Jillian David

Jillian David lives near the end of the Earth with her nut of a husband and their bossy cats. To escape the sometimes-stressful world of the rural physician, she writes while on call and in her free time. She enjoys taking realistic settings and adding a twist of “what if.” Running or hiking on local trails often promotes plot development.

Uncaged welcomes Jillian David

Welcome to Uncaged! Can you tell us more about your latest book, Fallen Comrade?

You bet! My readers know that I like to raise the stakes and serve up tons of nail-biting suspense, but with this book? Well, I threw the proverbial kitchen sink at it! The suspense is off the charts. The alphas – they’re alphaLICIOUS, alphaZILLA’s! In this book, I blow up (lots of) things, create a rescue scene that I’ve never anything similar before, and that ending – phew, it’s something else!

Fallen Comrade is the first book in my Project Morpheus series, a military romance/romantic suspense series centered around the Morpheus Squad. These ex-Special Forces team members were subjects of a military experiment gone drastically wrong. They are super soldiers, ultimate protectors … and ticking time bombs.

The Morpheus Squad mission is to bring justice to their injured military brethren who are threatened or taken advantage of. Their current op? Expose Fallen Comrades, a “charity” where the donations supposedly help injured and disabled veterans, but instead those funds are being siphoned right into the pockets of its corrupt CFO, Beau Lequire. Power-hungry Lequire will stop at nothing to keep the truth about his organization secret, even if that means silencing pregnant Kiera McNeill, sister of a disabled vet and Morpheus Squad team member who had been the Fallen Comrade spokesperson until his suspicious death.

To bring the truth to light, Kiera must depend on the one man in this world who wants nothing to do with her: Morpheus Squad member, former flame, and mountain recluse Jake Zimmerman. Can Kiera suppress her feelings for Jake long enough to stay alive, protect her baby, and get justice for her brother?

Can reluctant protector Jake control his intense desire and virally-enhanced strength to keep Kiera safe from Lequire’s evil clutches?

What is the most difficult scene for you to write? What is the easiest?

The most difficult scene for me to write would be a major spoiler, so I will hold off describing that scene. (Hint: It happens 75% into the book and

The second-most difficult scene to write was the one that occurred after Kiera and Jake reconnect during one amazing, hot, steamy night. The next morning, these damaged characters have to face their personal demons, exposing raw emotional wounds that they don’t have the tools to heal. Defensive, emotionally vulnerable, and in fear for their lives, these characters don’t handle their developing relationship well at all. They emotionally hurt each other, badly. After they air out their feelings, emotional rubble remains. How can they ever find a path back to each other?

Where do you get your ideas for new plots and characters?

Okay, this book’s inception was kind of odd. About 7 years ago I moved into a house which had a walk-in closet with a built-in bench. Under the bench was a storage space. Below the space’s floor was an open basement. I kept thinking, ‘What if there was a trap door under that bench, could it go to a tunnel exiting the house? What sort of person would make a tunnel like that? What would they be hiding or protecting to need that escape route?’ I chewed on that thought for months trying to answer those questions, and created characters who, indeed, needed an escape tunnel from a house. That idea became the first two (now deleted) chapters in what became Fallen Comrade! (Those first chapters are on my website’s blog as bonus content, if anyone is interested in seeing how the book really started!)

What are you working on now that you can tell us about?

Right now, I’m finishing up Hidden Comrade, book #2 in the Project Morpheus series. It’s planned for release on January 20, 2023 at all major booksellers in digital format! Here’s the blurb:

Pele Tuitama’s Morpheus Squad mission infiltrating a Smoky Mountain children’s camp is FUBAR. He might be a virally-enhanced military experiment, but augmented abilities won’t help him protect Reagan McNeill, the most unsecure-able target imaginable. Sweet Reagan’s kisses and the possibility of a future he should never consider, distracts his laser focus. If Pele can’t keep Reagan safe from an evil adversary bent on revenge against the entire McNeill family, then Reagan will die.

After a nasty breakup, Reagan doesn’t trust any man— or herself. Enter handsome Pele, the world’s worst camp counselor. She doesn’t believe his story or his motives. When overly-protective Pele draws her close and then rejects her, Reagan is finished with games. Then the truth she learns rips open recently-healed emotional wounds.

In order to escape through the mountains, Pele must share his deadliest secret. To have a chance at their future, they must reveal their demons and pray for acceptance ... and survival.

Not wholly. I take pieces of people I know and use those pieces as the base upon which I build the rest of the character.

Beau Lequire I did base on the government contractor who got taken to task for parlaying his phony military disability into preferential government contracts, until Senator Tammy Duckworth (who is herself a truly disabled veteran) deftly knocked him down several notches and exposed his slimy business practices. Here’s the link from that hearing from 2013 if folks are interested: https://youtu.be/rPOKm20wP4s

What behind-the-scenes tidbit in your life would probably surprise your readers the most?

Any reader who follows me probably knows by now, but for new-to-me readers this could be news: For my day job I’m a rural FP/Ob (family doc who does

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obstetrics, c-sections, etc) practicing near The End Of The Earth. In all of my novels I incorporate medical details or scenes, and oh yes they are realistic!

I remember several years ago getting an email from a reader who said, “No way was that ER scene accurate.” To which I replied, “That scene literally happened to me, the doctor on duty in a rural ER, fifteen years ago.” When I create medical situations, I do remove any details that could possibly trigger HIPAA, but most of the medical scenes and scenarios are things I’ve experienced in my twenty-ish years of practicing medicine!

7) Which comes first, the plot or the characters in the planning stages?

I’m supposed to say “characters,” because that’s the ‘correct’ way that experts say we need to write a romance novel – character-driven.

The real answer? I start with a situation and then work backwards to see what kind of characters would be in that situation. That’s how I’ve created my prior series. Examples:

Hell to Pay paranormal romance series: What happens if a person sold their soul to save someone they love, then for centuries are trapped in an eternal contract? (Situation first, then I created characters from various historical times and brought them into the present day setting where they have to break their contracts to be with their love interest).

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Hell’s Valley paranormal/western romance series: A rising evil pits families of psychic ranchers against one another in a Wyoming-based Hatfield versus McCoy cross-valley feud, where the stakes involve the survival of humanity. (Situation first, then populated the world with a ranching family whose siblings each have different supernatural powers.)

What are some things you like to do to relax when you aren’t writing or working?

Mostly sleep. Boy oh boy, I love catching some z’s when I’m not on call, no one can wake me up at 2 am to go in for a delivery, and I can truly rest. I’ve even had dreams where I’m commenting to myself (in the dream), ‘Wow, this is a good night’s sleep and it feels great.’ Silly but true.

I also enjoy trail running, and hubs and I do this activity together. We have completed several 50K races over the past few years. (It’s just like running a 5K but you keep going for quite a while longer.) As we like to quip, ‘We’re chunky but we’re slow.’ :)

Do you prefer ebooks, audiobooks or physical books? Are you reading anything now?

I read mainly ebooks or physical books. My commute time is like two minutes, so there hasn’t been much opportunity to read audiobooks thus far.

I just read another book in Jeannie Lin’s amazing Lotus Palace mystery series. This series is cozy mystery romance set in the Tang dynasty of China, circa 850 A.D.. Jeannie’s gorgeous writing voice is simply breathtaking and a pleasure to experience. I recommend this series to anyone who has eyeballs.

A go-to fun read is H.E. Trent’s sci-fi romance series based on the planet Jekh. These books (some are alien-human menage) are so sexy, with amazing world-building! I’m on book six or seven now. Just when I think the series is done, the author puts out another amazing book!

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I recently read one of Laura Baird’s bear shifter books, and enjoyed the heck out of this entertaining, sensual read! The rest of that bear shifter series is now on my to-read list.

What would you like to say to fans, and where can they follow you?

First and foremost, wow do I really appreciate my fans who have been with me these past ten years on this publishing journey. I’m always excited to give out Advanced Reader Copies to a select few fans, and watch them experience my next book. Their enthusiasm makes all of the proverbial blood, sweat, and tears all worth it!

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Enjoy an excerpt from Fallen comrade

Fallen Comrade Jillian David Romantic Suspense

Ex-Green Beret Jake Zimmerman’s Georgia mountain seclusion is shattered when the one woman he should never have left, pregnant Kiera McNeill, shows up on his doorstep. Her life is in danger, thanks to a botched Morpheus Squad mission. If the nature of her baby is discovered, evil forces will stop at nothing to capture Kiera. When Kiera learns of Jake’s topsecret Morpheus Virus running through his veins, she realizes that her protector is the deadlier threat.

Kiera knows the secrets of Fallen Comrades, a billion-dollar “charity” which siphons donations away from wounded veterans and into the pockets of power-hungry CFO Beau Lequire. Now her sadistic ex-boss, Lequire, wants revenge. Her only chance of escape rests in the lethal hands of the man who once rejected her: Jake. All she needs to do is suppress her feelings for Jake long enough to destroy Fallen Comrades, stay alive, and save her baby.

Excerpt

Thanks to his tree-mounted security cameras that made the system guarding the crown jewels look amateur, it took less than ten seconds for Jake Zimmerman to identify the vehicle creeping to a stop in front of his remote Blue Ridge, Georgia, cabin. Silver Hyundai Accent, five years old, brandnew tires. Getting the registration info from the license plate, however, led to a dead end. His computer kept cranking through databases. So far, nothing had come up.

Odd. Normally, he could get the information right away. Where was the convoy? When would they storm the compound?

He cocked his head to the side. No whumps of an incoming helo.

Sparks of adrenaline fired up his nerves, lasering all of his senses on the intruder.

His first thought was that the Army had finally found him. He ran the pad of his index finger over the rough grip of the Sig nestled in his shoulder holster. How could anyone find him? He’d buried his personal intel deeper than a black ops mission file. The powers that be would have had to connect a hell of a lot of dots to figure out Jake’s real identity and location.

Besides, if Uncle Sam wanted to storm Jake’s castle, there better be a battalion coming. If Uncle Sam was smart.

He shifted, feeling the weight of a second pistol in the drop leg holster. With minimal concentration, Jake could detect the mild indentations of a Ka-Bar fixed blade in the sheath at the small of his back as well as the ever-present multitool tucked away in a pocket and ready to go for any occasion.

He peered at the … occasion … on the computer screen. He kept the house lights off and waited despite a driving need to run out there and exterminate whoever had dared to invade his peace and quiet. Control, dammit. Drawing a hand over his face, he took several deep breaths and tightened and loosened a fist. The muscles in his neck clenched, refusing to loosen despite his automatic relaxation techniques.

again until his entire world narrowed down to one mandate: destroy.

No, damn it. He was a man, not this … monster.

His ability to restrain those calamitous urges was slipping. Thanks to the top-secret Project Morpheus he had volunteered for almost two years ago in Special Forces, the part of Jake that had previously kept him from devolving into base violence now fucking loved it when he lost control. The darkness within Jake thrived on the anarchy that was his virally corrupted soul.

Add in an uninvited visitor, and it looked like tonight would bring even more fun for one of the U.S. Army’s best-kept secrets.

Question of the evening: what idiot would show up at his place at 2:00 AM? Better yet, why? It was midMarch, still damp and at times freezing up here in the southernmost part of the Appalachian Mountains.

Did the person want to rob him? Jake had no material items of value. Not for lack of resources, thanks to his combat pay savings and mother’s life insurance policy. But he didn’t need much—just the ability to keep his demons at bay chopping wood out back and lifting weights until oblivion. That, and a deep-seated desire to not interact with any other humans suited him fine. Something of value? Well, he had a locket with a clip of smooth auburn hair he should have thrown away long before now. Yeah, he was a bastard for preserving the keepsake, despite being technically faithful to his then-wife who did not have auburn hair. Could explain part of why he was no longer married.

He peered out the window again. Whoever was out there remained in the vehicle. Come on, people, let’s go.

So. What to do about the person parked outside his house? Well, right now, his goddamned virus had a helpful suggestion. It wanted Jake to dismember whoever was in the car. Now. Wiping his hands on his black cargo pants, he unholstered the Sig and crept to the front door. Time to eliminate the person stupid enough to visit him. Because one person could lead to two people, which could lead to being put back in the military “testing facility.”

Unclenching a fist, he carefully released more of his tenuous control over the virus. It infused every cell in his body with unnatural strength and reflexes. But as the strength and acuity of his senses grew, his sanity ebbed.

The hellish yin and yang.

Ingrained training was all that kept him from falling over the cliff into psychosis.

The one person who knew he lived here was Mateo, and Jake hadn’t seen his Special Forces buddy since Mateo and the rest of the Morpheus Squad had gone underground a year ago. Actually, strike that. He’d seen Mateo briefly at Brady McNeill’s funeral.

Brady’s funeral. And one particularly f**ked-up night. Not in small part because of seeing Brady’s sister, Kiera.

Seen? A bland word for the silky skin sliding over him and around him during their sweaty, heated reunion.

Since that night, nothing besides Jake’s own misery mattered. Not his best friend’s death, not the Morpheus Squad, his own emotional baggage. Nothing.

Which was exactly what he had now, wasn’t it? Nothing.

Well, not completely. He had someone casing his house.

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The figure closed the car door and stood, unmoving, facing the front porch.

Jake took stock in a matter of seconds: The person was around five-foot-eight, with a hooded jacket hiding the head and face in shadow. They favored one leg on those first few steps toward the house. Thin legs and what looked like a bit of a paunch. He squinted. Paunch or explosives vest? Damn it. If the government had found him, they would attempt to take him back in for more experiments or wipe him off the face of the earth trying. Best of luck.

Maybe someone was lost out here in the mountains. The road petered out in another five miles, deep into the National Forest. Who the hell wandered around the Georgia mountains in the middle of the night?

He rubbed the back of his neck. The virus crackled through his nerve endings. Mental processes turned to sludge, making high-level analysis more challenging.

What a time to skip an antidote dose.

Too late now. Don’t care.

As a swell bonus for volunteering to become a walking military biological experiment, each Morpheus Squad member had gotten extra goodies, like Jake, with his extraordinary upper body strength. He rolled his shoulders, upper back, and arms, priming for action.

Each muscle popped as poorly contained rage swept through him, turning him from Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde.

Sweat broke out on his forehead as the shaking began.

Using his military training and what little humanity he still possessed, he fought to retain a shred of control. Adrenaline whipped like an icy breeze on He tightened up on the Sig’s grip.

Neutralizing the guy was going to feel like nirvana. On second thought, he could use a good brawl. Stuffing the weapon back in his holster, he flexed his hands. Mr. Hyde would much rather do this the natural way. The hunched figure in the baggy jacket trudged up the gravel driveway, halting gait a little short on one leg. Jake spied a hint of a pale nose and cheek as the person looked up at the house, but he couldn’t make out any other facial features with the hood casting a shadow. Pressing his back to the wall next to the front door, he waited. Listened. Biofeedback techniques and clenching and releasing his hands allowed him to slow his heart rate and focus all of his energy on the shuffle of footsteps up the porch stairs. The virus strained like a chained dog tempted by a wounded rabbit.

Jake became a metal spring, coiled and ready.

At a knock on the door, he didn’t move.

The spring inside of him tightened. Tick, tick, tick. His body ratcheted down as tight as he could go.

A tap on the electronic keypad outside. What the hell? The bolt turned and the door cracked open.

The coil released.

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