CHAIN OF COMMAND Author Party Crashes, Awesome Giveaway in Hand!

Before I get started in this post, please know that I have one of the awesome Chain of Command messenger bags (see picture at right!) up for a giveaway.  For a chance to win, just leave a comment on any of my posts today before 12 noon on Feb. 4.  The winner will be announced on my TWITTER: https://twitter.com/colbymarshall and my Facebook Fan page: https://www.facebook.com/authorcolbymarshall , so be sure to follow me on Twitter or "Like" me on Facebook so that you can claim your prize if you win!  Now, on to the post!

It's been said that writers reveal their own struggles, fears, dreams, etc. through their work.

Well, if that's the case, I'm not really sure what Chain of Command says about me.  So, I began to explore the possibilities.  If a complete outsider who knows nothing about me were to analyze, here are some scenarios they might come up with:

      Theory Number 1:  Colby Marshall is clearly violent. 

      Analysis:  I once made a list of casualties in Chain of Command (after an interested editor was daunted by the death toll).  I can't remember what it was and am afraid to go back and count again.  Either way, let's just say that when the death toll on page two equals the page number, chances are, you're book might be a bloodbath.

    Reality:  Colby Marshall won't even kill her own spiders because she's afraid of them.  The bloodbaths in her books are probably a way of fooling herself into thinking she could totally pull off the I-Walk-Away-From-Explosions-And-Don't-Look-Back type of badassery as well as Denzel Washington can.

   Theory Number 2:  Colby Marshall dreams of a world where a female president leads our country sooner rather than later.  

     Analysis: There's no denying it: Chain of Command does explore the possibility of the first female president of the United States of America.  Being female, I suppose it would be an easy leap for someone to think that I'd want this glass ceiling to be broken.  Obviously any woman writing about an assassination plot resulting in the first female taking the highest office in the land has to be chomping at the bit to see a woman in the Oval Office.  Right?

   Reality:  I learned about the United States chain of command to the presidency in school, and I found it interesting that the line of succession had fortunately never had to be put into action past the vice president.  The U.S. has also never had a female President.  When two nevers collide in my mind, a story is bound to be the result.  So, I decided having the chain of command be employed while the third in line for the presidency happened to be a woman would be a conspiracy theorists' wet dream.  As for whether or not I care about a woman being president--I have another post about this very topic coming soon in the blog tour, but suffice it to say yes and no.  I'd love to see a woman hold the highest office in the land, as, generally speaking, I believe women can do as good of a job as men in leadership positions.  That said, I'd only want to see a Madame President elected if she was the right lady for the job and for our country--not because she happens to own an impressive collection of Stuart Weitzmans, gets at least two pedicures a year, and knows the difference between hi-lights and lo-lights. I don't want a woman president just because she is a woman.

Theory Number 3:  Colby Marshall, like her main character McKenzie, fears not knowing the truth about a situation.

Analysis:  Hm.

Reality:  Well, yes.  I suppose there, I have me.

So, while the conclusions one might draw about me as a person might not be entirely accurate based on Chain of Command or any of my other books, for that matter, I do think there’s a little piece of me in every book, even if it's small and something only I would notice.  For example, the next in the McKenzie McClendon series, The Trade, revolves around the black market baby trade, and I was pregnant when I wrote the ending of the book.  I like to create my own characters and situations, but if my own experiences never entered my writing at all, I wouldn't have nearly the depth of characters I do when I can relate their experiences to my own. 

What about you—do things in your life influence what you want to read or write about, or is reading/writing more of an escape from anything remotely similar to your every day life?      

Colby Marshall’s debut thriller, Chain of Command is now available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, StairwayPress.com, and other major e-readers.  Writer by day, ballroom dancer and choreographer by night, Colby has a tendency to turn every hobby she has into a job, thus ensuring that she is a perpetual workaholic.  In addition to her 9,502 regular jobs, she is also a contributing columnist for M Food and Culture magazine and is a proud member of International Thriller Writers and Sisters in Crime.  She is actively involved in local theatres as a choreographer as well as sometimes indulges her prima donna side by taking the stage as an actress.  She lives in Georgia with her family, two mutts, and an array of cats that, if she were a bit older, would qualify her immediately for crazy cat lady status.  Her debut thriller, Chain of Command is now available, and the second book in her McKenzie McClendon series, The Trade, is due for publication by Stairway Press in June 2013.   

Check out the official book trailer for Chain of Command: