About the Author
Steve Wilson is a prior service Marine, and recently retired from the Air Force Reserve as a senior NCO. He is a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2010, he was named the Air Force Reserve Air Transportation NCO of the Year, and has been awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal. His ties to the military have taken him all over the world, and he has visited the former Soviet Union on multiple occasions.
The Michael Neill Adventures have been nominated for thechristianmanifesto.com's Lime Award for Excellence in Fiction for three years running. They have also won the Shelf Unbound Notable Book Award in the Page Turner category, received the Five Star Award from readersfavorite.com, won Silver and Gold in Literary Classics' 2016 Book Awards, and have appeared on the Military Writers Society of America's recommended reading list.
“I have always been a big reader. I think that’s what inspired me to try my hand at writing. Writing is cathartic to me. Returning from Afghanistan in 2011, I wanted to work on something fulfilling. A few years earlier, I had written a draft of my first novel, ‘Red Sky at Morning’. It was intended to be youth fiction, but no one would read it. Coming home, I dusted it off and re-purposed it with an eye toward the post-Cold War, post-9/11 world.
Finally, I got the attention of a publicist, who told me the book didn’t have a ‘teen voice’. I expanded the story, doubled its length, and revised it for an older audience. With a lot of diligence, I eventually found a publisher.
I try to keep the books character-driven. My goal is to tell a compelling story without throwing around a lot of acronyms or technical jargon. There’s some of that, but only to ground the action in a realistic frame of reference. The novels have been compared to the works of Tom Clancy or Vince Flynn. That’s very flattering, but you won’t find any profanity or compromising situations in my novels. The books are family-friendly with a faith based message of honor, courage, service and sacrifice. Written for adults but suitable for the mature teen.
The series explores the dynamics of faith in uniform, which are often absent from books of the same kind. They have a broad appeal; there’s action, military hardware, strong core values, and even a little romance. A lot of my best reviews have come from readers with no military background at all. Neill’s adventures will hold the interest of young and old, and will encourage readers to value patriotism and embrace honor and integrity.”