The Birth of The Dead Rock Stars

Kyle Wiltshire has always loved music, especially older music. He loves discovering a song that he’s never heard before and realizing it’s been out for decades. He is fond of saying, “If it’s not at least twenty years old, it’s probably not any good.” 

An Elvis Presley ornament has been hanging on Jay Watson’s family Christmas tree for as long as he can remember. When given the chance to perform in a variety show called “Mr. Campus” before his entire college, he chose to don a sequined jumpsuit and imitate the King of Rock and Roll. 

They both have always been fascinated with rock stars. Especially ones who tragically died too young. These were the seeds that led to the birth of their story. 

Many years ago, Kyle had a thought: “What if all these rock stars who tragically died too young, actually faked their deaths and became secret agents?”

He held on to this idea, then one day he shared it with Jay. Jay remembers exactly where he was when Kyle shared the idea. “I was at Sonic!” he said with a laugh. He also remembers his exact words to Kyle that day, “That’s not a million dollar idea. That’s a billion dollar idea.” Whether it’s a five dollar idea or not remains to be seen, but Jay’s initial excitement for the idea was palatable. 

“Let’s write this together,” Jay said.

“Ok,” Kyle replied. He didn’t really mean it. He just wanted to change the subject. 

Regardless, they met and mapped out the beginning of the story. Jay wrote the first two chapters. Kyle loved them so much that his excitement for writing the book went through the roof. He wrote the next two chapters and with that they were off. 

Two years later, they have a completed first draft. 

That is the story behind how this pair decided to write The Dead Rock Stars.