A little peek into some of the locations used for the Operation series

I wanted to share a few images that come close to the locations I've used in my Operation Series. It's not an exact science, and it's times like this when I dearly wish I was blessed with the ability to sketch! How awesome would that be?!

*Please note I'm not claiming any ownership of these images, just trying to find images that reflect the feeling of scenes in my book.

Operation Summer Storm

In Operation Summer Storm we travel from Bali to the remote and rustic Los Cavernas owned by a reclusive milionaire/hillbilly associate of Tate and his men, before heading into the rugged and beautifully mysterious Cambodian jungle.

 

 You may also recall the caves which Los Cavernas is named after.

This reminds me of the underwater scene inside the cave.







Inside the cave

The Cambodian jungle 

 The dreaded POW camp where Willlow is being kept.

Operation Willow Quest

 Willow at Summer and Tate's little house overlooking the beach.

 Hawaii

 Guerrilla fighters in South America just one of the dangers Willow and Del face. 

                                         Colombian landscape.

  Bogotá, Colombia

Back home to Brisbane and Willow's inner city apartment

Operation Swift Mercy

Chase and his fishing spot where he goes to get away from the madness of Grooms men duties...and finds a bigger catch than he was expecting! 

The Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, provides more excitement than any of the guys were expecting. 

And in Swift Mercy we see the beginning of Los Cavernas becoming a resort.

The dock/ wharf where the boat is tied up...usually!

 Inside the guy's cabins on Los Cavernas

Operation Date with Destiny

 Back streets of Manila, in the Phillipines where a very cocky, Tupper,  finds himself.

 The resort reception area at Los Cavernas

Los cavernas resort

If you haven't read the whole series yet, I hope this gives you a little bit more insight! you can find the series and all my other books here   :D Happy reading! 

Some real Marine action

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   Here's some Marines in action. Visit the official Marine website and find out more about the US Marine Corp or find them on Facebook.

   
   

   Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) land on a beach in an Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV) as part of a mechanized raid in Thailand. 

   Designed to transport Marines and cargo through hostile territory on land or sea, AAVs define the distinction and purpose of Marine Corps expeditionary capabilities.
   
   
   

   
   

   Photo by Cpl Jonathan Wright

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   “My rifle and myself are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy.” –The Rifleman’s Creed

   
   Photo by Cpl Reece Lodder.

   
   

   “Every Marine a rifleman.”
   
   With less weight and a shorter barrel, the M4 Carbine rifle ensures the Marines’ credo is just as appropriate at shorter distances and in confined spaces as it is from 500 yards out.

   
   

   

   
   

   
   

   
   

Some background on Sentinel Securities

Ever wondered what the Sentinel Securities office looks like?

So...picture this                                                                and this

 But renovated with a kitchen area, workshop and office. Kinda like this....

 Only....better! But you get the general idea!

and something like this for the office building...

Upcoming assignments

In book two the guys are on an assignment to Africa.

Mission: locate and bring home missing Australian aid worker.

Possible threats: Irate fiancé, past history with said missing aid worker, pissed off rebels, corrupt Government officials who want, said aid worker, dead…..

Suspected Mission Outcome: No worries! Just another day in the office for the Sentinel Security guys.

I've been BLINDSIDED

As some of you know, I've recently finished writing the last book in my Operation series and have been a little sad about saying goodbye to the characters I've had with me for well over twelve years...but today I'm so happy to say I've been working on a brand new series and Blindsided is the very first to be released!

So who are these new guys?

Sentinel Securities is a private security company made up of five ex-SAS (Australian Special Forces) soldiers.

In the upcoming weeks I'll be posting some more info about these guys, where they live, what they do, the kind of assignments they take on...places they travel....I'm very excited about this series and cant wait to share more about the books with you! 

Sentinel Securities, have been hired to retrieve stolen information for a client, only to find themselves caught in the middle of a drug war.

When a violent biker gang capture Briella’s ex, her life and that of her daughter, are immediately placed in jeopardy. Oblivious to the fact she’s in possession of the stolen information, Briella’s world is about to get turned upside down and a chance encounter with Jason Nash will be the beginning of the end for life as she once knew it.

Here's the blurb:
His mission: infiltrate the woman in possession of the information—retrieve said information – don’t look back.

Her mission—survive the sudden invasion that is Jason Nash—remain in control of her senses and don’t fall in love with the bad boy!

Jason Nash had the life any testosterone fueled male would envy; a job he loved, freedom and the income to buy whatever new plaything took his interest. The last thing he needed was a woman who came with a ready-made family to mess up his plans.

Briella Matheson found out the hard way that bad boys were bad news. What she needed was someone reliable, safe and well…boring. Boring was good. Unfortunately, what she got was Jason Nash and he was anything, but boring…he was trouble!

Buy Blindsided here :D

Indie Authors Rock!

They sure do... they've rocked my world! 

I write under two names, romantic suspense titles under Karlene Blakemore-Mowle and rural fiction under Karly Lane. I've been fortunate to work in both Indie and traditional publishing and I have to say both have given me unique experiences.

My very first book ever published was with a small press publisher and I can recall at the time, certain people in my Romance writers group making their thoughts VERY clear that this wasn't REAL publishing. It was a cop out… I should be working hard to get noticed by REAL publishers…big publishers…and THEN I could say I was a real published author. This got me a tad defensive…why was my book any less of a real book than a traditionally big named published book? People were buying it… it was available in print... people were telling me they loved it, so why was my book considered to be less, than theirs?

I decided to ignore those negative kind of people and I went on to publish three more books with my overseas small press publisher and then low and behold one day I DID get published by a BIG NAME publisher.

 However, as amazing as that was, I continued to write under my other name writing my romantic suspense, because deep down that’s what I love to write. My only problem with this was I wasn't selling books… ok, so when I say wasn't selling…I was selling but maybe only 15 ebooks per quarter. I think the most I ever made was around the $103 mark and that was for four books totaled over three months. This was the highlight of my paid American published career, usually I was making between $11 and $30 per quarter…to say it was a little Underwhelming was an UNDERstatement! Then one day ….

 I discovered my phone had the ability to download apps (yes, I was dragged into the here- and-now!) I stumbled upon an Amazon app and shock! Horror! You can download books to read on your phone!!! OMG! So this was the beginning of the end for me... actually it was the beginning of something amazing…I was discovering books and authors I’d never heard of… books I couldn't buy in book shops… authors who I began chatting to on Facebook and some who have become lifelong friends…

Now, while this was all amazing and exciting for me as a reader…the me as an author was beginning to work out a few things…

Firstly, readers like me can get through a book in a day or less…my books through a publisher take around 12 MONTHS to be scheduled for release by a publisher big or small…this was rather annoying. I was waiting for months and months before my books were available to the public.

 Secondly, the small press publisher had my books priced way too high. No one was buying them because they were priced upwards of $6. Now I’m a reader too... I DON’T BUY BOOKS OVER $3.99…so how can I expect other readers to pay that much for a book?

Thirdly, Books placed on special were selling!

SO after numerous emails to my small-press publisher, and being told repeatedly they were not prepared to lower the prices of the books, I gave up. I’d had enough. It was a waste of my time and effort I put into promoting my books if I could only sell a handful each quarter.

That’s when I decided to take the scary plunge and self-publish my next books by myself…what did I have to lose? I couldn't do any WORSE than I already was, right? SO I did it… I put out my first book, Operation Swift Mercy, followed by Operation Date with Destiny and soon to be released Blindsided…IT WAS THE BEST THING I'VE EVER DONE!

In less than 3 months I've sold 1311 copies of my two titles. Bit of a difference isn't it! And why? Well, mainly because of the pricing is what I can put it down to. I've always tried to promote all my books, and so I wasn't doing anything different there, but the books are now more in line with other book prices and so, are competing! It’s not rocket science! I am free to discount my books and run sale days, and this stuff sells books! It’s how you get your books noticed!

I am PROUD to be an Indie author. I’m PROUD to be an author—full stop! There is a big shift happening in publishing and Indies are leading the way into this brave new world—but it doesn't mean it’s a bad thing.

People still want books…authors still want to write...

Readers want choice and reasonably priced books— they've got it.

 Authors want to sell books—they can!

Print books are still available—that won’t change.

 However now maybe readers will have a say in what they want and no longer will their choices be limited to what publishers think should be out there. FREEDOM OF CHOICE, people...that’s what Indie means to me.

Keep CALM!!!!

WHY INDIES ROCK

Blog tour coming from 1^st November – 20^th December 2012. Keep an eye out for some great posts and giveaways!