Vengeance

AUTHOR’S NOTE

I hope you enjoyed Vengeance!

As I mentioned in a previous author’s note, I hadn’t planned to write a military thriller series. The Trident Deception was a bucket list project for me, but when St. Martin’s Press expressed interest in the book, the first question they asked was whether I was writing a sequel. My literary agent explained what the correct answer was, which I provided, and I was offered a two-book contract with the plan for additional books if the first two were well received.

However, the character set in The Trident Deception was designed to tell a specific story, and wasn’t well suited for a military thriller series, so I introduced Jake Harrison in Book 2 (Empire Rising) and gave him a backstory involving Christine. By Book 4 (Blackmail), it had become clear that Christine was the favorite character by far (followed by Wilson), which surprised me. Even more surprising was the question I received the most from readers: When were Christine and Harrison going to get together?

The answer at that point in time was — never, because Harrison was married and not the type of character to have an affair or leave his wife for another woman. But it was also never, because I hadn’t really thought about it. The characters were designed to move the various plots along, and I hadn’t considered a plotline involving the characters themselves — I write military thrillers, not chick lit.

Blackmail was the middle book of a three-book Russian-aggression trilogy, and as I mapped out the next few books, three things became clear. First, I had exhausted all reasonably plausible ways that Christine could get into trouble, and that needed to be addressed. Second, I needed a new adversary after three books involving Russian shenanigans, and I also decided to answer that oft-answered question about Christine and Harrison’s relationship — would they get together, and if so, how?

Books 6, 7, and 8 were designed to address all three issues, moving Christine to the CIA, where she would have less opportunity to get entangled in dangerous situations, and introducing Mixell, who would serve both as the tie-in to the main plots in the trilogy while also serving as the catalyst to resolving the Christine-Harrison question. It was a challenge to add a character-driven element to what is unarguably a plot-driven series, but I hope you enjoyed the Harrison-Mixell-Christine storyline in the last three books.

I also have to give a shout-out to Khalila, who turned out to be a very well-received character, to the point that my editor floated the idea of a new series centered around her. But by that time, I had already fleshed out my next series — see the next paragraph.

Finally, to all of you: Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ll check out my new military science fiction novels set a thousand years in the future. The genre is technically sci-fi, but I like to think of the books as military thrillers in a sci-fi skin, something I think many of you would enjoy. I hope you’ll join me in the Nexus House / Colonial Fleet series!