Thank you for stopping by my digital home. My mission is to honor my fellow veterans, entertain readers, and explore the humor and emotions
in this thing called life.
I’m Kimberly A. Cook, Kim to my readers and friends.
A warrior woman writer with a quirky sense of humor. A weapon trained cupcake.
I believe in the power of love, happy endings, and cookies. I’m a military veteran, author, and photographer. I’ve been known to get into quirky situations. So do my characters. And their pets. I write romantic suspense action adventure and romantic comedy set in the fictional(?) small town of Hat River, Oregon.
My military couples are kickass Vintage Veterans over forty, adjusting to life after military service and avoiding love in all the wrong places. While the undercover Spec Ops Cat ambushes unsuspecting veterans on direct orders from the Cupid Command in the Matchmaker Cat series. The humans don’t suspect a thing. Mostly.
I’m the proud daughter of two World War II veterans, my Army Air Corps dad and Marine Corps mom. They taught me so much, but definitely how to laugh. We were all citizen soldiers; we didn’t serve long enough for retirement but we’re proud of our service.
There are a lot of citizen soldiers out there. I thank all veterans for their service. That’s one reason I write my books about the challenges of life after military service.
My writing mission is emotional and/or humorous military romances, because I have a dark and light side.
Just like chocolate!
My preferred medication.
My writing chops include being an award-winning newspaper journalist, photojournalist, and screenwriter. My work has appeared in Army, The Officer, The Writer, and Romance Writers Report magazines. Plus, The Gresham Outlook and Newport News Times newspapers.
I’m a former Army active-duty enlisted woman with the Fourth Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado. A picture of me at left on Desert Training at Fort Irwin, California. The only thing we could get on the radio was range control. A radio is a device we used to listen to music back in the vintage days.
A decade later I served as an Aeromedical Evacuation Operations Officer with the 40th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, Air Force Reserve, at McChord Air Force Base, Washington. I specialized in goat rope flight missions on C141-B aircraft. Right before the C-17s went into service. (Pic below right)
If you want to read about my book publishing career, check my blog post at http://www.authortortoise.com It’s never too late to start or continue your author dream.
I’ve been a speaker at the Romance Writers of America National Conference in San Francisco, California, the National Americal Division Veterans Association Reunion, the National Blue Spaders (Big Red One) Reunion, and the Northwest Regional Navy Wives Clubs of America Convention.
I am a member of the Seasoned Romance Facebook Group, RomVets, and 20 Books to 50K. Former member of Romance Writers of America, Oregon Press Women, and Willamette Writers.
A native-born Oregonian, I live outside of Portland, Oregon. I collect teapots, books, jewelry, rocks, cameras, and craft supplies. I retired from my day job and am finally achieving my lifelong dream of becoming a romance author. Some of my vices are hot cocoa, books, chicken pot pie, peanut M&Ms, Hallmark movies, Dove dark chocolate, Maui, cookies, cats, and cozy blankets.
Meet Spec Ops Cat
Spec Ops Cat showed up at the offices of Warrior Tales in October 2006. Staff quickly medevaced him to the local aid station for evaluation.
Upon examination, a tracking device was found embedded under his skin. Numerous contacts were made to his former command by medical personnel, but the program had been mysteriously shutdown.
After treatment for an overwhelming flea infestation, medical staff discovered Spec Ops Cat had been de-clawed on all four feet, a strict violation of the Geneva Convention.
Command staff at Warrior Tales decided to invite Spec Ops Cat to join the team. After recuperation and weight gain, Spec Ops Cat assumed the dual roles of Chief of Security and V.P. of ecommerce.
Wanting to share his years of experience as a former special operator, and to recognize all military personnel and veterans, he established Spec Ops Cat as an online division of Warrior Tales. He consulted, shared his wisdom, and delegated the day to day running of the Spec Ops Cat division to his staff.
While his early Ops records are sealed, the Warrior Tales team pieced together he trained and executed missions with Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, National Guard, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine personnel. From his language, it was obvious he served with U.S. allies and NATO troops.
Prior to the shutdown of his most recent command, Spec Ops Cat served with C.A.T., the Cat Adoption Team, in Sherwood, Oregon. His initial training and family whereabouts before that organization are unknown.
A bachelor, he enjoyed chasing stuffed mice, taking cat naps, and performing perimeter patrol of the Warrior Tales facilities. Though retired, Spec Ops Cat used a code name to protect his operational security.
The High Command recalled Spec Ops Cat on September 21, 2020, at the age of seventeen and a half. I will miss my beloved boy forever. But he inspired the Matchmaker Cat series and left behind many tales and photos to share his exploits with the world as the now immortal Spec Ops Cat.
Hug your fur babies every day!
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