Dolores Tansey has plenty of reasons to support the military. “I have three retired Marine grandsons, one retired Coast Guard grandson, and two grandsons who are active in the Marines,” she said. She had been donating to a veteran’s group, but then the author of six—soon to be seven—books thought of a better way to give to the military. She decided to write a book.

“’G.I. Who?’ is a humor book for the military,” Tansey said. “I searched the Internet for military books. They were all how-to books or sad stories. So I searched for military humor. There was only one book, and it kind of looked like a comic book.”

So Tansey decided to fill the gap and write the first military humor novel. “It’s about a 22-year-old Romanian man named Stefan, whose ideal all his life was to come to America and become a G.I. Joe, because his grandfather bought him a G.I. Joe doll,” she said. “He left his girlfriend behind, and his family, and he came to America.”

Comedy sets in when his lack of knowledge of American slang leads to all kinds of humorous confusion, but he meets a recruiter and a priest who help ready him for the military. “Then, we follow Stefan into boot camp, and boot camp is not what he thought it was,” Tansey said. “He’s shocked. And I really can’t tell you where he ends up after boot camp, because that will be in the sequel.”

Tansey came up with the book’s title because “I really thought it was funny—everyone would look at it twice and say, ‘Wait a minute; isn’t that supposed to say G.I. Joe?’”

Coming up with the funny parts wasn’t too hard for Tansey, as an experienced writer with a creative mind. “I’m very grateful that God has endowed me with creativity—sometimes too much! When I start writing, it just flows, as if someone’s giving it to me.” She listens and picks up inspiration everywhere. This was her first humor book, and she said, “Now I want to know if all humor writers laugh when they’re writing their funny stuff.” She certainly did while creating her new book.

Tansey didn’t know much about the military before writing her novel, so she took it upon herself to learn. “Know what you’re writing about, and if you don’t know a lot about it, search the ‘net and find out,” she advised. “I had to do that for ‘G.I. Who?’ I had to research a lot of boot camp, and a lot of Army regulations. That was the only thing that kept me from finishing it.”

It’s finished now, though, with Tansey already planning the sequel. In the meantime, she’s using the current book to support the military, just as she’d planned. “Half the proceeds of every book are being donated to different veteran’s groups,” she said. Writing a book turned out to be both more interesting and more sustainable than making monthly donations to veteran’s groups.

The paperback book that’s coming out will be small in size, because “I want the troops to be able to have it in their back pocket,” Tansey said, in the hopes that the troops’ family would receive copies of her book from their families as gifts.

“G.I. Who?” is coming out in paperback soon, and will be available on Amazon, both as a paperback and for the Kindle. It will also be available on Dolores’ website, www.niteowlmandy.com, as an e-book. “The other six books can also be bought on my site,” she said, in case readers want more from this creative local author.

She also has some advice for people that want to write their own books. “When you write a book, take one or two English courses,” she said, “because the quotation marks, the commas, and the semi-colons made me crazy by the end of this book!”

Tansey would go onto advise aspiring writers not to put their ideas off. “If you get an idea, write it down immediately. Don’t discard any thoughts.”

Most importantly, she said, “I’ve you’ve got a passion, deep inside you, you’ve already got it. It’s a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun. If you don’t like what you’re doing, don’t do it. If you want to write a book, don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid of what  other people will say. If you like it, and you really have a passion, you’ll make it.”

Excellent advice from someone with seven books worth of writing experience.

 

Excerpt from “G.I. Who?”

 

When they left, Chris said, “I have the test up on the computer for you.  It is not very long.”

Chris had pulled up an IQ test.

“I will guide you through this test for translation only.  Okay, let’s start with this question.”

By the time they were done Chris thought he had made an error and asked Stefan to take the test again.  The second test had the same score.  Stefan tested with an IQ of 140.  Chris’s suspicions were true.  Stefan was a definite Mensa.

He turned to Stefan and said, “You scored higher than most people.  Actually you scored very high.  Do you know what a genius is Stefan?”

“I heard of it, but I never took one.”

Chris took in a deep breath and let it out.  He did it again.

“Stefan you are a genius.  Your score is so high you are a Mensa.”

Stefan was happy that Chris thought he was so smart, but had no idea what his score meant.

“It is good to be a Mensa?” he asked.

“Yes, it is very good.  It is very, very good.”

Stefan said, “Are we done now?  I must write Tatiana.  I miss her so much.”

Chris was totally baffled.  How could Stefan have an IQ of 140?  He has a secret

gift, which I think is telepathy and an IQ of 140.

“How can this be?” he asked himself.  “He lived in a small village and worked on farms all day.  I’m not giving him the test again.  I just can’t understand it?”