There’s Unconditional Surrender in the HOT ZONE!
I know that many romance readers love military heroes. There are some super military novels by such writers as Suzanne Brockmann, Cindy Dees, Candace Irvin, Catherine Mann, Amy Fetzer, Marliss Melton (and definitely a host of others.) I’ve enjoyed creating heroes in many of my books who used to be or are still in the military. Earlier this year I woke up to the idea of writing about a hero who is in the Army Reserves and is shipped away to Iraq and leaves behind a female best friend who promises to write him. In particular, I wanted them to exchange hot letters that also brought them closer together emotionally. Boy was that fun! The story evolved into MALE CALL (Samhain Publishing www.samhainpublishing.com). I surprised myself by realizing that my fictional town of Clarksville, Wyoming, didn’t want to let me go and neither did other military heroes that just kept cropping into my imagination. I knew that I had ideas for a few stories all set in this town and that the stories would all want to be novella sized. So, the HOT ZONE was born. All these tales deal with active duty military, reservists, or former military and the lives they try to carve for themselves when they visit or return to Clarksville.
In the second story, UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER (Available October 9 from Samhain Publishing), I used the theme of old friends coming back together after twenty years and renewing not only their friendship but discovering a simmering romance.
She’s archaeology, he’s Special Ops, and both of them teeter on the edge of stepping into the HOT ZONE.
Archaeologist Fredricka “Freddie” Bodine returns to her hometown for her twentieth high school reunion, unaware that her old crush, Keith Wallace, has blown back into town. A single memory is etched deeply on her brain—the high school prom where she shared an emotionally revealing dance with him. They’d both left town after graduation, feelings unresolved and teen angst firmly in place.
Keith doesn’t want her to travel to Los Diablos, an area near ancient ruins where his sister was killed years ago. As they grapple with family pressures and the exploding passion between them, their battle of wills may just lead them to the truth living in both their hearts.
Both MALE CALL and UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER will be packaged together in a print edition in late August 2008, but in the meantime, you can enjoy them in ebook through Samhain Publishing www.samhainpublishing.com
There will be three other stories in the HOT ZONE series: PRIVATE MANEUVERS (March 2008), CLOSE QUARTERS (June 2008, and MISSION: LOVE (To be announced). I hope you’ll join me for the ride. For excerpts and to see the great cover of UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER, be sure to stop by my website at www.deniseagnew.com.
In the meantime, tell me why you if you enjoy military heroes/heroines. If you do, why? If you don’t, why? I’ll choose from among the responders and one winner will receive a download of BY HONOR BOUND (a military anthology offered through Ellora’s Cave.)
Until October, live, love and dream.
Denise A. Agnew
Hi Amy! How are you? Yep, I know you like miltary heroes. 
I hadn’t thought of the action/suspense in the novels, but you’re right. Many of them do have at least a little suspense/action in them.
Hi Estella,
Yep, Cathy M, that is something that always strikes me about the true military hero. Their love is fierce…they will fight for their woman.
Hi Angie T! I missed your note until just now. I’ve seen quite a few interesting programs on the military channel, too. I’ve used some of those programs as research and reference material, especially for any work I’ve done about snipers. Sending good thoughts to your friend on his continued safety. 
