Living Dangerously: 42 Days of 666 - Day 37 with Sarah Pinborough

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Weston Ochse is a former intelligence officer and special operations soldier who has engaged enemy combatants, terrorists, narco smugglers, and human traffickers. His personal war stories include performing humanitarian operations over Bangladesh, being deployed to Afghanistan, and a near miss being cannibalized in Papua New Guinea. His fiction and non-fiction has been praised by USA Today, The Atlantic, The New York Post, The Financial Times of London, and Publishers Weekly. The American Library Association labeled him one of the Major Horror Authors of the 21st Century. His work has also won the Bram Stoker Award, been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and won multiple New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards. A writer of more than 26 books in multiple genres, his military supernatural series SEAL Team 666 has been optioned to be a movie starring Dwayne Johnson. His military sci fi series, which starts with Grunt Life, has been praised for its PTSD-positive depiction of soldiers at peace and at war. Weston likes to be called a chaotic good paladin and challenges anyone to disagree. After all, no one can really stand a goody two-shoes lawful good character. They can be so annoying. It's so much more fun to be chaotic, even when you're striving to save the world. You can argue with him about this and other things online at Living Dangerously or on Facebook at Badasswriter. All content of this blog is copywrited by Weston Ochse.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

42 Days of 666 - Day 37 with Sarah Pinborough

For the next 42 days we're going to be counting down to the release of SEAL Team 666. Why 42? Because it's the answer to the universal question.

Today we have Sarah Pinborough. We first met sometime back in the last decade. We disagree on the actual time, but one thing we can agree on is it was in a bar and our faces were probably flushed. She's an extraordinary writer, whose Dog-Faced Gods Trilogy just blew me out of the water. She lives in London, wears tinfoil hats in the evening, and bathes in a gold-plated vat of Chardonnay.

1. What’s your favorite military movie, book or television show?

I never really think I like military drama, but when I look back at stuff I've read or watched - primarily watched when it comes to action drama - there's quite a lot of it. When I was a kid I was a proper daddy's girl and he introduced me to films such as; Where Eagles Dare, The Dirty Dozen, Battle of Britain, Bridge on the river Kwai (my dad was actually in that one!), Das Boot, the big red one and endless others. As I grew up, I still watched new military films - Saving Private Ryan, Platoon etc - but my natural leanings to Horror and SciFi mean that I tend to watch military with weird now. And, I have to say my favourite of all of recent years has to be Battlestar Galactica but that encompasses so much of society than just the military so I won't pick it. Now, call me cheesy but I loved Stargate SG:1. (I'm a girl)

2. Why is it your favorite? Here’s where you can ramble a bit.

I loved the blend of sci-fi and team work in it. Plus, although it's not as dark as the stuff I normally watch it was really imaginative and had lots of ongoing storylines. Plus, there was humour and some sentimental stuff too. Although it was family entertainment there were some difficult decision that had to be made. I'm a geek, what can I say?

3. What themes are overused? And is it overused, or just truthful observation?

I think in any military drama patriotism can be overplayed. People invariable don't die for their country. They die for a set of beliefs, and I think the reasons behind bravery can be more complex- and more interesting - than the love of one's country or the need to protect it. I love the dynamics of teams of very different people brought together by a uniform and suddenly in a life-threatening situation, but the presentation of these characters can quite often be stereotypical (one coward, one wisecracker, etc). But perhaps that's how it is.

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If you're stateside, Matter of Blood, the first of the Dog-Faced Gods Trilogy will be available in April. If you can't wait, like me, You can order your copies from overseas, or from booksellers who carry the overseas titles. I've read all three and they are some of my favorite books.

Thanks, Sarah!

Don't forget to Pre-order SEAL Team 666 from your favorite store:

Powell's ~ Amazon ~ B&N ~ Indiebound ~ Overstock ~ WalMart ~ Books-a-Million ~ Mysterious Galaxy ~ Poisoned Pen ~ Dark Delicacies ~ Hastings Books and Music