Shockwave on Sale!

When I was approached back in November to write a Calendar Man story, I knew right away who I wanted my hero to be.

Wind back time five years. My oldest son wanted to enlist in the Marine Corps and was going over the different jobs available. One of those jobs was EOD, better known as Explosive Ordnance Disposal or “The Bomb Squad.”

Having been in the Army, I’d met and heard about these hotshots. Men and woman with a healthy dose of guts and maybe a touch of insanity. I put my foot down. Actually, I slammed it to the floor. No son of mine was disarming explosives! And then I began to talk to the Sergeant at the recruitment office, who’d also been EOD—disarming IEDs, or Improvised Explosive Devices in Iraq and Afghanistan. He explained that a lot of the technology used now these days makes it much safer than in the past.

Snort. Right. That’s like saying the sky isn’t blue and the grass isn’t green. I understood it might be better than the past, but it was still a daredevil’s job.

“Yes, you have to have a little bit of that in you, anyone in uniform does, but most EOD are cerebral people, not the crazy thrill-seekers you think they are.”

So, I began to do what I do best. I went online, to the library and dug into EOD. Mind you, there’s a lot you’re not going to find online about their “render safe” procedures, but there’s a good reason for it. We don’t want to give the bad guys a heads up on how we’re going to neutralize the threat. There’s a lot about them though, enough for a story or two.

EOD does so much more than disarm. They investigate explosions like a ‘bomb CSI’, destroy munitions like mines or arsenal no longer considered safe and provide sweeps of areas, ensuring the safe movement of troops.

So, back to writing Shockwave. I knew my hero needed to be EOD. I needed to tell their story, minus details that can’t be shared, and show them for what they are, a little bit hotshot—a little bit cerebral thinker. I also linked it to another WIP I was working on at the time, that’s also on sale for .99 cents right now, Dry Spell. I promised my readers I’d let them know the link. Tanner and Jake North are brothers—just in case you didn’t catch it. Will there be more stories of the North brothers? Yes. Stay tuned, I’m just getting started.

I hope you’ll pick up my novel, Shockwave, which is .99 cents right now, and step into the world of true American heroes. And to the men and women in EOD—I salute you.

#dlaree69, #decadentpub