Aloha to ML Buchman and THE NIGHT IS MINE

On this day in 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, DC, after thwarting an assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland.  Today's guest. ML Buchman, writes about threats against the First Lady in a contemporary romantic suspense, THE NIGHT IS MINE.   From ML Buchman's bio,

M. L. Buchman has worked in fast food, theater, computers, publishing, and light manufacturing. It's amazing what you can do with a degree in geophysics. At one point he sold everything and spent 18-months riding a bicycle around the world. In 11,000 miles, he touched 15 countries and hundreds of amazing people. Since then, he has acquired a loving lady, the coolest kid on the planet, and lives in Portland, Oregon. For more information, please visit www.matthewlieberbuchman.com.  

Kim:  Inquiring minds want to know about this bike tour! Can you share your favorite sight, smell, and sound you encountered along the way? 

ML:  Aloha, Kim! Wish I was there, especially as here is presently cold and drizzly. I call that bike tour my Mid-Life Crisis on Wheels, and yes, I’ve tried to write that book, several times. (Don’t have it quite right yet.) I was betrayed by a business partner, flamed out of being an IT consultant to the Fortune 100, lost the house and car, sold the furniture, and put the library and kitchen in storage. In 3 months I went from flying into 3 cities a week to being able to pick up my life with one hand, tent included. And other than the woman I eventually married and the step-twerp who came along as a part of that package (she’s awesome btw), it’s the best thing that ever happened to me.

I set out with no itinerary. The true gift of such an adventure is time. Time to think over every choice and decision made along the way. I actually started my career as a writer on a plane from Korea to ride across the Australian Outback. I worked on the first draft through Indonesia, Singapore and India, finally finishing my first book in Greece.

I saw amazing things, met incredible people, nearly drowned, and was chased by a wild elephant. The most beautiful moment was in the middle of the Outback. I came around a bend 500 dusty kilometers from anywhere, and chanced upon a field of flowers in mad bloom. There must have been a localized rainshower or something. It was an incredible statement of beauty and the effort to survive.

But the best was in a ruined little village on Flores Island, Indonesia. There I met the kindest people of the entire trip. It took a while to figure out why. A third of their population had been wiped out in 5 minutes by a tsunami the prior year, 5,000 gone in a moment. They had learned that nothing was more important than taking time to talk to people, because in the next moment, they could be gone. The next town, one protected by a headland, not so much. 

Kim:  What did you plan to do with a degree in geophysics? Has it helped you, in any way, with writing and publishing?

ML: My degree in geophysics coincided with the oil crash in 1980. Geology jobs ceased to exist for at least half a decade, sort of like the construction crash that cost me my job in 2010. I had originally hoped to be upon an ocean research vessel, making great discoveries. Instead, I was a theater electrician and sound designer, a paralegal, an IT specialist and consultant, and a half dozen other things. I often say that the only field I’ve never worked in is the only one I’m educated in.

However, I got that degree from a very good school, Bates College in Maine. And one of the most important things they taught me was how to learn. Not only to research, but to learn, understand, synthesize and organize. I’ve spent the 30 years since as a Project Manager, organizing things that weren’t. But all those projects were trivial compared with writing a book. To coordinate research, story arc, character emotions, conflict, and good old sentence structure, that’s got to be the hardest thing I’ve ever learned to do. A dozen books and I still feel like a total beginner.

Kim:  Your military romantic suspense novel is definitely a subject I’m interested in—my neighbors are Army helicopter pilots!   What inspired THE NIGHT IS MINE?   Where did you find research for the book?

ML: I have no military background, I discovered the Night Stalkers of the U.S. Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) by pure chance. A bit of serendipitous research off the need for the nation’s top TV chef to be rescued by an exotic helicopter from a Special Forces assassination squad in my foodie thriller Swap Out! However, once I discovered them, I became fascinated. These are not just people who fly helicopters, these men are the most elite fliers on the planet. Five years experience is a minimum before you can even apply. The tests are intense. And if you’re one of the few accepted, its two more years of training before you’re declared mission ready. No movie star or CEO is more expert in their field than the people of SOAR.

So, what started out as curiosity became awe. I read books (all 6 that exist) about them, they’re quite secretive. I read dozens of accounts of retired SEALs, snipers and other warriors. I interviewed gun-shop owners, a retired Marine, a Coast Guard heli-pilot, and a female Army Sergeant who flew on Black Hawks in Iraq. I joined forums on everything from sniper rifles to Black Hawk mechanics. I read Army fighting manuals and maintenance manuals. And the rest, well, I made up. It is fiction, and story has needs. But a chance to write about these amazing people, and to bring them to life as people, has been a fascinating journey.

Kim:  What's next for M.L. Buchman?
ML:  The Night is Mine is the first of the Night Stalker series, there are at least 3 more to follow from Sourcebooks Casablanca. My idea was: no women fly for SOAR and there are 4 seats in a Black Hawk helicopter, so let’s put the first 4 women in those seats, one per book, giving each one the man they deserve. I love romantic fiction ever since I stumbled on the genre in 1996. It’s just taken me this long to learn how to write it well. I have another romance series I just launched called Angelo’s Hearth, a contemporary series of successful women and a restaurant that is an integral part of finding the right man. My Matthew Lieber Buchman name has a new fantasy series coming out soon as well. Boredom is nowhere on my list. J

Thanks so much, Kim, for your questions and for having me. Mahalo!

Sourcebooks is giving away two copies of THE NIGHT IS MINE - now available in stores:

NAME: Emily Beale

RANK: Captain

MISSION: Fly undercover to prevent the assassination of the First Lady, posing as her executive pilot.

NAME: Mark Henderson, code name Viper

RANK: Major

MISSION: Undercover role of wealthy, ex-mercenary boyfriend to Emily

Their jobs are high risk, high reward:

Protect the lives of the powerful and the elite at all cost. Neither expected that one kiss could distract them from their mission. But as the passion mounts between them, their lives and their hearts will both be risked...and the reward this time may well be worth it. 

To enter the giveaway,

1.  Leave a comment about helicopters - have you flown in one?     My husband and older son flew in a helicopter over Kilauea on the Big Island (younger son and I kept our feet on the ground).

2.  Sourcebooks' giveaway is open to North American residents only.   I will giveaway a "Fly Hawaii" gift pack to one international reader.

3.  Comments are open through Saturday, February 25, 10 pm in Hawaii.   I'll post the winner on Sunday, February 26.

Mahalo,

Kim in Hawaii

Andrew gets ready to fly over the volcano.