. It's a nice, fast, easy read, you know, and I think it's an enjoyable read. And, you know, we talk about there's not over, you know, too much flourishing or either leave words. There's also not a lot of graphic detail with the killings. You know, there's not a lot of blood and gore. I wanted to keep that out of it, too. You know, he's killing. You know he's killing.

But there's nothing really gory about what's happening in the book. Because, again, I wanted high school to, you know, nursing home residents to enjoy it. And I didn't think it needed to be gory or graphic for them to enjoy the story and understand what's going on. I appreciate that because I have a vivid imagination. So then I can imagine him killing. You can imagine what's happening after he killed. But there's nothing gory. At least I don't think gory about it.

But you know what's there. Yeah. Yeah. But I think it's sometimes it's easier to digest when. you not really spoon-fed the scenery, you know. And that's what makes it different from a movie, for example. Like once you put this into a script and have it in the cinema, that's going to be a whole different experience, I'm sure.

That's true. But as a book without all that in there, people can use their own imaginations to picture what's going on. Yeah. Yeah. Well, let everyone be wildly imaginative as they're reading it. and just, yeah, go check out Don's book. Thank you so much for sharing all of that with us

and just wishing your book the biggest success. And I can't wait to watch it in the cinema when it comes up. Yeah, hopefully with Tom Cruise as the killer. Who knows? Yeah. Yeah, thanks for having me. This is really enjoyable. I love talking with you.

It's such a pleasure. And I hope that for all those who are listening out there, that you are happy and that you are really, reading out there. Pick up more books and support authors and that you are happily reading. Until the next time on the Stack series, we'll see you very soon.