I want one of those ski chalets with the cathedral ceilings
and two-story windows that overlook a lake (with a big wrap-around deck out
front, of course). Ideally this would be in the mountains, but not too far from
beaches, and not too far from a city, either, because I like a bit of
civilization to go along with my solitude. Does such a place exist? Can someone
tell me where it is, please?
If we were to come to your house for a meal, what would
you give us to eat?
Well, if you came to my house for a meal, my husband would
probably cook it. If you’re a carnivore he’d cook you a perfect ribeye (and
grill some vegetables to go with it). If you lean more plant-based, he’s got
this great roasted cauliflower quiche with an oatmeal crust. Dinner at my house
gets five stars, most nights!
Tell us about the absolute BEST fan letter you have
received.
Well, my first professional blurb for Playing Army is pretty
great! It’s from Daria Sommers, one of the directors of the film, Lioness,
about five female soldiers who were embedded with Marine infantry units in
Iraq, well before the ban was lifted on women in combat. Here’s what she had to
say:
Say your publisher has offered to fly you anywhere in the
world to do research on an upcoming book, where would you most likely want to
go?
To tell you where I need to go for research for the next
book would be a massive spoiler for Playing Army! So instead I’ll tell you that
I’d ask my publisher to send me to Turkey to re-immerse myself in that amazing
country, for another story I’ve got in the works.
Who designed the book cover for the book you are touring?
A graphic designer named Lauren Sheldon, who has been great
to work with! She’s a Georgia girl, too, and tells me she snatched my project
away from everyone else on the Koehler team when they were divvying up the
design work.
Lauren made six covers actually, using ideas I provided,
then we put our top two choices up for a public vote. They were both so
perfect! The votes were very split, and people had very strong opinions about
both covers but the final cover definitely fits the story the best.
PLAYING ARMY
Nancy Stroer
GENRE: UpLit / domestic war
It’s
1995 and the Army units of Fort Stewart, Georgia are gearing up to deploy to
Bosnia, but Lieutenant Minerva Mills has no intention of going to war-torn
eastern Europe. Her father disappeared in Vietnam and, desperate for some kind
of connection to him, she’s determined
to go on a long-promised tour to Asia. But the Colonel will only release her on
two conditions—that she reform the rag-tag Headquarters Company so they’re
ready for the peacekeeping mission, and that she get her weight within Army
regs, whichever comes second. Min only has one summer to kick everyone’s butts
into shape but the harder she plays Army, the more the soldiers—and her
body—rebel. If she can’t even get the other women on her side, much less lose
those eight lousy pounds, she’ll never have another chance to stand where her
father once stood in Vietnam, feeling what he felt. The Colonel may sweep her
along to Bosnia or throw her out of the Army altogether. Can you fake it until
you make it? Min is about to find out.
Excerpt
Two:
My heart raced, not in a good way, as a helicopter thudded
overhead toward Hunter Army Airfield twenty miles away. Had my father died in a
helicopter assault? The notification only said he’d gone missing in a fire
fight, but he’d been assigned to the air cavalry. He hadn’t been a movie star
like Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now, though—just another Air Cav soldier who
disappeared in the Mekong Delta in April of 1969. I imagined myself crouched
backward over the skids of a Huey. Terrified, with the sound of AK-47s firing
below and nothing to connect me to safety but a nylon rope. Nothing but the
empty black maw of my ignorance waiting to swallow me whole. You would think,
if my father had been liked and respected, the soldiers from his platoon would
have responded to the letters I’d written but no one ever had, leaving me only
questions so corrosive my insides burned.
It was strange how the absence of a person could occupy so
much mental real estate, but the Army—all of America, really—was obsessed with
the bodies of the soldiers left behind. The dead were probably at peace—I had
to believe that—but those who remained were not. For me, nothing but boots on
the ground in Vietnam would satisfy my relentless drive to understand, and
Korea was the closest place to Vietnam the Army would send me.
GIVEAWAY
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Nancy Stroer grew up in a very big family in a very small house in Athens, Georgia and served in the beer-soaked trenches of post-Cold War Germany. She holds degrees from Cornell and Boston University, and her work has appeared in the Stars and Stripes, Soldiers magazine, Hallaren Lit Mag, Wrath-Bearing Tree, and Things We Carry Still, an anthology of military writing from Middle West Press.
She’s a teacher and a trainer, and an adjunct faculty member of the Ellyn Satter Institute, a 503(c) not-for-profit that helps individuals and families develop a more joyful relationship to food and their bodies. Playing Army is her first novel.
Social media links:
https://twitter.com/Nancy_Stroer
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/49311942.Nancy_Stroer
https://www.facebook.com/nancy.stroer/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancy-stroer-86213089/
5 comments:
Thank you so much for hosting Playing Army today! I loved doing this interview and would be happy to answer any other questions your followers might have. best, Nancy
Thank you for featuring PLAYING ARMY today.
Sounds good.
Sounds like a good read.
I'm looking forward to reading this book. Thanks for hosting.
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