Countermeasure Series Tour Day 5

I would like to welcome Authors Chris Almeida and Cecila Aubrey to the blog today. They are here for Day 5 of their Countermeasure Series tour.

Before we talk to Chris and Cecila, take a look at the second full length novel in their Countermeasure Series

Blurb:

In the second novel of the COUNTERMEASURE SERIES, Trevor and Cassandra Bauer are starting a new life across the pond where they continue their search for Trevor's parent while he still works as an NSA consultant. When George Miller, his best friend, comes across what looks to be a new piece of information on his parents' case, they embark on a new adventure following a digital trail to Saint Petersburg.

They are encumbered with the task of infiltrating a Russia Mafia's stronghold and recovering stolen files in exchange for that new clue. As they dive in the job, Trevor becomes bound to a Russian mafia crime lord. What started as a simple data file recovery turns into a dangerous game of cat and mouse deep in a world of betrayal, hidden identities, and secret agendas.

Cassandra will do anything to keep Trevor safe. When everything goes FUBAR and she finds herself on the run, her sole focus is finding Trevor even it if means she has to depend on those who might not have their best interests at heart.

Stephan Connelan, Brennan Enterprises' CEO and Trevor's Parents' friend, has fought his desire for Jessica Forrester since the day they met at Trevor and Cassandra's wedding. Events in his past stop him from giving in to temptation, a temptation that would cause them both regret and hurt. But how long can he resist something so powerful as his attraction for the little vixen who has crowded his thoughts for months.

Jessica knows what she wants. Their age difference won't stop her from having the man of her dreams. She is determined to find a way to reach the heart he has locked away behind high walls. Little does she know that her greatest obstacle is Stephan himself.

Read an Excerpt HERE

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Now to hear from Chris and Cecila....

The Reality Within Fiction

We wrap up our Passionate Tour at Alannah Lynne’s blog. We thank Leagh for once again using her magic to make this tour happen and run so smoothly, for keeping us in check. We tend to wander and we need her to steer us back to the light. Alannah, it has been a pleasure chatting with you and we hope to have many more of these exchanges in the future.

To close the week, we’ll talk about how fiction imitates life and sometimes life imitates fiction.

From time to time, we’re asked how we come up with our plots. For the Countermeasure Series, we turn to world events and innovations in technology for inspiration. Because the series is a contemporary romantic suspense thriller, we have to stay in tune with what’s current around the world. World events are our playground.

When the plot idea for Countermeasure surfaced, we wanted certainty that something of magnitude of the original idea could happen for real. We spent weeks prowling the internet and libraries reading everything we could get our hands on. We made a wonderful contact that actually had firsthand knowledge of the pharmaceutical world we were exploring who validated the premise for our story, corroborated our information, and provided us with a wealth of knowledge.

Armed with research, world news events, and validation, Trevor and Cassandra’s adventure began taking shape. The pharmaceutical industry is as cutthroat as we depicted. It was amazing to find out how competitive the corporations are and the lengths they will go to to stay ahead of the game.

Enter To Russia with Love. While tossing around the idea for Trevor and Cassandra’s next adventure, we tapped into Chris’s background and connections as a programmer. We started once again on a journey of discovery asking questions, searching the internet to exhaustion, and checking out a gazillion books from the library. We confirmed that Russia had indeed become a mecca for hackers and that they focus on online fraud. A great number of infiltration attempts into financial institutions’ systems come from that part of the world. Additional research revealed the role the Russian mafia played and its hierarchy. We researched them thoroughly, watched numerous documentaries on the Vory, and gleaned what we could to ensure that we portrayed our villains in their true environment. They are a brutal bunch and those in our story are no different. When you couple hackers and the Russian mafia, you get a gut wrenching, throat tightening adventure.

Eight months after we had finished the original manuscript we read about a raid in a Russian mafia’s stronghold and a number of men arrested, including a member of the St. Petersburg police force who was involved in the mafia operation. As you can see, there’s a big dose of reality in our fiction.

For our current work in progress, the third novel of the series, we will be once again diving into current events. This time our eyes are on the Middle East, a powder keg of politics and religious strife, where every day is lived on the edge. The more we read, discuss, and digest, the faster our pulses race. It will prove to be a rush of a ride and possibly Trevor and Cassandra’s most difficult case to date.

We work hard to keep the world Trevor, Cassandra, George, and all others live and breathe believable. By keeping our ears and eyes on world events and understanding our facts, we can take our readers on an adventure based in the here and now with a pinch of literary license from time to time. We hope that the majority of the readers will enjoy our stories and, even if they are not at par with the research we went through to write the them, learn a bit from that world of adventure, from the reality of our characters’ lives.

Cheers,

Chris and Cecilia

How about you? Have you ever read a book that made you look for more details on something mentioned on it?

Contest Time:

Chris and Cecila are offering one commenter from this blog an ebook copy of To Russia with Love. They are also offering one commenter throughout the whole tour a grand prize of the entire Countermeasure Series (5 ebooks total). All you have to do is comment and fill out the rafflecopter below to enter. Winner will be chosen on Saturday and emailed next week. The tour schedule is below so be sure to go back and check ou the first 4 stops in the tour. 

10/1 featuring Countermeasure ~ Harlie's Books
10/2 featuring Ectasy by the Sea ~ Queen of the Night Reviews
10/3 featuring Cuffed at Midnight ~ Guilty Pleasures
10/4 featuring Passion at Dawn ~ Kinky Book Reviews
10/5 featuring To Russia with Love ~ Author Alannah Lynne

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