Sarah Stevens is back in the third installment to the Task Force 125 series available at Sapphire Blue Publishing!

When a CIA operative is captured nobody is sent to save him.  Vince Hennessee knew the risks but the only way he could move on with his life with Sarah was to put down Nikolai Federov once and for When a CIA operative is captured nobody is sent to save him.  Seasoned paramilitary operative Vince Hennessee knew the risks but the only way he could move on with the life he had planned with Sarah Stevens was to put down Nikolai Federov once and for all.  What he didn’t expect was that Nikolai’s guys would find him first.  Now it is up to Sarah and the rest of the American Swift team from Task Force 125 to find Nikolai and put together an armed strike force that can take out the Russian and rescue Vince before it is too late.

When I started reading romances, the heroines were always feisty but never really strong enough to get themselves out of the Black Moment.  That was when the hero would ride in on whatever he rode and save the frail, feisty, virgin.

There was just something about that scene I couldn’t swallow. Why couldn’t chicks be strong too?

Then I joined the Air Force, became a Security Specialist, and knew that special love a woman feels for an automatic, belt-fed weapon.  Hell yeah, chicks can be strong.

Don’t believe me?

Say hello to my little friend.

Sarah Stevens used to be the frail thing that would have been a heroine in a 1970s romance.  She couldn’t do anything right.  Then she hit rock bottom and took the Red Pill.  When she came out of the rabbit hole, she was a whole different animal.

She’s bad ass and knows it but she can still rock the little black dress and 4 inch heels.

Times have changed.  We’ve changed.  Our heroines have changed.

Check out Sarah Stevens.  She’s my heroine.

What do you think?  Can women be both tough and feminine?

One commenter will receive a free copy of one of my books so feel free to tell me how your really feel.

Authors labor long and hard over a book, and once it’s been written and published, the next part takes a bit more work: promoting it. One of the best ways to entice readers is through offering excerpts.  

The Great American Novel

I won’t touch on how to pick the right excerpt from your book today. Instead, I’d like to show you a technical tip for posting them in a readable fashion. Fonts and special characters can cause real problems, especially when transferring them into email to send to a group.

Have you ever come across an excerpt that looks like this:
&*%$He loves her&*%$ it&*%$s obvious.&*%$

 It should read: “He loves her; it’s obvious.”

How easy was it to read that in the first sample above? Imagine an entire page like that! How long would you read before giving up and going to the next one?

When posting excerpts or quotes on a group message or bulletin board such as Yahoo! Groups, the service strips out curly quotes – the kind that curl one way in front and the other way in back. Many email programs replace these with the ascii code for that command.

A font that readers don’t possess can cause the same thing. For example, something frilly and fancy like a handwritten-looking font changes to courier with all the codes as above.

When posting, use Arial, Times, or Times New Roman, and turn off the curly quotes feature on your word processor. This will ensure your excerpts and posts come out readable and clear. I’m sure they look lovely on your computer, but how will they look online?

If you have questions or problems with posts, feel free to share them. If I can answer them, I will. If I can’t, I’ll do my best to find out from someone else. When you leave a comment, it will trigger a notice via my email, and I’ll drop in as soon as possible to post a response.

OK, the writing itself isn’t a team effort but writing for publication most certainly is a team effort.  Let me tell you about my team:

Sapphire Blue Publishing

My publisher took a chance on me.  My first manuscript was rough and needed an immense amount of work but they saw something in it and chose to work with me.

Line Editor

My manuscript was assigned a line editor and we did several rounds of edits.  She’d point out issues, I’d either correct the issues ow we’d discuss why I felt they were important to the story.  Together we refined my original manuscript.

Copy Editor

Once line edits were completed to our mutual satisfaction, the manuscript was assigned to a copy editor who graciously pointed out where I started four paragraphs with the same word or scrambled my timeline.  Details like that can ruin the experience for a reader.

Cover Artist

Sapphire Blue Publishing has a specific cover artist who creates all their covers.  Kendra Egert is the woman responsible for my covers and likely a good portion of my sales.  I’ve seen bad covers but never from Kendra.

Reviewers

Reviewers don’t get paid for their work (and they usually buy the books they review) but their service to the publishing industry is invaluable.  Without reviewers, most readers would never hear about our books.  They can make the difference between a book that sells and one that bombs.

Other Authors

For a career that is, for the most part, solitary, we do a great deal of leaning on each other.  Other authors read our books, review them, help us promote them and even allow us to guest blog on their websites.  This level of cooperation is unheard of in other career fields.

The Reader

Like the proverbal tree in the woods, if a novel were published but nobody read it, would it still be a novel?  Writers would be lost without readers and publishers, editors and cover artists wouldn’t work.

So, you see, the writing itself is done as a solitary endeavor but writing for publication is a team sport.

Personally, I am grateful to be on such a fantastic team.

For more information about me and my team, please visit my website at www.LisaPietsch.com.

Sarah Stevens examined the toe of her black, leather Prada slingback and gasped.  A huge scuff glared at her.  She sighed with relief as she wiped the spot with a tissue and restored the shoe to its original glory.  The overstuffed back seat of the Rolls Royce Silver Seraph limousine embraced her as she leaned back and glanced out the window.

“Not a bad way to get from point A to point B, huh?”

She turned to smile at Will Adams.  With their team leader, her boyfriend, Vince Hennessee missing in action, Will was in charge now.

Will dressed and carried himself like a man who had the world at his fingertips, because he did.  Will had once been a medic in the Navy but Sarah suspected there was much more to that story.  Though he began his career as a Corpsman, Sarah suspected he did a bit more than first aid to make the rank of Master Chief before he left the service for a position on Task Force 125.  He was the team’s second in command, capable of finding any supplies they needed on a moment’s notice.  With Vince missing, the entire team fell in line behind him without question.  He’d also worked undercover with Vince for years as an arms dealer.

Sarah took comfort in Will’s leadership and grasped the glimmer of hope she saw in his baby blue eyes.  They would find Vince and recover him before any harm came to him.

Will nodded slightly toward the front of the limousine.  “There it is, the Burj al Arab, Dubai’s crown jewel.”

Sarah’s jaw dropped.  She gawked at the glorious structure rising majestically over the water ahead of them as they drove along the causeway.

She remembered just over a year ago when she was an overweight Air Force cop with no future.  She gave thanks that her commander realized her potential and referred her to what she thought was a fat camp.  That weight loss program turned out to be one of the C.I.A.’s training farms for paramilitary operatives.  Little did she know at the time that losing her police job, her cheating boyfriend, and seventy-five pounds would make it possible for her to ride in Rolls Royce limos wearing Prada and Versace, not to mention the pearls around her neck that cost more than her car.  She fingered them lovingly and recalled with a smile the day Vince gave her the necklace.

As though he’d read her mind, Will smiled his winning smile.  “You’ve come a long way, baby.”

They pulled up at the curb in front of the seven star hotel and Sarah sighed.  “Yes, I have.”

Jason hopped out of the front passenger seat and opened Sarah’s door for her.  “Welcome to Oz.”  He beamed with his trademark Cheshire cat grin.  Anyone  who saw Jason would think he was happy to be staying at the glorious Burj al Arab but Sarah knew better.

Jason Williams, the former Green Beret and the team’s weapons specialist, was always spoiling for a fight and he knew he was going to have a big one when they took Vince back.  Since she’d joined the team, Sarah and Jason had become great friends.  He was a mixed martial arts master and damn impressive in a fight.  For months now, he’d been teaching Sarah how to fight and win in just about any situation.  He’d also been kind enough to squire her around Las Vegas to all his favorite watering holes.  It didn’t hurt that Sarah was so attractive he could get into any club in the city with her on his arm.

A tall handsome Arab man dressed in a silk Armani suit greeted Sarah, Jason and Will at the curb as they stepped out of the Rolls Royce.  They were all dressed to the nines, Armani being the suit of the day for Jason and Will too.  The greeter smiled slightly.  “Mr. Adamson, welcome to the Burj al Arab.  Your suite is ready.  If you will follow me.”  He turned and escorted them into the lobby.

Adamson was one of Will’s aliases.  What they were doing here was not sanctioned by the C.I.A. and, if they were lucky, the Agency would never find out about their plan to recapture their kidnapped leader who was being held somewhere in the Middle East.  They were all using aliases on this trip.  Sarah’s was Elisabetta Scuro, an Italian alias in honor of the recently deceased Angelo Scuro who not only died on their last mission but left Sarah his vast estate in Italy.

The hotel’s service was immediate and excellent but Sarah couldn’t help being annoyed at the time that was passing, precious seconds that meant the difference between life and death for Vince.  The flight to Dubai provided her with far too much time to think about what his captors might be doing to him.  She pushed the dark thoughts of Vince being tortured and beaten from her mind and tried to stay focused on the task at hand.

They were here to meet with Mark Davidson, an agent none of them had met, who had information on where Vince was being held.  Davidson’s contacts had found out about Vince’s kidnapping and he knew to contact Will at Sarah’s estate in Italy.  Sarah ran through the list of things they’d need to do before they could even begin planning an attack to get Vince back.  After they checked in to their suite at the hotel they’d make contact with Davidson, who was working under an official cover in U.S. State Department in Saudi Arabia, and then wait for their other teammates, Brian Allen and Chris Wilson to arrive in Dubai.  All of this meant more passing time.

Worries vanished from Sarah’s mind as she gasped at the overwhelming opulence of the Burj al Arab.  Massive golden columns encircled the lobby and reached toward the sweeping arches above.  The mesmerizing mosaic on the floor in deep blue, red and gold nearly stopped her in her tracks.  Sarah looked at Jason wide eyed.

Jason grinned and paused with Sarah while Will continued toward the elevator with their host.  “Shock and awe, eh, sweetcheeks?  This place makes Vegas look like a two bit whore.”

She grinned at Jason.  “Speaking of whores, did I tell you how fine you look in that suit?”

He smoothed the front of his jacket with his right hand and extended his left arm for her.  “I guess you won’t mind being seen with me then?”

“Not at all, handsome.”  She looped her right arm through his and they picked up their pace to meet Will and their host at the elevator.  Her Prada shoes tapped along the ornate marble floor as she took in the rich colors and happy international chatter coming from vacationers and businesspeople. 

Their host escorted them into a private elevator and they rode to the twenty-fifth floor of the all suite hotel.  Sarah held the rail tightly as they whisked fifty floors skyward.

Sarah tried to remain calm as she wondered about where Vince might be and took a long, deep breath as their host opened the door to their two-story suite.  On the other side of the glistening marble entryway was a marble and gold staircase covered with leopard print carpeting.  Being instantly enveloped in luxury while her mind swam in thoughts of the horrible things that could be happening to Vince overwhelmed her.  Sarah gripped Jason’s arm tightly to keep the only grip on reality she had.

He leaned close and smiled as he whispered to her.  “Any other time I’d love your manicured nails digging into my skin but the blood you draw today will ruin my Armani.”

Jason’s teasing was all Sarah needed to shock her back to reality.  This over-the-top extravagance was her life now.  Angelo had left her an enormous estate in Italy and more money than she’d ever dreamed of having.  Once Vince was free they’d leave the Agency and start enjoying it together.

Better start getting used to it now.

She retracted her claws and gave him an apologetic pout as she mouthed the words “I’m sorry”.

Freedom’s Promise, book #3 in the Task Force 125 series, is coming to Sapphire Blue Publishing, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and other ebook sellers in June 2010.  Read about the Task Force 125 series by Lisa Pietsch at www.LisaPietsch.com.

I know what it says at the beginning of the book. All the characters and events are purely fiction, blah, blah, blah.

As I was tweeting with an ex Navy friend the other day, we realized we both had the same problem:

Nobody believes the true stories and we have no choice but to fictionalize them!

Let me let you in on a little secret: I’ve met so many characters in my nineteen years (eight active duty and eleven as a military wife) that I just have to put some of them into books.

How can I not?

There was that corporal in the Royal Air Force, that Buck Sergeant from South Carolina, the good old boy from Virginia, the trust fund baby from Texas, the Fratalian from Maine, the farm boy from Kansas, the cowboy from South Dakota…and that’s just the first four years!

The fact is, we’ve met more characters than we can count – and likely had just as many adventures with those characters.

When we put the characters and adventures on the page with a plot, a few hooks and some tension, they make for great fiction but we can never share the truth.

My story “The Path to Freedom” was reviewed once by a reviewer who found only one aspect of the story completely unbelievable – the idea of a good looking woman getting a free drink from a Las Vegas bartender just to sit at the bar. The premise of the overweight cop being sent to a top secret CIA training camp in the Nevada desert wasn’t questionable at all. It was that free margarita that made the reviewer call “bulls***”.

They also had a bit of a problem with so many good looking guys in the story but I chalk that up to their never being posted on a fire team with three Air Force cops with good haircuts who run with forty plus pounds of gear and guns all day.

This is why I have to write fiction – nobody believes the truth.

Besides, who wouldn’t want to romance the characters I’ve met?