Lawyer

After leaving active duty, Coonts pursued a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree at the University of Colorado, graduating in 1979. He then worked as a lawyer for several oil and gas companies, pursuing his writing interests in his free time.

Writer

Coonts began writing Flight of the Intruder in 1984, with the book being published by the US Naval Institute Press in 1986. The novel, based in part on his experiences as an A-6 pilot during the Vietnam War, remained for 28 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and later (1991) was made into a movie. This launched his career as a novelist, and he continued writing adventure-thrillers, most of them based on the main character from his first book, Jake Grafton. Coonts has also written several other series and stand-alone novels, but is best known for the Grafton books. In 1992, he was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Alumni at his alma mater, West Virginia University.^[2][3] In 2014 West Virginia University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Letters degree.

Today, Coonts continues to write, having had sixteen New York Times bestsellers (out of 36 books). He lives in Colorado with his third wife, Deborah Jean.^[4] He is divorced from romantic mystery novelist Deborah Coonts.

Jake Grafton series

Note: The list below represents Stephen Coonts' suggested reading order.^[5]

Jake Grafton and Tommy Carmellini series

Note: The list below represents Stephen Coonts' suggested reading order.^[6]

Saucer series

Anthologies

Deep Black series

Others

• Fortunes of War (1998), ISBN 0-312-18583-9, ISBN 0-312-96941-4
• The Garden of Eden (2006) (writing as Eve Adams)
• The Sea Witch (May 2012), ISBN 0-7653-3231-0, ISBN 978-0-7653-3231-8

As editor

• The 17th Day (1999)
• Combat (2001) ISBN 0-312-87190-2
• Victory (2003) ISBN 0-312-87462-6 OCLC 51322993

Non-fiction

• The Cannibal Queen: A Flight into the Heart of America (1992), ISBN 0-671-74884-X
• War In The Air: True Accounts (1996), ISBN 0-671-88190-6
• On Glorious Wings: The Best Flying Stories (2003), ISBN 0-312-87724-2
• Victory (2003), ISBN 0-312-87462-6