Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Introducing Karen Baney!



Love For The Modern Military

When I sat down to write Nickels, I looked to my own life and past for inspiration. Everyone always advises authors to write what you know. So, I thought the perfect career for my main character, Niki Turner, was the career I have been working in for the past nine years—software engineer (computer programmer).

Since my career inspired a great deal of what happens in the novel, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to throw in a few other things from my life. I had to tie in some aspect of the two years I spent overseas in Germany on a military base. In my case, I was married to an Airman. Though Niki moves to Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany as a teenager, I still drew on my experience and first-hand knowledge of the military.

I don’t exactly know when my love affair with the US Military began. Perhaps it was as a young girl when my sister and I spent hours studying the Air Force ranks in volume “A” of the encyclopedia set my parents purchased. Maybe the detailed stories we invented planted a seed.

Regardless, at the age of 21, I found myself married to a military man and suddenly thrust into an entirely different culture and country. After two years and much heart ache, I left a bad situation, but my love for our military survived. Even my second husband served our country for eight years, though I met him long after he became a civilian again.

Somehow, the back story for Niki began weaving together in my mind. She faced tragedy and was left to her brother’s care. He was stationed at Ramstein and at the tender age of 14, she experienced the same culture shock I did. It was here that she first met Kyle Jacobs—a true military brat and typical teenage guy—while attending high school on the military base.

From my experience, I learned that many families have a legacy of military service. It seemed only natural that Kyle Jacobs would grow up to be a pilot in the Air Force, just like his dad. Only his story takes a twist. He doesn’t follow completely in his father’s footsteps and his career is cut short. Suddenly he’s thrust back into the civilian life, dreams shattered and recovering from deep grief over his time in Iraq.

In Nickels, I cover many aspects of the military life: growing up on a military base, marriage in the military, long military careers, and careers cut short by tragedy. Each main character is shaped by their experience with the military life and each must overcome some aspect of that life to move forward with their own.

These experiences are such a part of who I am that I felt compelled to include many aspects of the modern military life in this contemporary romance. I hope this story will leave readers with a greater respect for the sacrifices service men and women and their families make for us each and every day. May God continue to bless the USA through them.

Karen Baney, in addition to writing Christian historical fiction and contemporary novels, works as a Software Engineer. Spending over twenty years as an avid fan of both genres, Karen loves writing stories set in Arizona.

Her faith plays an important role both in her life and in her writing. She is active in various Bible studies throughout the year. Karen and her husband make their home in Gilbert, Arizona, with their two dogs. She also holds a Masters of Business Administration from Arizona State University.

Join Karen and 9 other Christian authors as they celebrate the launch of her new novel, Nickels. [INSERT AD HERE]. [Link Ad to: http://womensliterarycafe.com/content/december-2011-book-launches]

6 comments:

Walt Mussell said...

Do you find that a lot of your readers have military experiece?

On Market said...

Nice Post
Books

-blessed holy socks, the non-perishable-zealot said...

My solemn duty, dear, is to serve and honor you…

I looove to giveth unto thee ideas,
thots you never thot of:
the picturesque protagonist, par excellence,
the non-perishables, the luxurious ditzy-glitz:
the generous, undiluted expansion of bizarre;
the epic endoorphins - an open door to an
onomatopoeia Vernacular;
the high-flying, barnstorming,
toxic firewurKS from yeee-haw KS
taking you in a completely new direction
than where you originally planned!!
O! the mind doth boggle, girly-whirly!!

Why else does a moth fly FROM the night
than to a bold, attractive candle Light??
Don’t let His extravagant Brilliance be extinguished.
You’re creative, yes?
Then, fly-away with U.S. to the antidote…

Whether you obtain morality4mortality to wiseabove
or just glean tantalizing specimens for thy next best seller,
I realize my penname is quite morbid, yet,
you shall find in our blogs a lotta (subliminal) moxie
which has taken this sinfull mortal yeeeeers to compile:
I lay it ALL out for you, dear, with All-Star-Oxygems:

Wouldn’t ya love an endless eternity
of aplomBombs falling on thy indelible cranium?
An XtraXcitinXpose with no zooillogical-expiration-date?
An IQ much higher than K2?
An extraordinarily, anti-establishment-victory
With both sardonic, satirical wit Who’s savvy
and avant-guarde-humility??
Here’s what the exquisite, prolific GODy sed
(with a most-excellent-detector of bull§ht):

“Faith, hope, and love,
the greatest of these is love -
jump into faith...
and you'll VitSee with love”
Doesn’t matter if you don’t believe (what I write);
God believes in you.

Meet me Upstairs, girl, where the Son never goes down
from a super-passionate, lucrative iconoclasm where you’ll find
nonillionsXnonillionsXnonillionsXnonillionsXnonillionsX…
of deluxe-HTTP [<- pi] opportunities for excitement BTW.

Do it. Do the deed, dude. Sign into the Big-Zaftig-House.

PS “It is impossible that anyone should NOT receive all that they have believed and hoped to obtain; it gives Me great pleasure when they hope great things from Me and I will always give them more than they expect”
-our Lord Jesus to Saint Gertrude

Yang Kuo said...

Do you find that a lot of your readers have military experiece?

ทางบ้าน

Unknown said...

Latest news India, breaking news india, Live India news, current news, political news & headlines in India. Read all latest news on arunodayautkarsh.com

mPanchang-2017 said...

Hi! I’ve been following your weblog for a long time and from here
I Get the inspiration to go ahead. Just wanted to mention keep up the great job!
--
Thanks
mPanchang
Ekadashi Significance Calendar Team