Please Welcome Shelley Munro, author of the book Soldier of Fortune. You can learn more about Shelley’s books at http://www.shelleymunro.com.

Shelley Munro

Shelley, thanks for being here today. Let’s start off with a little about you. On your website, you mention that you traveled the globe for about six years? What influences can we see in your work from your travels?

Thanks, Jessica. Many young New Zealanders go on an OE or overseas experience once they leave university. After reading books set in foreign countries for years, I suffered from a bad case of wanderlust. My husband and I married fairly young, and it took me a while to talk him around to the idea of overseas travel, but I did it. Initially, we decided to go to England for a year long working holiday. The one year stretched into six. We had a wonderful time exploring Britain, Africa, Europe and Asia and, although we’re now settled back in New Zealand, we still travel as much as we can. My husband is as bad as me!
It’s probably a bit of a cliché about travel broadening horizons, but it really does. I think I look at the world differently than people who haven’t traveled. I know I’ll never take hot and cold running water for granted again. Every time I have a shower, I’m thankful! A lot of my experiences find their way into my writing.
I’ve also used countries such as Britain, India, Australia and Egypt as settings for stories.

What drives you to create your stories?

Ever since I was old enough to read, I’ve thought about writing as well. I just love the process of creating characters and world building, be it a paranormal or contemporary world. Each day is different, and I can work at my own pace. It’s fun, and there’s a real satisfaction in seeing the final product and hearing readers’ reactions. I also love being my own boss!

Soldier of Fortune - Shelley Munro

Tell us about Soldier of Fortune. Your book features a military contractor and from the excerpt, it appears she’s former military. What made you want to write a book set in Iraq? What made you want to write a military themed novel?

One of the first books I sold to Ellora’s Cave was called Summer in the City of Sails. This book has a military hero who is part of the NZSAS (New Zealand Special Air Services) although the story takes place in New Zealand. Nikolai, the hero, has two friends and Summer, the heroine, has two brothers. All four men are part of the NZ military. Readers loved the story and wanted to know about stories for the secondary characters. To be honest, I couldn’t decide on a plot that would work until I watched a documentary about New Zealanders who take up private security contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Suddenly, I had my story.

Here’s the blurb:

Joanna “Mac” McGregor loves her father, and she’ll do anything to keep him safe after Alzheimer’s starts to steal his mind. That takes money, and Mac uses her only skills—those of soldiering—when she takes up a security contract in Iraq. She doesn’t have time for men, her last vacation fling in Fiji relegated as one perfect moment to hold close during the grim reality of war.
Soldier Louie Lithgow is tired of fighting, the constant danger, and has decided this is his last contract. He wants to retire, sink his savings into a place on the beach, and find the sexy Joanna, his holiday lover.
Mac’s arrival in Iraq causes consternation. They’ve both been economical with the truth, but the attraction sizzling between them flares hot and bright. They embark on a clandestine affair—professional and confident during their high-danger day, passionate with the release of emotional stress during their torrid nights. One thing is clear—they have different goals and the future is both murky and dangerous. If they survive their contracts.

Note: Readers first met Louie in Summer in the City of Sails.
I enjoy reading romances with military heroes and this led me to want to write my own. I have a great admiration for those men and women who serve their country in this way, often sacrificing a lot to keep those at home safe. The NZSAS works under a veil of secrecy—most New Zealanders aren’t aware of the dangerous work they do in different parts of the world. Of course, this secrecy pricks at my curiosity so I read any books I can get my hands on and watch documentaries. A member of the NZSAS recently won a Victoria Cross [highest military award for valor in the British Commonwealth], the first since WWII, which fired my imagination.
I also have a fascination for the World War II era, and have written one book set in this time period. The world would be a very different place if we didn’t have men and women willing to put their lives on the line to protect us. I, for one, am very grateful for the sacrifices they make.
http://www.shelleymunro.com/books/unforgettable/

Where can we find Soldier of Fortune?

Soldier of Fortune is available as an e-book from Ellora’s Cave and should also be available from Amazon in Kindle format in the next few months.
http://www.jasminejade.com/pm-7810-127-soldier-of-fortune.aspx

Finally, what’s next for Shelley Munro?

Readers have already asked me when I’m writing Jake’s story and they’re still asking about Summer’s brothers so I hope to write those soon. I have an ongoing paranormal series called Middlemarch Mates. I’m working on book nine at present. I’m also currently doing edits for The Bottom Line, a contemporary story that’s coming out with Samhain Publishing in April 2010.

Thanks so much for being here today on Romance Roll Call. We hope you’ll stop by again with updates on your next book!

Thanks for having me here today!

I have the utmost respect for women who’ve pledged their hearts to a man in the military, especially for the wives of Navy SEALs.  Every military spouse has to make amazing sacrifices. Having been married to both an Army officer a Navy petty officer, I know what it means to wait and worry. Lots of women do it, but the wives of Navy SEALs are a special breed. The first thing you notice when you meet them is they’re beautiful. All of them. But there’s usually an amazing brain behind that beauty. Like their Navy SEAL husbands they are all intelligent and accomplished human beings. And like their husbands, they are also impossibly brave. Imagine letting your husband go without a moment’s notice to face the worst imaginable and terrifying dangers halfway across the world. It takes faith to do that–faith that what your husband is doing is in America’s best interest; that it will save lives; that it is noble and worthy. 

     Two years ago, I had the privelege of meeting Laura and Patsy, the widows of Navy SEALs Michael McGreevy and Danny Dietz. Both men perished in Operatin Redwing, Afghanistan, 2005. Every year Laura and her friends raise money for a scholarship in memory of her husband. Both women have soldiered on without their husbands. Having made the choice to love them, they also made the choice to be just as brave–perhaps even more brave, for keeping it together when they were left behind. God bless you both, Ladies.

Thanksgiving, like many other days while deployed to Iraq, is much like, well, every other day. The only difference is the meal at the chow hall has turkey and all the fixings and there’s cocktail shrimp.
Otherwise, turkey day is just like every other day.
That’s not to complain, only to point out that as you gather this week with your family and friends and think about everything that you have to accomplish, take a moment to truly reflect on what it means to be grateful. Take some time to look around you, at the noise of your houseguests, the disaster area of your kitchen and the spilled milk in the bathroom to be grateful for all of it.
We as a people are so much more fortunate than others. Even at our worst in America, there is so much to be thankful for. Even if you’ve never seen a ten year old boy, who looks like he’s six because he’s never had enough to eat, you can still take time to appreciate the little things.
So as you’re rushing around, freaking out because the cheesecake collapsed and the turkey is a little too dry, remember that your friends might not all be here today. That someone is mourning a distant soldier or lost friend. Remember to live each day like you might not have a tomorrow.
Be grateful for the time that you have with your kids, even when they drive you nuts. Kiss your husband, even though he forgot to pick up milk on his way home. And remember most of all to live today to the fullest.
And a special thanks to everyone who will be sharing a meal in the chow hall together. It’s an honor serving with you.

I’m thinking we’ll have a regular Friday debate about women’s roles, both in our novels and our military romance novels.

As a woman in uniform, I have a slightly different perspective on life than a civilian woman might (having never been a civilian adult, I’m only guessing). But for me, both as a mom, a soldier and an author, certain things are different for me and one thing is how much time I spend around men as opposed to women. I think this shapes the way I see things and makes me slight more critical of certain subjects.

For example, when I took over my brigade signal office, I had a senior non commissioned officer who wasn’t coming to work. He’d just gotten back from a deployment and when I called him in and wanted to know what he was doing, he said he wanted to take a burden off his wife and take his kids to school.

I have kids. I should have had sympathy right? I didn’t. I spent two deployments by myself, raising two small children on my own, while working and finishing my master’s degree. When I needed to report for Officer Candidate School, not only did I move my entire family to Maine, I drove cross country to do so, by myself.

This is all normal for me, even if it sounds abnormal to you but here’s the thing: most military spouses have gone through something like this. They’ve had to become mommy and daddy and everything in between while their – typically – husbands deploy. I had to figure out how to get the snake out of the kitchen two days after my husband left for Iraq. I had to figure everything out on my own, because he was busy in war and he didn’t have any energy left over to worry about things at home.

Now that I’ve deployed, I understand things that he went through on a whole new level. I never realized how emotionally draining it is to deploy and then to come home and have all these expectations on you.

Part of what I love about a military hero is the different takes we women have put on our fictional military man. But what about the military woman? What about the soldier moms who try to balance life and soccer practice as well as not being ‘as devoted to the job’ as their male counterparts? What about the policy that threatens punitive action for a female soldier who gets pregnant in Iraq?

There is such a diverse experience for women in the military and yet, when we talk about military romance, by and large, we still talk about our male heros. Don’t get me wrong, men make up more than 90% of the military, so it’s only logical that we’d focus on our military men.

But one thing we’ll do here on Fridays is focus on something just for the ladies, both our military women and the women who support our military men. Maybe it will be a bunch of pictures of men with dog tags on their chest. Maybe it will be highlighting a female author who used to or still serves. But I’m thinking, we’ll dedicate Fridays to our military women.

What do you think? And if you agree, can you help me come up with a title?

     Since the advent of Suzanne Brockmann, Navy SEAL books have enjoyed increasing popularity as readers everywhere discover the undying appeal of the world’s sexiest man. I’m proud to say I continue in Suzanne’s tradition by portraying heroes that will rock your world and leave you feeling privileged to know them.

For all that SEALs are capable of doing, for all the training they’ve endured, for all the crazy stunts they’ve pulled, for their fearlessness in facing down terror, who needs these guys to be vampires or reincarnated souls of pirates?? They are awesome just as they are. Who else would jump out of a helicopter in the dead of night or fast rope onto the stern of a smuggler’s yacht? Who else would slam into fifteen foot swells going fifty miles an hour to beat a shipment of illegal weapons? Who else could curl the toes of a woman with the mere act of stripping off his shirt?

Navy SEALs are the guardians of us lesser mortals. And yet…they are also painfully human. And when they fall in love they fall hard.

     Thanks to my proximity to East Coast SEALs in Virginia Beach and the fact that my husband is retired Navy, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know real SEALs and the women brave enough to love them. Navy SEAL Commander Mark Divine edits my action scenes for authenticity without expecting a dime. That’s just the kind of guy he is. That’s the kind of guy they all are.

    Yes, a man in uniform looks good, but Navy SEALs are the best of the best. Feel free to disagree, but you’ll need to support your argument!

The whole point of this blog is to focus on military romance and those who write it, love it and live it.
But why do so many women love a man in uniform? Whether it’s a fireman, a police man or a military man, a uniform gets women’s attention.

And on a book cover, the attention grabber for me is dog tags. I love a photo of a man wearing dog tags. I even make my husband wear his around the house.

What is it about a military man that makes him stand out? Why is it a Marine will stand out in a crowd of soldiers, or a soldier will stand out in a crowd of airmen. And what is it about military men that makes them to die for heroes in romance novels?

SB Sarah had a blog post a few weeks ago where she mentioned that the alpha male was overrated but the end result was a guy who was always there when you needed him. I suggested we call this hero the steadfast hero, after the motto of the 4th Infantry Division.

Maybe the steadfast trait is something we’re looking for and if someone can commit to a military lifestyle, maybe we harbor a secret hope that he can commit to us. Military romance is harder to pull off, I think, because we speak our own language and it’s obvious when someone gets it wrong. When authors get it right, though, watch out.
Military men burn up the page with their take charge and still hold the baby attitude.

So readers, what is the attraction for a man in uniform? Why so many Navy SEAL or special forces heroes?

Welcome to Romance Roll Call. We’ll be building our blogger list over the coming weeks and months. If you know someone who’d like a spot guest blogging, please stop by.
We’ll be highlighting our favorite military romance novels and authors as well as craft tips and military facts to help writers who love military romance get any questions answered.
Welcome Aboard!