Jamie Rae's 'Call Sign Karma' takes off with female fighter pilot

Jamie Rae, debut author of Call Sign Karma, uses her experience as the wife of an Air Force fighter pilot to write a feisty fighter pilot heroine. Here, she also shares her top five fictional military women.

Jamie: In Call Sign Karma, Tink is the first female pilot chosen to fly the Air Force's newest premier jet, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. This story will take you inside a world that a lot of people may not be familiar with. The reader will not only experience the g-forces and adrenaline of being inside the cockpit of a premier fighter jet, but also enter the heart and mind of the fighter pilot. The reader will get a chance to experience Tink's passion, vulnerability, drive, competitiveness and most of all, love — love between two people, love between comrades in arms and love of service before self.

A lot of people have asked me how I came up with the idea for Call Sign Karma. I was always told to write what you know and write what you love. As a military spouse of a fighter pilot and Air Force veteran, I took that advice to heart. I have always been drawn to strong female role models, mentors, as well as fictional characters. They've inspired me to fight for what I believe in, to never give up and to not let anyone ever tell me that I couldn't do something because I'm a girl. I wanted to offer my readers the same inspiration through the eyes of a heroine who is strong and determined, but at the same time vulnerable. Call Sign Karma is set in a military environment that is accepting of women in combat but is still stressful for someone who is challenging typical roles and stereotypes. Through Tink's story, I wanted to further break down societal walls and reverse the roles by creating a story where the girl saves the boy.

I'm also a person who, like my main character, likes to take risks, and thankfully the New Adult genre gave me the ability to take these risks through my writing. I loved being able to try something new and to write about an age group underrepresented in publishing. My own "new adult" years were exciting and challenging, and I was eager to explore writing in the genre.

My top five female military characters from movies or television series:

• Demi Moore as Lieutenant Jordan O'Neil in GI Jane.

• Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in Aliens.

• Katee Sackhoff as Starbuck in Battlestar Galactica.

• Meg Ryan as Captain Karen Walden in Courage Under Fire.

• Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones.

Call Sign Karma is my debut novel and a story that is very close to my heart. I hope that those emotions spilled onto the pages. I also hope that you will fall in love with my feisty, female fighter pilot and that when you think of Tink you will remember to be strong and proud to "Fight Like a Girl."

Find out more about Jamie Rae at www.jamieraewrites.com.