Warrior Goddess follows a Marine Captain who has been demoted as she is suddenly pulled from her position fighting criminal gangs in the far reaches of the galaxy to bring down her former boss. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Warrior Goddess is the second book in the Mei Ling Lee series of novels. The first novel, The Achilles Battle Fleet, is about a group of military people who are caught in the eruption of a galactic-level surprise attack followed by a war against an unknown enemy with a seemingly impossible technological advantage. When their rag-tag convoy of spaceships carrying civilian refugees is attacked and disabled, many of their friends and colleagues are killed, along with almost all of the convoy’s leadership. An older rear admiral, long past his prime, takes charge of the survivors and gets them working together not just to survive, but to take the attack to the enemy. The admiral’s aide, Lieutenant Mei-Ling Lee, is thrust into a key role in the preparation for the upcoming offensive. As the conflict continues, she is forced to draw upon her martial arts skills and her inner strength as she fights alongside the fleet’s marine commando unit. In the desperate war that follows, Lee struggles with a budding romance, new friendships, and startling betrayals, to become the leader and warrior she was meant to be.

How did I get the inspiration for the setup? I drew on my experience in the military and later as a diplomat. For example, in Chapter one of the first novel, the character, Bowman, is brought awake by an announcement that all pilots are to report to their spacecraft because their vessel is under attack. He then feels and hears a thump sound, which he knows is not something one should hear on a starship. That scene came from an experience in Iraq, when I was awakened by an announcement over an intercom system that the embassy was about to take incoming fire, and that we should take cover. In a moment, I heard a thumping sound, which I later learned was the sound of mortar rounds impacting. I used that real-life experience to write that part of the novel.

For the parts of the series that have a military theme, I drew upon my time in the military. And when writing about the marine commandos, I drew upon my experience qualifying as a U.S. Army Ranger and some experience training with special operations forces.

As for the martial arts theme, I drew upon my experience as a competitor and a teacher. Over the years I have done some competitions as the captain of a military martial arts team, and I have also trained military close protection personnel in weapons disarming techniques. I have written those experiences into the novel. The main character in the novel, Lieutenant Mei Ling Lee, was a former captain of a martial arts competition team, and she trains the marine commandos in her style of martial arts.

I find that the world you created in this novel brimming with possibilities. Where did the inspiration for the setting come from and how did it change as you were writing?

I believe that the best fiction is expressed through an odyssey – a journey – the purpose of which is to force the characters to deal with impossible situations where they need to make choices that define who they are.

To achieve that, I placed all the major characters in motion. They are swept up in events they can’t control, but they are in control of the decisions they make. And as in real life, those decisions have consequences. Lee is pulled out of her cherished Marine company command and sent on an undercover mission to find and arrest her former boss, Admiral Jay Chambers. During that process, she encounters space pirates, obnoxious AIs, strange Mongolian Monks on a planet where they should not be, three-meter-tall monsters, and a secretive enemy plotting to use time travel to upset the entire history of civilization.

What was the inspiration for Mei Ling Lee’s traits and dialogue?

In the military and in the martial arts, I have had the privilege of serving with women who, like Lee, are tough and resilient. Her character is competent and forceful, but as flawed as any of her readers. She is a composite of people I have known and of my own imagination. Mei Ling Lee is a diminutive woman of Asian descent who has carved for herself a place in a military world dominated by men. She is incredibly tough and capable, compelled to be the best at what she does. In both novels, she is forced to use violence to accomplish her mission or save herself or her friends. Her self-doubt arises because she finds she likes the violence, maybe too much. She feels no remorse for her opponents, and she wonders if she is OK with that attribute.

Where will the third installment of this trilogy take the readers?

The end of Warrior Goddess is a true cliffhanger. Lee has gone back in time to try and fight for her friends who are being held captive by a brutal enemy. Unbeknownst to her, her travel in time has caused tragic and catastrophic consequences in the present. As Lee fights her battles in the past against Genghis Khan and his sons, the rest of the galaxy struggles for a solution to the crisis she may have caused. Several of the novel’s readers have told me they are disturbed by the ending of Warrior Goddess, and they want to know how the plot will resolve itself in the third novel. I tell them, “Let’s find out together!”

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