Duty – Service – Love of country – Honor – Dreams – Family. Those words mean everything to young Michael “Mikey” Roberts. From a small Kansas town, Mikey wants to find his path in life. To accomplish that he joins the United States Army. During his first tour of duty in Vietnam, he found his path…medicine. He became a Special Forces medic. However, in war that path can fork many times. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst. Mikey finds more horror than he expected and learns more about life than he ever wanted to know.

Targeted Age Group:: Adult

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
The beginning of the 1st book in the series came in a dream and an article in Time magazine. Heroes today are few. And we need more of them. This book is a continuation of that theme. It goes into the backstories of the characters and how they met, seen in the eyes of the unit medic.

How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
My characters come from many places. My friends, people I admire, people I despise. Some are a mixture of traits I would like to see in others and myself.

Book Sample
Mikey elbowed his way through the crowd, looking for his parents. He found them next to the bleachers. His father, Glen Roberts, was leaning against the supports wearing his brown felt fedora tipped over his eyes with his arms crossed. Beside him, his mother, Denise Roberts, was tucking her camera back into her purse. Her pictures awed the congregation of the Garden City Protestant Church. They graced the cover of every newsletter and even made the local paper several times a year. He was sure she used up several rolls of film for the ceremony.
“Congratulations, son.” His father straightened and patted him on the back.
“Hey, Dad—”
His mother had a completely different plan. She bulldozed past his father and enveloped Mikey in a bear hug, embracing him so tight he could hardly breathe. She might not ever let go. He allowed her to smother him as long as she wanted. To protest was to invite her wrath, and he wanted no part of that. She could make even his tough-as-nails instructors cower in fear. Eventually, she released him and stepped back.
“Hi, Mom.” Mikey straightened his class A green jacket and adjusted his brand new Green Beret from over his eyes.
“You’re too skinny. I’ll take care of that when we get home. Don’t they feed you?”
“Mom, I’ve gained twenty pounds since basic training and grown two inches. Yes, they feed us. Didn’t you notice I’m not five-seven anymore? I’m the same height as Dad now.”
His mother shook her head. “Yes, I did, but you’re still too thin.”
“If you say so, Mom.” He wasn’t going to correct her or roll his eyes and get chastised in front of a battalion of Green Berets. That would be embarrassing.
“I do.” His mother kissed his cheek. Now that was embarrassing.
Mikey smiled. His mother never thought he ate enough. He was looking forward to scratch-made biscuits and gravy with fresh eggs and his mother’s specialty, shepherd’s pie—pan sautéed ground beef in butter, carrots, onions, green beans, and corn covered with mashed potatoes. Thinking about it made his mouth water. Added with her pumpkin pie, he’d be in absolute heaven. By the end of the second week, he’d need to go on a diet and running a lot more than five miles.
“So, you’re jump qualified now?” his father asked, brushing his hand across the jump wings next to the combat medic badge on Mikey’s chest.
“Low level, HALO, and everything in between, Dad. You have to be to join the Special Forces. Along with becoming familiar with most of the combat arms in the world. You know that.”
“Yeah, you told me in your letters. But it’s different seeing it for real. I was just a grunt in Korea. All I knew was how to dig foxholes, shoot an M1, and stab people with a bayonet. When did you get the Army Commendation Medal?”
“A couple of weeks ago for saving two men in a Cong bombing outside the hospital while under fire from a sniper when I was still in-country.”
“Good for you, son. Are you ready for the steak dinner I promised you?”
“Yes, sir.” Mikey pointed at the barracks in the distance. “Let me grab my duffle bag from my bunk first.” He winked at his mother. “I’m starving.” And ready to go home.

Links to Purchase Print Books
Link to Buy The Jackson MacKenzie Chronicles Brothers In Arms Print Edition at Amazon

Links to Purchase eBooks
Link To Buy The Jackson MacKenzie Chronicles Brothers In Arms On Amazon

Links to Author’s Social Media:
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Author Bio:
I'm many things. And had many different careers. My life has been a learning experience for over 50 years. I have been a bomb dog handler, loaded cargo planes on the cargo ramp. Sat at a computer entering data. Washed dishes at a restaurant and sacked groceries.

I have attended FEMA classes in Terrorism, Suicide bombers, and Nuclear/Biological. I have handled explosives, shot different weapons, from the M1 Garand to the AR-15, and many different pistols.

I am a college graduate with a BA in Political Science and History. I'm a WWII history buff. The P-51 Mustang and F4U Corsair are my favorite planes of WWII. Many people in my family have served. My father, step-father, step-brother, two great uncles, and many, many friends.

I am a musician. I can and do DIY. My kitchen turned out nice as I figured out how to refinish the cabinets.

I love to travel. Been to Europe. My favorite place there. Pompeii. Eerie and exciting at the same time in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius I have seen the battleships Alabama, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri.

My experience is across a wide range of things. A jack of many trades and master of none. Or maybe a few.

Author Home Page Link

Yamaria achieves consciousness as a child, guided by an ethereal being. She inherits a locket, eventually accessing space and time. As a child she had the ability to manifest, the abiility to transcend the material and her point of time and existence through a form of her unconscious state. Yamaria reunites with a former co-ed, Salvatore, who is handsome, tall, well-bred and only recently left his work in the sciences. He is now an esteemed businessman in his family valuable conglomerate. Though hesitant, Yamaria agrees to court her former university colleague. She and Salvatore are being watched. Nonetheless they grow in natural affection. Somehow Salvatore knows that Yamaria was always the one with whom is future lies. A man who knew Yamaria’s mother before she was even born named Antonio transverses time seeking revenge against their world. Yamaria discovers three others at the point where space meets time. They were placed in different worlds with an enchanted heirloom, defeating Antonio. Livianna, one of whom she met at the insterstice, dies. Time is paused. Basilia assists Antonio as revenge against her parents. The mystical being destroys Antonio. Basilia sacrifices herself as recompense. Salvatore proposes to Yamaria. Livianna returns from the dead. Gidadina still possesses the ancient text which shakes as a warning of something yet to come.

Targeted Age Group:: 14+

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
Circumstance and a yearning to write beyond what I had been before. Silhouette Lost is the first of two fiction books I wrote. I wanted to use whatever spare time I had and one night I could not fall asleep. All these ideas were stirring in my head. I initially jotted some notes about the what names I would call the characters, whether their names would have any hidden meaning and a line or two about the main plot. Since then I generally do not outline or make notes. It was a time in my life in which a jolt of literary energy surfaced. Writing a novel was still new to me. I go into details on what inspired me to write this book in the preface of Silhouette Lost, now available as an ebook at select online retailers.

How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
Well, I have always written characters of multi-racial heritage. Italy is a country that I have always wanted to visit but have yet to. I thought it interesting to write the protagonist and some of the other characters to have at least partial Italian heritage. Yamaria's love interest is full European Italian. She is beautiful, bashful, intelligent, but capable. He is suave, intelligent and business savvy. Before they enter into the realm of unexpected possibilities, I understood that their complimentary traits would help guide them throughout subsequent adventures throughout the series. Where and how, I had yet to imagine.

Book Sample
“It’s like a dream, and please do not wake me if it is so,” she said. The wind was
toggling her carefully crafted fishtail pony. The wind was so brisk it flowed straight through Salvatore’s loose linen button up shirt.

“This is real and there will be so much more I hope to show you, not just today or
tomorrow…” Salvatore said. A flock of birds caught his eye. He had not noticed Yamaria was gone until he turned back around and heard her yelling his name. Yamaria had stumbled and fallen backwards over an embedded stone. She continued falling from the cliff which had a rounded tip and dipped inward throughout its rugged descending contours to its based below the somewhat still waters. Yamaria managed to grab right underneath the rugged surface and held on dearly calling for Salvatore. Her legs dangled for a few seconds before she tried to kick her left leg closest to the cliff. Yamaria realized that all she was doing was losing energy and causing her fingers to lose her grip. “Yamaria! Yamaria!” Salvatore yelled. “Hold on!” He went to the edge of the cliff and reached out his right hand, the span of distance was too great that their hands met only halfway. “I cannot lose you, not ever! Just stay calm and I’ll get some rope, a raft, and help from the locals. Just do not let go, ok?!”

“I am trying but the rock is too rough and it is hurting my hands!” Yamaria cried. She felt a surge of force behind her which she concluded arose from her inner strength awakened by extreme circumstances. Yamaria was lifting upward, and stretching her legs forward focusing on the terrain closest to her. She fell forward but felt no real pain, only a bit embarrassed. By the time Salvatore returned with gear and help, Yamaria had already recovered and was safely back on top of the cliff. Salvatore rushed towards her and lifted her off the ground.

“How did you even…are you alright? Was someone here already?” Salvatore asked.

“Calm down Salvatore. I’m fine, I think,” Yamaria said.

“I’m not letting you out of my sight for one second.”

“As you wish, but I am telling you that I am fine. I am just unsure how I was able to do that, or even if I did.”

“La vostra bella signora è forte,” one man said. “Your beautiful lady is strong.”

Links to Purchase eBooks
Link to Silhouette Lost on Barnes and Noble
Link to Silhouette Lost for sale on Smashwords
Link to Silhouette Lost for sale on iBooks

Links to Author’s Social Media:
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Author Bio:
Patricia M. Muhammad is an multi-genre fiction author of crossover contemporary romance/science fiction, science fiction/fantasy, mystery, magical realism and historical romance genres. She has currently written 22 novels.
Patricia often incorporates characters of multi-racial heritage and interracial relationships into her books. As a young girl, she often found herself immersed in the stories of fictional characters; from animated animals to youth who were amateur detectives, to a young girl survivor on a mission to save her younger brother off the coast of the wilderness. These stories contributed to her budding imagination.

She is currently working on her next book manuscript.

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