We are delighted to welcome author Pepper O'Neal to Omnimystery News today.
Pepper's second romantic thriller in her Black Ops Chronicles series is Dead Men Don't (Black Opal Books; June 2014 trade paperback and ebook formats) and we recently had the chance to catch up with her to talk more about it and the series.
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Omnimystery News: Tell us a little more about the characters of the Black Ops Chronicles. What is it about them that appeals to you as a writer?
Image provided courtesy of
Pepper O'Neal
Pepper O'Neal: Well, my characters are based on real people I have met in my travels and while working in third world countries. Many are ex-patriots and adventurers and have lead fascinating lives, with extremely interesting stories to tell. Writing about them makes me feel closer to them, and I don't miss them as much, now that I spend most of my time at my computer. For instance, the lead character in my latest book, Dead Men Don't, is Levi Komakov. Levi is ex-British SAS, as well as ex-CIA (both true facts). I love his off-beat, and understated sense of humor as well as his fierce determination to do what is right, regardless of the consequences. He's the kind of man who would walk through fire to help a friend. It's nice to know that people like him really do exist.
OMN: How do your characters develop over time?
PO: I think that most people, real people anyway, change with time and experience. They grow and overcome faults and bad habits, or they try to anyway. So I expect my characters to learn and grow, however, I wouldn't expect their core personalities or core values to change all that much, unless they go through an extremely traumatic, life-changing experience. For example, Levi might learn to keep a tighter control on his temper, but I wouldn't expect him to lose his sense of humor or his sense of right and wrong. And while I do write series, featuring many of the same characters, each book itself is a stand-alone, in that each book focuses on different characters' stories. In other words, you don't have to read book 1 to get what is going on in book 2. So even though Levi played a strong role in the first book, Dead Run, that book was really about Max and his experiences.
OMN: How do you go about finding the right voice for your characters?
PO: I usually have two main characters, both male and female, though there are more men in my books than women. That is probably because most of my close friends are men. Few women choose to live the kind of life I have, living and working in third world countries, although that is changing in more recent times. Having often been the only woman in a team of several men, whether working on a boat, or doing research in the field, I am often more comfortable with men than I am with women, although I do have some very close women friends whom I respect and admire very much. But I tend to know how men think and talk, so I don't find it difficult to write from their POV.
OMN: Into which fiction genre would you place your books?
PO: My publisher calls them romantic thrillers. When I first started writing fiction, I wrote thrillers, but an agent told me that if I wanted to sell books, I needed to add romance, as that was what publishers were buying. So I did, but the romance, while there, usually isn't the main focus of the story. I have to assume that my readers are like me, in that, while romance for the sake of romance is okay for some, I need something more than that to hold my interest. I like romance, don't get me wrong, but life is seldom all sunshine and roses, and I prefer a plot I can really sink my teeth into, something I can learn at least a little something from.
OMN: Tell us something about Dead Men Don't that isn't mentioned in the publisher's synopsis.
PO: Dead Men Don't, like most of my books, is about taking control of your own life and refusing to just accept what life throws at you. You always have a choice, sometimes it is between two evils, but there is always a choice, and no one can decide how you will act or react in any given situation but yourself. That is one freedom that no one can take away from you.
OMN: How would you tweet a summary of the book?
PO: Dead Men Don't is the story of a woman who refuses to be a victim and a man who will protect her with his life, whether she wants him to or not.
OMN: How much of your own personal or professional experience have you included in your books?
PO: Most of my characters and stories are based on real people and real events. I change names and locations, etc., to protect identities, but the people I have met and the stories they have told me are often better than anything I could come up with strictly out of my imagination. And I feel that these are stories that need to be told, so if I don't do it, who will?
OMN: Tell us a little more about your writing process.
PO: I am a pantser, as we call it in fiction. I pretty much let my characters write the first draft, and then I go back and refine and polish the writing and fill in the plot holes.
OMN: How do you go about researching specific plot points of your stories?
PO: I am a researcher by trade, so I do extensive research. I feel it's a crime to put basic facts in a novel that are not true or are misleading. So I double check everything. I also have my friends vet the books for me. For example, in my first book in this series, Dead Run, I had an ambush in an airport parking lot with the bad guys hiding in the parked cars. However, when I sent the scene to Max, he told me that CIA officers would never get caught in a situation like that. The first thing they would do would be to check all the parked cars to make sure they were empty before they set up the ambush. So I had to go back and change that scene. That's not to say that I don't make up fictitious secret bases or airfields, etc., or even shifters and vampires for my paranormal series, Blood Fest, but I try to make my basic facts as accurate and truthful as possible.
OMN: Besides getting your facts right, how true are you to the setting of the action?
PO: I try to stick with real locations that either I have been to or that my friends have been to, so that I have enough knowledge of the place to give the story a ring of truth. My first book in this series, Dead Run, was set in Baja California, Mexico City, and Salt Lake City, Utah, all places I have been to and know very well. Dead Men Don't was set in the Pacific Northwest, which I am very familiar with, and in the Middle East. I have never been to the Middle East, but Levi has and he was able to provide me with the information I needed. I did make up a fictitious country for the part of the story that took place there, as bad thing happen and my publisher thought it was best not to use a real country.
OMN: If we could send you anywhere in the world to research the setting for a story, where would it be?
PO: I would go to Ireland to investigate my roots there on my maternal grandmother's side, especially for my paranormal series, as it's entirely possible that magic still exists in Ireland. I think if it exist anywhere, it would be there.
OMN: What is the best advice — and harshest criticism — you've received as an author?
PO: I think the best advice I ever received as an author was to never give up. You learn to write by writing (and reading other authors), but if you want to be published, you have to keep trying, and writing, until you get it right. Few authors write an award-winning novel the first time out. My first book in this series won several awards, but it was my fifth novel (the first two are still in the bottom of my sock drawer and will likely stay there) and went through numerous rewrites to get to that point. Becoming a published author is 1% talent and 99% determination.
I don't know if it was the harshest criticism I have ever been given, but it's one that affected my writing. In the first book in my Blood Fest series, Chasing Destiny, my female lead didn't know she was a weretiger until the male lead told her. A couple of reviewers pointed out that she accepted that a little too easily. While I didn't agree — given that once her repressed memories of her childhood were released, she remembered her parents and therefore accepted the truth — but it showed me that I needed to make my characters' motives and emotions a little more clear than they were, at least in that case. Readers notice the little things, so authors have to notice them as well and make sure they are explained sufficiently to be credible. Just because the author understands the character's motivations, it doesn't mean the reader will.
OMN: What other kind of feedback have you received from readers?
PO: I guess I am fortunate that most of the feedback from readers has been positive. I love hearing from readers, whether the input is kudos or criticism, it helps me improve my writing. Readers tell me that they like my paranormal series Blood Fest because it isn't as dark and gory as a lot of the paranormal stories out there. Which is important for me to know, since I often write about the darker side of life. So I have to keep in mind how much detail to put in and how graphic to make it, and I can't forget to add the humor that is often inherent in any situation if you stop to look for it. And it's often enough to imply violence without going into gory detail.
OMN: What kinds of books did you read when you were younger?
PO: I'm a voracious reader and always have been. I read everything from romance to thrillers to non-fiction. I'm sure that it all had an influence on my writing. And still does. Like everyone, I've read bad fiction (a good example of how not to write) and I've read superb fiction (man, I wish I could write like that!) and, like every writer, I try to emulate those authors whose fiction I most enjoy. However, since my interests are wide and varied, my books tend to be a marriage of Nora Roberts and Tom Clancy (a combination I am sure both authors would be horrified to hear). I thoroughly enjoyed Tom Clancy's novels (or most of them anyway) and I'm sorry he's gone. I also enjoyed Robert Asprin's books. He's another author who will be sorely missed.
OMN: And what do you tend to read today?
PO: I prefer thrillers with romantic elements, usually paranormal romantic thrillers. I like seeing how other authors handle their paranormal world building and how their "world rules" compare to mine.
OMN: What kinds of films do you enjoy watching?
PO: I'm an adrenalin junkie with a strong sense of justice, so I most enjoy action films where the bad guys get trounced. I'm not real fond of slapstick or chick lit films, although there have been a few movies in those genres that I liked.
OMN: Create a Top 5 list for us on any topic.
PO: My top five authors would be Robert Asprin, Tom Clancy, Jami Gray, Fiona Archer, and LJ DeLeon. As I said I have varied interests.
OMN: What's next for you?
PO: I have a new book coming out this summer, Blood Fest: Running Scared, which will be coming out in July or August. I don't have an exact date yet.
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Pepper O'Neal is a researcher, a writer, and an adrenalin junkie. She has a doctorate in education and spent several years in Mexico and the Caribbean working as researcher for an educational resource firm based out of Mexico City. During that time, she met and befriended many adventurers like herself, including former CIA officers and members of organized crime. Her fiction is heavily influenced by the stories they shared with her, as well her own experiences abroad. O'Neal attributes both her love of adventure and her compulsion to write fiction to her Irish and Cherokee ancestors. When she's not at her computer, she spends her time taking long walks in the forests near her home or playing with her three cats. And of course, planning the next adventure.
For more information about the author, please visit her website at PepperONeal.com and her author page on Goodreads, or find her on Facebook and Twitter.
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Dead Men Don't by Pepper O'Neal
The Black Ops Chronicles
Publisher: Black Opal Books
Anderson Merritt's been kidnapped, but when a stranger comes to rescue her, she isn't sure he is who he says he is. He claims to work her father's boss. But someone close to Andi set her up, and now she doesn't know who to trust. Every man she's ever known has seen her only as a tool to get to her father or his money, so why should this one be any different? As the sparks between them ignite, and the danger escalates, Andi has to choose — go off on her own, or trust that some men really are what they seem.
Ex-CIA black ops specialist Levi Komakov doesn't believe in hurting women, but when the place is set to blow and Andi won't cooperate, he has no choice to but toss her over his shoulder and carry her out of danger, determined to keep her safe in spite of herself. But the beautiful little spitfire doesn't make it easy for him. With her abductors seemingly always one step ahead of him, Levi suspects there's a rat in the woodpile, but who? Could it be someone close to Andi's father, someone in the FBI, or someone in the family Levi works for? When a new threat appears, and even the CIA can't help him keep Andi safe, Levi puts everything on the line — but will it be enough?
— Dead Men Don't by Pepper O'Neal
