Ask the Author: R.L. Crossland
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R.L. Crossland
From the outset, my value-added as a storyteller was my experiences as a Naval Special Warfare officer. It was also my Achilles heel. Publishers wanted me to write a Tom Clancy-esque techno-thriller. I couldn't do that. I couldn't disclose information that might place real operations in jeopardy.
Special operations and unconventional warfare invariably use small units that rely heavily on the element of surprise. The more the enemy knows about our technology, the more likely events will go badly for us.
In Red Ice I side-stepped that issue. The protagonist was a cashiered officer acting independently and using no high-tech.
Then it occurred to me to step back in time. My undergraduate degree was in sociology-history, i.e., how different cultures organize themselves to live day-to-day and how they protect that culture's values historically.
The three cultures I knew best were the Navy, Japan, and Korea.
I liked how Jade Rooster turned out. The "Sand Pebbles" was one of my favorite books and movies. The era and region was little known to Americans and I could find diaries written by enlisted men as well as officers, and there were photographs! I don't think I could write a novel set in a pre-camera period. Photos are windows through time.
Sitting in a bunker in Korea during a command post exercise someone pointed out the Unsan mines and that gave me a germ of an idea. I already knew that China had found a Korea a very tough kingdom to conquer and eventually addressed it as a tribute country instead. I knew Sun Tzu theories were well-observed the Japan which made it a worthy and quite dastardly antagonist.
And, I'd always liked Korea and its people.
Special operations and unconventional warfare invariably use small units that rely heavily on the element of surprise. The more the enemy knows about our technology, the more likely events will go badly for us.
In Red Ice I side-stepped that issue. The protagonist was a cashiered officer acting independently and using no high-tech.
Then it occurred to me to step back in time. My undergraduate degree was in sociology-history, i.e., how different cultures organize themselves to live day-to-day and how they protect that culture's values historically.
The three cultures I knew best were the Navy, Japan, and Korea.
I liked how Jade Rooster turned out. The "Sand Pebbles" was one of my favorite books and movies. The era and region was little known to Americans and I could find diaries written by enlisted men as well as officers, and there were photographs! I don't think I could write a novel set in a pre-camera period. Photos are windows through time.
Sitting in a bunker in Korea during a command post exercise someone pointed out the Unsan mines and that gave me a germ of an idea. I already knew that China had found a Korea a very tough kingdom to conquer and eventually addressed it as a tribute country instead. I knew Sun Tzu theories were well-observed the Japan which made it a worthy and quite dastardly antagonist.
And, I'd always liked Korea and its people.
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