Countdown to

FORCE OF NATURE

8/6/07

8 days (and counting to FORCE OF NATURE, in stores on August 14, 2007)

Remember to click the above link to see today's video clip from Romance Novel TV! There'll be a new video clip over at Romance Novel TV for every day of the Countdown to FORCE OF NATURE!

Note from Suz: It's Countdown Contest Day!

But first, I want to give everyone a heads up! This Friday, August 10, 2007, is FON Countdown Bulletin Board visit day. I'll be dropping by my Boardhost internet message board, starting around 10 a.m. (ET). I'll be available to answer questions until around 6:00 p.m. (also ET). The URL of the board is http://members2.boardhost.com/brockmann/ .

Please note: You need to register for a user name and password if you want to post questions or comments on this board. (Anyone can drop by and read questions and answers, with no registration necessary.) But if you do want to ask a question, please stop by early -- allow for a day or so for your registration to kick in. ALSO -- some of you registered for the board in the past, but be aware that registration expires if you don't regularly use your name and password. Sorry about that -- it's one of those Boardhost quirks. Just reregister with a slightly different name, or add a creative number to the end of your name. Debbie4000 or Rhonda7.)

Okay -- on with today's Countdown Event. And it is an event!

We're doing something new this year! Instead of the same old/same old trivia quiz, my contest will be coming at you from YouTube!

First things first: Winner receives a Navy SEAL five-pack of signed Tall, Dark & Dangerous books -- some of them extremely hard to find because they're out of print: Identity: Unknown, Get Lucky, Taylor's Temptation, Night Watch and Everyday, Average Jones. (Okay, so Jones isn't hard to find, but his story features Brittany, from Night Watch, so I couldn't resist throwing that book in, too.)

What, you are asking, must you do to win these hard-to-find books?

You must play today's game, which is called...

Two Truths and A Lie, with Navy SEAL Tom Rancich

Meet Tom Rancich, a retired Lieutenant Commander in the SEAL teams. Tom was the first Navy SEAL that I ever met -- he was the "main character" (so to speak) of a Newsweek article published in the mid-90s, about Navy SEAL BUD/S training Hell Week. This article was my introduction to the SEAL teams -- on the advice of my friend Eric, I read the article and decided yes, Navy SEALs would make great romance novel heroes. (I'm going to be telling this story in detail during my appearance on lifetime.com's romance blog later this month, but feel free to click on the link above and read a reprint of that famous Newsweek article. It's posted on Tom's website. Surf around while you're there. He's got a majorly cool site -- but don't forget to come back for today's contest!)

Welcome back!

A little more backstory before we get to the game.... I had the pleasure of meeting Tom in person several years ago. He lives in my home state of Massachusetts, and after we met via email, we made plans to meet in person, for lunch. Talking to him is not unlike talking to one of my SEAL characters. He's super-smart, with a great sense of humor. He's a wonderful storyteller, and a wicked good writer, too. He's written non-fiction as a counterterrorism expert (read an excerpt of For the Courage of the Founders) and is currently working on his first novel.

It was shortly after our lunch that I invited Tom to Atlanta for my July 2006 Reader Weekend. He'd spent some time on my boardhost message board by then, and was impressed by just how smart and funny my readers are, and he agreed to come meet them (some of you!) in person. (In the photo above, Tom does a Q&A session with readers in Atlanta.)

During that event, I was again impressed by Tom. He was gracious and kind to each and every reader. He patiently answered questions, good-naturedly demonstrated the best way to eat an MRE, signed copies of Doug Waller's book COMMANDOS in which he appears in the chapter on Navy SEALs, and had his picture taken with just about every person at the event. He attended every single party and event, and even participated in our Official Troubleshooters Skit. (I've got pictures! Watch for them later in the Countdown!)

Everyone who's had the opportunity to meet Tom (either in person or on my BB) agrees: He's terrific. (And he's rolling his eyes as he's reading this. Relax, Tom. You are terrific. Get over it.)

Ed and Eric and Apolonia (one of my son Jason's friends) went with me to Tom's house a few weeks ago, because Tom graciously agreed to do a video interview for this very Countdown. (Note: watch for my video interview with Tom, coming on August 8th, via YouTube.)

As I was prepping for that interview, I thought it would be beyond cool to recreate a game we played in Atlanta called "Two Truths and a Lie," and to present it to you, dear readers, in a YouTube video as our FORCE OF NATURE Countdown Contest.

Tom, as usual, was more than happy to help.

Here are the Official Contest Rules:

1) Only one entry per person. Multiple entries will be disqualified.

2) Contest entries must be sent via email to BrockmannS@aol.com (Please note that this is not my usual email address! Make sure you send your entry to BrockmannS@aol.com only!)

3) Contest entries must have "Two Truths with Tom Rancich" in the email subject header

4) Contest entries must be received by noon on Wednesday, August 8th. (Hurry, there's not much time!)

5) Here's the interesting part: Follow the link to my YouTube video called "Two Truths and a Lie with Tom Rancich." (Those of you who don't have computers capable of accessing YouTube can still play. Details below.) But if you can, try to access a computer that is YouTube friendly, because it's fun to see and hear Tom!)

6) Watch the very short video clip. In it, Tom will present three statements. Two are true, and one is a lie. You will have to guess which statement --A, B, or C -- is the lie.

7) There are four sets of statements. Watch and listen to them all, and decide which is the lie for each set! (If you don't understand, go watch the video and then come back and read these rules again. It will make sense, I promise!)

8) Send an email (following steps 1 through 4 above) to me at BrockmannS@aol.com with "Two Truths with Tom Rancich" in the subject header. In the body of the email, tell me which statement -- A, B or C -- is the lie for set one, for set two, for set three, and for set four.

(Please format the email something like this:

1) A
2) A
3) A
4) A

Obviously, the answers aren't all A. That would be foolish if I gave that away, right? This is just an example.)

9) Include your name and snail mail address in your email, so if you win, we can send you the prize!

10) Contest entries must contain ONE right answer (one out of four!?!) to qualify for a random drawing for the contest prize. Feel free to visit my bulletin board at http://members2.boardhost.com/brockmann/ before entering the contest, to see if Tom (or someone who knows him) drops in to give a hint regarding the correct answers to the contest.

11) One winner of the random drawing of correct contest entries will receive a signed Navy SEAL five-pack of Tall, Dark & Dangerous books: Everyday, Average Jones; Identity: Unknown; Get Lucky; Taylor's Temptation and Night Watch. (Jones, Mitch, Lucky, Bobby and Wes's books. All signed. All yours, as-yet-unknown-winner-person!)

12) Lucky Winner will be contacted by email on Wednesday evening, August 8th. Winner's name will be posted on the FON Countdown page on Thursday, August 9th.

12) Contest is open to all residents of Planet Earth. <g>

For readers who don't have YouTube-accessible computers: Click here for a far less entertaining version of our contest. (And do try to get to a computer so you can watch our YouTube clip!)

Countdown Flashback of the Day:
Meet Ric Alvarado, hero of FORCE OF NATURE

Note from Suz: Oops! I'd meant to include this feature right from the start of the Countdown. Sorry 'bout that! From now on, each Countdown page will include the daily "Countdown Flashback of the Day!" Our first segment is from GONE TOO FAR, where Ric first appears.

"Any medication or prescription drugs missing?" the young detective who'd introduced himself as Ric Alvarado asked Gina as they stood in her motel room.

She glanced at Max. "I, uh, didn't look."

"Would you mind checking?" Alvarado asked. He had one of those ridiculous soul patches under his lower lip, and since he'd come in, he'd spent more time looking at Gina than looking around the room.

She went into the bathroom, and the detective turned to Max. Alvarado hadn't missed that look Gina had shot in Max's direction, and knew what it meant. It was possible he was a decent detective after all.

"Would you mind waiting outside, sir," he said in a low voice. "Your being in the room might make it hard for your daughter to be forthcoming about whatever prescriptions she might have had stolen--birth control pills, or anti-depressants or whatever."

His daughter.

"We've had a rash of break-ins in this area," Alvarado continued, apparently not noticing that Max was now grinding whatever was left of his teeth into stubs, "and it's usually always CDs and whatever's in the medicine cabinet. We're pretty sure it's the same group of kids."

Gina was already coming out of the bathroom.

"She's not my daughter," Max told Alvarado, making sure that she heard him say it. "Although I can understand why you might have thought that she was."

Alvarado was embarrassed. "Sorry, I--"

"Max is actually my own private stalker," Gina told him. "And yes, I'm missing some sleeping pills." She gave Max a challenging look that said 'so now you know I have a prescription for sleeping pills.'

As if he hadn't already known that.

Alvarado, boy detective, really didn't like that stalker comment. So Max sighed and pulled out his ID and handed it to the young man, while he shook his head at Gina in a silent reprimand.

The detective recognized his name and nearly crapped his pants as he tried to remember if he'd said anything else that might've offended the Great Max Bhagat, Law Enforcement Legend.

Max let the little bastard squirm. "You need her for anything else?" he asked as he repocketed his ID wallet. "Or can I get her moved to a more secure location now?"

"We're done here, sir," Alvarado said. "And I'm sorry I didn't realize who you were--"

Gina was looking at Max like he'd grown a second head. "Excuse me? I'm not going anywhere."

"Yeah," he said. "You are. Pack your stuff. I'm moving you to my hotel."

"To your room?" she asked.

Their eyes locked, and Max knew with temperature raising certainty that she wanted to share a room, a bed, bodily fluids. With him. She wanted him. Right now. Tonight. All he had to do was say yes. "No."

She turned away. "Then I'm not going."

He reached down deep for whatever patience he had left. There wasn't much there. "Gina."

"Max," she said with the exact same inflection.

"What do you need to happen?" he asked. "Your room was broken into."

"By kids. Right, Ric?"

Alvarado was pretending not to pay attention, but now he turned back to them. "Uh, yeah. And these doors are easy to jimmy when you're out of the room, but with the night lock on they're..." He saw from Max's face that he wasn't helping. "Safe. I'll go, um... Go." He looked at Gina. "I'll let you know if we find your CDs or your, uh..." He cleared his throat.

"Underwear," she supplied.

"Yeah, but to be honest, it's not likely you'll get it back. And if you do, you might want to burn it."

"Interesting." Gina gave him a smile. "A man actually suggesting that a woman burn her bras."

Ric laughed aloud, but his broad grin quickly faded when he glanced at Max. "Sorry, sir, I'm... going now."

He closed the door behind him.

From the book GONE TOO FAR
By Suzanne Brockmann
A Ballantine Book
Copyright 2003 by Suzanne Brockmann

That's all for now! Be sure to come back for tomorrow's installment in the
Countdown to FORCE OF NATURE!

Note from Suz: I'm going to try to post each new day's countdown page before noon eastern time. Please be patient if I'm a little late...

See you tomorrow!

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