Thank you for joining us today at Fresh Fiction. I’m a real fan of military
romance and suspense and loved your Shadow Warriors
series. This new Delos
Series brings us characters that are just as strong and dynamic and has
some very scintillating plots.
Viki: After reading the first four books in your new Delos Series, it is
proving to be as fabulous as your other series. Who or what was your inspiration
for the Delos
Series?
Lindsay: Thanks for asking, Viki. Since Morgan’s Mercenaries, my first
family saga that I created in 1980’s, was successful, I wanted to try it again.
The Delos Series is my
second family saga-series. Only this time, I wanted to create it based upon our
world as it is today, in 2015, onward.
We are a global community held together by a spider web-like digital age that
makes all of us whether we like it or not. When you are no longer isolated, with
communication, videos and other digital media, such as the social side
(Facebook, among many others), we become ONE. Also, because of global travel,
people are free to fall in love with one another, regardless of whether they
come from the same country—or not. I wanted to explore this dynamic, global
concept because it’s an exciting and fascinating look at the world today with
all its possibilities.
Viki: Your Delos
Series novels are all military themed in some way. I know you grew up as a
military brat and also served yourself. Thank you for your service to our
country! How much is your own experiences and how do you research the military
aspects of your novels?
Lindsay: I held a secret clearance while I was in the US Navy. There are
things I’ve seen, experienced and know that I can’t talk about – or write about
– to this day. I can, however, use my knowledge in such a way to craft riveting
military romance reads for my global reading population that are very close to
reality.
Viki: You’ve created detailed background on the Delos charities and the
Culver family, and you add a little more to that background with each book. Some
of your details go back for centuries. Did you ever consider starting further
back on the timeline rather than present day?
Lindsay: Well, anything is possible. But I don’t want to write
historically other than to weave in the fascinating fabric of Dilara
Badem-Culver’s Turkish family who is one of the richest in the world. Her Sufi
muslim upbringing has placed her on a service road to helping those who have
much less than her family does. That is why she is CEO of the largest charity in
the world: Delos. They have 1,800 charities of varying types and branches around
the world. These charities are designed to help others in areas of education,
health and farming, to name just a few. I will be weaving in information about
Dilara and her family background as it is appropriate, so that my readers grasp
the underpinnings of her as a character, what is important to her, to her
family, and how much they love the Culver children.
Viki: The Culver family in your Delos Series is a mix of
American, Greek and Turkish heritage. Will we see more of the Greek and Turkish
families in future installments of this series?
Lindsay: I wanted Delos to represent many countries, different
realities, different belief systems and homogenize it, which is what is
happening in our ‘real world’ as I speak. For example, Dilara Badem is 80%
Turkish and 20% Greek. She marries American Captain Robert Culver, a USAF combat
pilot who is assigned to NATO in Turkey. They fall in love (and their story is
coming, believe me, because so many readers are clamoring for it), and they have
three children who are a homogenized mix of US, Turkey and Greek bloodlines.
They represent the world as it is today…that mixing of blood, beliefs and realities.
I intend to widen the breadth of the stories after the three Culver children’s
stories are told. Then, it becomes a global panorama that I hope my readers will
love as much as I do writing about them. Dilara has three older brothers, and
each has grown, adult children between them. The Mykonos branch in Greece, also
has grown children. They are all adults now, and their stories will be told,
too. This is an international family saga and readers will get a taste of what
is to come by looking at these diverse family trees. It took me 5 years to
figure out and create this WORLD of Delos, and all the stories that I want to
tell within it.
I’ve created two quote books to help readers understand the fabric of the saga:
click here
There are two family trees on my website that will show the other books to come
over time: CULVER FAMILY TREE and TURKISH-GREEK FAMILY TREE
Viki: After reading NOWHERE TO HIDE, which is
set in Costa Rica and Virginia, along with its prequel, I didn’t expect the next
three books to go back to Afghanistan to tell the stories of the three Culver
children and how they come to Artemis Securities. I felt somewhat like I was
back in the midst of your Shadow Warriors series. Why did you
choose to begin their stories in Afghanistan?
Lindsay: Because I wanted to reveal the Culver children’s military
backgrounds so that they could logically see how Artemis, Delos charities
security firm, came into being. Further, it shows the personality of each child,
and what their reality is, and what is important to each one of them. There will
be ongoing novellas that will follow-up their original introductory book. We
will be seeing all three of them throughout the coming Delos Series books,
including their parents, Dilara and Robert. Many Delos books in the future, will
come from actual missions created within Artemis. The fact that this is a
FAMILY-RUN operation, makes it unique and I hope of interest to the reader. By
getting to know the Culver adult children, their own military roots (via their
father who is a general in the US Air Force), we begin to appreciate how each
brings something unique and needed, to the security table. They are tasked with
creating Artemis (from which many of the stories, like NOWHERE TO HIDE, will come
from in the future), getting it on the ground, learning how to run it, utilize
it to keep the employees of Delos in 1,800 different spots around the world,
safe from today’s terrorism.
Viki: A lot of authors bring real charities or organizations into their
novels that help people through tough times. The Delos Series focuses on
the Delos charities, especially in FORGED IN FIRE. What is
your personal favorite charity?
Lindsay: I think it’s great to showcase wonderful charities who are
helping so many others. I wanted to create one that would not become a legal
issue, so that I could continue to create my Delos World as I saw it. I donate
to a number of charities: Operation Gratitude, Kiva, Wounded Warriors, Our
Rescue Organization (Underground Railroad) and Central Asia Institute.
Viki: In TANGLED
PURSUIT and in BROKEN
DREAMS, both Tal and Alexa return home as “broken” people, one physically
and one emotionally. Why did you choose to give them physical and mental
“baggage” as they begin their new jobs with Artemis Security?
Lindsay: Because that’s life. No one is ever at a hundred percent to do
any kind of job, normally speaking. I write real-life characters who are
wounded, who have issues, who aren’t whole. But then, neither is anyone else in
our ‘real’ world, either. No one is perfect. Although I write alpha heroes, the
aren’t invincible, either; just the opposite. Besides, my readers disdain
perfect characters, or impervious characters, because they don’t engender
sympathy or connection emotionally with them. Perfect characters are boring as
hell to me. I couldn’t write them if you paid me a million dollars. My readers
feel the same way about that type of “perfect” portrayal. It’s much more
interesting to me and my readers to create characters who are fractured in many
different ways. And then to see them navigate through a challenge becomes far
more riveting, and we cheer even more, for them to make it, despite overwhelming
odds against them.
There are no superwomen or supermen out there in my books. These characters have
real life issues that they must work through or overcome or make progress on as
the book progresses. Even at the end of a book, my characters aren’t necessarily
whole and perfect, either. But readers can sure relate to them and that creates
sympathy from the character to the reader. And we as readers, love that, because
we WANT to see them defeat the odds, want to see them be victorious or at least,
escape what’s chasing them.
There are no “acts of God” in my books. Real time issues and challenges stare my
characters in their faces, and there’s no easy answers on how to deal with it or
live through it. I like delving deeply into the psychology of a person on
every level: spiritual, mental, emotionally and physically. Each one brings
about their own unique set of challenges and readers love to see their hero and
heroine GROW throughout the book. So do I. I’m afraid “cardboard” characters
would put me asleep at the computer and I’d be deadly bored. We’re all wounded
in one way or another. It’s HOW we continue to move forward, to do our job, to
be responsible, to be able to be sensitive to someone other than ourselves, is
the stuff that makes for great characters. And I believe I’ve created some
really interesting ones for my readers.
Viki: Thanks again, Lindsay, for joining us today. We look forward to the
new adventures we’ll encounter with your new Delos Series and
to meeting more of the Culver family in future installments.
The "Top Gun of Women's Military Fiction," Linsday McKenna has had 145 books
published under the McKenna name since 1981, most dealing with military or
mercenary subjects, for several publishers: Simon and Schuster, Warner, Avon and
Berkley, Harlequin/Silhouette. She is the originator of the Military Romance
genre, with "Captive of Fate," Silhouette Special Edition, 1983. She has sold 23
million books worldwide and in 33 foreign languages. She proudly served in the
US Navy and was a meteorologist.
Series include:
Perfect, Wyoming |
McKenna's Wyoming |
Jackson Hole, Wyoming |
Shadow Warriors |
Delos |
Kincaid Trilogy
Captain Alexa Culver takes one look at shy, quiet Marine sniper Gage Hunter
and feels an instant connection. But Gage has demons in his past that keep him
from giving it to their mutual attraction. Alexa believes Gage is worth fighting
for, and begins to slowly chip away at his defenses.
Gage Hunter has lost
everyone he has ever loved. Lonely and broken, the last thing he expects is to
meet someone like Alexa Culver. the redheaded batty is confident and outgoing
and makes Gage feel emotions he thought long buried. But before he risks
revealing his heart to her she is kidnapped by the Taliban while on a
humanitarian mission. Can Gage reach her before he loses his chance for love
forever?
Delos #4
On Sale: January 2, 2016
Buy on:
Kindle |
BN.com |
Kobo |
iTunes/iBooks
The DELOS Series
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