Sitting sternly in a chair at a cafe, retired Capt. Dino Gutierrez faces two entry ways with his back to the wall, braces his first novel, “Stranded,” and reads a passage about a man saving a convenience store from being robbed.

Gutierrez served on five combat deployments and was both an armor officer and the former commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 85th Civil Affairs Brigade. Gutierrez said he turned to writing action-packed, post-apocalyptic novels to heal his post-traumatic stress disorder.