Saturday, August 7, 2010

Blown Away to be released in November with Passion in Print

I'll forgo the serial this week because I'd like to talk a little about my upcoming release, Blown Away, to be released with Passion in Print in November.

http://passioninprint.com/future.php

 I'll resume posting, When Souls Collide, next Saturday.

My son the Marine was inspiration for my next release, Blown Away. Being an Army veteran I find the Marine mentality--interesting at times. Interesting enough to make a couple of them heroes in my novels.

What do I mean? Right after my son’s graduation from SOI, the School of Infantry, he mentioned to me that he was lost when the First Sergeant dismissed them for the day at 4:00pm. He asked his squad leader what to do. He’d just spent the last few months eating, sleeping, breathing whenever he was told and only when he was told.

“Whatever the f*** you want,” his squad leader replied and left him standing alone on the tarmac.

I mentioned to him that the military is like a 9 to 5 job after Boot Camp and your MOS training. Well technically 6 to 5 and that’s when you’re not deployed or in the field. But I was trying to get across to him that he could have a life outside of the Marines, that there was a whole world beyond his barracks. A little something called fun. Ya know, beach time, dancing, hanging with friends.

He exclaimed quite indignantly “The Marines are not a 9 to 5 job. The Marines are a way of life.” Apparently he’d heard nothing past 9 to 5.

Ah, the Semper Fidelis mentality. “You’re such a Jarhead,” I said with much love. I'm proud of my boy, even if he is a Marine. LOL.

Anyway, there’s a certain type of person that becomes a Marine. You know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever met one or know one. They all have this deep loyalty and pride. I have to admit, the training is tough and they put the new recruits to the test more than any of the other services. When it’s all said and done, they’re Marines, in mind, body and soul and they take it very seriously. They’re Semper Fi and don’t argue with them about it. They don’t like it.

But there’s much more to this story. My son also mentioned he was considering EOD. If you know what EOD is, then you’re probably military, a veteran or a fan of the Hurt Locker. If you haven’t a clue what I’m talking about, I’ll break it down. Explosive Ordnance Disposal. That’s right, the bomb squad. They serve a very vital role in keeping our men and women in uniform, as well as the civilian populations here in the United States and overseas, safe. It takes a lot more than guts to be EOD. It takes a very special person. You've got to have guts, nerves of steel and a touch of insanity.

Thus started my research. I wanted to know everything about the EOD. I have to say I wasn’t too excited that my son might be disarming live bombs. Knowing more helped me to deal with his possible choice. Fear is mostly spun from the unknown. It’s my opinion that the more you know about something the less you’ll fear it. After researching everything I could, I may not have been comfortable with it, but I had a better understanding and felt I could deal with whatever choice he made. I could also see why it might appeal to him, my son, the adrenaline junkie. Before he was nineteen, he’d white water rafted class 5, bordering on 6, rapids, jumped out of airplanes, took off and landed an aircraft and entered cage fighting competitions, and all before he went into the Marines.

As I researched I realized what a great story this would make if I took it to other worlds, into space and made it a romance. The result was a summer full of writing and a four novellas of which two will be in a book that’s to be released in November with Passion in Print, called Blown Away.

So, I end this post with an invite to a blog tour starting on August 14th. We’ve got quite the line up and I hope you’ll attend. I'll be talking about Blown Away and posting a couple of excerpts.

Linnea Sinclair http://www.linneasinclair.com

Pauline Jones http://www.perilouspauline.com

D. L. Jackson http://backwardmomentum.blogspot.com

J. C Hay http://jchay.com

Kaye Monro http://www.sfr.kayemanro.com

Marva Dasef http://mgddasef.blogspot.com

Sandra Stixrude http://sandrastixrude.webs.com

Lisa Lane http://newsensuality.blogspot.com

Oh and all the stress was over nothing. My son decided to stick with infantry and the SAW, squad assault weapon.

Hu-ah.
Have a great weekend.

5 comments:

Sara Brookes said...

Congrats on the upcoming release!

My husband was a Combat Engineer before he retired from the Marine Corps. I had to ask him to stop informing me about what he did. LOL

D L Jackson said...

I was married to an Army combat engineer before my second husband of twenty years--who was a grunt--not much better.
LOL

J Hali Steele said...

Blown Away sounds excellent, congrats, DL. Have nephews and nieces in Navy, Army and Airforce--no Marines yet. Bless your son and everyone who serves to keep us safe and free!

Annie Nicholas said...

As a sci-fi fan and someone who got a sneak peak of this story, I say, "Buy it!"

D L Jackson said...

Thanks, Annie. I've made a few tweaks at your suggestions and I'm getting ready to send it out--soon. LOL

Yeah, said that last week, but you know how it goes...
Tomorrow it is.