I write character-driven plots, and by that I mean that while lots of dramatic action ‘stuff’ may happen, what truly interests me is how my characters react and grow as a result. They are never untouched by the action, and the action is always there for a reason. The characters—Bennet and Flynn—are the focus of everything.So let’s talk about them. There isn’t a great deal in the books about how Bennet and Flynn actually look, but let’s cover that bit first, because who doesn’t like thinking about pretty boys? Links are provided to pictures here, as an added visual aid.

The hero of Taking Shield—and the character I love the most of any I’ve ever created—is Shield Captain Bennet. There are a few loose descriptions of him: spiky, badly-behaved black hair, pale grey eyes… that’s about it. Think Matt Bomer in a space soldier’s uniform and you’ve got Bennet.

His great love interest is Flynn, who’s biracial, and if Bennet’s ever asked what his initial impression of Flynn is, he’d tell you “Gold.” Flynn is golden brown skin and wild hair, with green eyes. My mental image for him is actually Indian actor Hrithik Roshan, who has this amazing gilded look going for him.

Now that’s established, a bit more about them.

Bennet is a professional soldier: dedicated and committed to the job. He’s highly intelligent, especially perceptive when dealing with abstract principles (he didn’t go to the Military Academy but to the Strategic Studies Institute, and moonlights as a part-time analyst for the Military Strategy Unit) but he’s less perceptive about people. His father remarks that for Bennet, things are safer than people any day of the week—which makes for an interesting challenge in his love life, as Flynn might well agree. He’s saved from being a stuffed shirt by a rather dry sense of humour and a sometimes dicey temper.

Bennet is a member of Albion’s Shield Regiment, its special forces. The military is principally divided between Infantry, which deal with ground operations, and Fleet, the space navy. The Shield Regiment does both, mostly behind enemy lines. They are scouts and spies. Bennet risks his life daily to bring back vital intelligence for the war effort. Distractions are dangerous. Distractions can kill him. Fleet Lieutenant Flynn is one helluva distraction…

Which brings us neatly on to Flynn. If Bennet is Privileged Establishment right down to his genetic code, Flynn’s the consummate outsider. He’s the social opposite of Bennet, having been orphaned as a result of the Maess raid on Thorn, one of Albion’s major colonies. He got through military training at the Academy by winning scholarships and sponsorship, and has made his own way into the ‘officer class’ on one of Albion’s biggest warships, the dreadnought Gyrfalcon. Fluent and articulate, Flynn’s a silver tongued charmer. With a touch of the conman who can talk himself into—and out of—almost anything, he’s popular with his fellow officers who like his devil-may-care attitude.

Flynn’s far more laid back than Bennet can ever hope to be. When the series opens, Flynn doesn’t do love, he doesn’t do commitment. Nothing’s ever permanent. Then one day, the Gyrfalcon’s commandeered by Shield Captain Bennet for a behind-the-lines suicide mission to infiltrate a Maess base and steal vital data. Suddenly Flynn’s rethinking his stance on love and he risks his life and career to get Bennet out of danger. That will change his life as much as it changes Bennet’s. Now the commitment he wants eludes him: as long as Bennet’s serving in Shield, their chances of meeting again seem slim. Flynn’s not comfortable being one half of a pair of star-crossed lovers. To his chagrin, even when they’re on the same ship, the stars are very crossed indeed.

That’s it, really. Their story plays out against a massive interstellar war, with battles and raids and destruction happening all around them. Most of all, what they have when they’re together is not a romance. They have a love story to share—infuriatingly sporadic, intensely passionate, frustratingly interrupted, definitely star-crossed. And at the end, the very end, when war, death and devastation are well nigh overwhelming, they have each other.

Buy Links:Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link


Cover Artist: Adrian Nicholas


Hate buying books in a series until the whole thing is done? Then check out the Rainbow Award-winning Taking Shield series, just released as an e-book boxed set. Not only do you get the entire series, there’s a very nice saving on the cost of the individual books! Anna’s dropped in today to tell us more.


About Taking Shield


Earth’s a dead planet, dark for thousands of years; lost for so long no one even knows where the solar system is. Her last known colony, Albion, has grown to be regional galactic power in its own right. But its drive to expand and found colonies of its own has threatened an alien race, the Maess, against whom Albion is now fighting a last-ditch battle for survival in a war that’s dragged on for generations.


Taking Shield charts the missions and adventures of Shield Captain Bennet, scion of a prominent military family. Bennet, also an analyst with the Military Strategy Unit, uncovers crucial data about the Maess to help with the war effort. Against the demands of his family’s ‘triple goddess’ of Duty, Honour and Service, is set Bennet’s relationships with lovers and family—his difficult relationship with his long term partner, Joss; his estrangement from his father, Caeden, the commander of Fleet’s First Flotilla; and Fleet Lieutenant Flynn, who, over the course of the series, develops into Bennet’s main love interest.


Over the Taking Shield arc, Bennet will see the extremes to which humanity’s enemies, and his own people, will go to win the war. Some days he isn’t able to tell friend from foe. Some days he doubts everything, including himself, as he strives to ensure Albion’s victory. And some days he isn’t sure, any longer, what victory looks like.

Anna was a communications specialist for many years, working in various UK government departments on everything from marketing employment schemes to organizing conferences for 10,000 civil servants to running an internal TV service. These days, though, she is writing full time. She lives with her husband in a quiet village tucked deep in the Nottinghamshire countryside. She’s supported there by the Deputy Editor, aka Molly the cockerpoo, who is assisted by the lovely Mavis, a Yorkie-Bichon cross with a bark several sizes larger than she is but no opinion whatsoever on the placement of semi-colons.

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