It may be unusual to find the word ‘romance’ associated with the US Navy SEALs, but hey, this is reality, and reality is that SEALs do find love and build families.

This reality is what Suzanne Brockmann fictionalizes in her series. Strictly speaking, Brockmann is a romance novelist. Born in 1960, she has received numerous awards for her romance novels. She is based in Boston along with her author husband Ed Gaffney and their two children.

Her manuscripts first got published in 1992. In 1996, she came out with the Tall, Dark and Dangerous series, about a group of fictional Navy SEALs who are members of the fictional SEAL Team Ten. To date, there are 11 books in the series. The first one entitled Prince Joe, about SEAL Lt. Joe Catalanotto, is her first fictional SEAL romantic hero.

So how did an erstwhile romantic – and a woman to boot – end up writing about Navy SEALs, albeit in a rather unique way? In 1995, Suzanne Brockmann was encouraged by a friend to read a Newsweek article about US Navy SEALs BUD/S Training and Hell Week. As she read and learned more about the US Navy SEALs, she was impressed and could not help but realize the creative opportunities that go with the SEAL persona.

Being a believer that good things come in threes, she then thought of three storylines revolving around SEALs that made up a trilogy. She pitched the idea to her editor. Long story short, her editor liked the idea, and Tall, Dark and Dangerous was born.

Navy SEALs proved too prolific a team to confine in one series that Brockmann was able to develop another: Troubleshooters, Inc., about SEAL Team Sixteen. There are currently 13 published books in the series. The first, ‘The Unsung Hero’, was published in June 2000. The latest installment was released November this year, and a 14th book is scheduled for release in Spring 2009.