Meet Lance Bach | Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lance Bach and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lance, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I have a pretty high tolerance for risk. As a retired US Navy SEAL, I’ve spent a career managing operational and tactical risk. I think the old adage is true- the higher the risk, the higher the potential reward. At one point I started a diving and salvage company in the Middle East, uprooting my family and starting a business in a foreign country. It was risky, on many levels, but also rewarding. When I decided to become an author of military thriller stories, it was a different kind of risk. It wasn’t the risk of life or limb or financial ruin, Instead it was a more personal, psychological risk—How would my stories be received? Would readers like my stories? Would they trash my writing with terrible reviews? Would I alienate friends and family? I had to get past all of this in order to become a successful writer. In this case, I’m not defining success by how much money I made or how many books I’ve sold. Success for me is measured in lives touched, breaking barriers, positive feedback from my readers and a deep satisfaction which comes from doing something creative and putting it out there in the world for everyone to experience. Putting my first book out there was as frightening as parachuting out of an aircraft at night over the ocean. But to be successful, you have to make the leap, have to understand the risk, but still make the leap.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Following a career as a US Navy SEAL, I became an author of military thrillers. My first book, Black Dog Escape is a story about a US Navy SEAL that accidentally shoots a 12 year old girl in Afghanistan. It’s a fictional story, but it’s infused with the realism of an author who has lived an authentic life of adventure and danger. I’ve always enjoyed the writings of Hemingway—his stories ring true, he lived what he wrote about. That sense of authenticity is important to me as a writer. I want the reader to feel that the protagonist’s struggles are genuine and compelling. In my second book, The Suicide Detective, I wrote about a female US Army military working dog handler in Iraq that gets captured. A thread running through both of these books is the characters struggles with PTSD, traumatic brain injury, moral injury and suicide. Writing about these issues was hard. It would have been much easier to tell a tale without them, and I think my audience might be a little bigger. Most people don’t really want to read. about these veteran problems, even if they are sympathetic. But for me, I had to include these in my stories as they are a terrible by-product of what are military personnel and veterans experience. At the end of the day, I want readers to love the story, but also come to realize they learned something new about the struggles of veterans.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I live on the western slope of Colorado in a rural area with much farming, ranching and outdoor activities. It’s a 5 hour drive to the big cities of Denver to the east or Salt Lake City to the west. Summer is my favorite time here as we can get up into the beautiful mountains that surround us. The first few days of your visit I would take you up on to the Uncompaghre Plateau just west of where I live. We would ride dirt bikes in some of the most challenging, tight and difficult trails. At night we would come back to camp, put steaks on the grill, get a campfire going and listen for the elk bugling around us or the coyotes on the hunt. After a few days of that, I would take you to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We would raft down the Gunnison river, looking up at the majestic black canyon walls surrounding us. In between rapids, we would break out our poles and fish for big rainbow trout, brown trout and the rare cutthroat trout. As the sun sets beyond the sheer cliffs above us, we’d find a small beach to pull the rafts up into and grill our fresh fish over a fire. At the end of our trip, we would sit outside under the stars at one of our several, local outdoor amphitheaters and listen to a country-rock fusion band as we enjoy a picnic dinner under the stars. Before you left town, I would take you to the Montrose Veterans Memorial. (It’s not built yet, but as a member of the board, I’m pushing hard). I’d take you there at sunset, you’d see the Cimarron Peaks beyond the memorial and walk among the monument with a sense of gratitude and reverence for the sacrifices of those who gave us freedom.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would give the credit to the men and women of US Special Operations, and especially the the SEAL Team community where I came from. The dedication, tenacity, skill and courage of these warriors has inspired me throughout my military career and given me the motivation to shine a light on the sacrifices of our veterans.

Website: https://www.wlbachauthor.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wlbachauthor/

Twitter: @WLBachAuthor

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/William-L-Bach/100093464980059/

Image Credits
not applicable – I own the rights to these images