LT Jeab builds a library

So she's produced a second book on the ousted premier without a glimmer of fear.

"Thaksin Are You OK?" has landed "Lt Jeab", as she's popularly known, right back in the spotlight, even as he beams video diatribes into the politically polarised country.

Once again she's been summoned before her superiors for testing military regulations. She was dressed down for the first book, but not harshly punished.

"It's like I walked through the fire before," says Sunisa, 34. "Now I know how hot it is, and I'm ready to tackle any obstacles and walk through it again."

There is no political agenda in writing the books, she insists, and fame was never a motive.

Sunisa comes from humble origins. Her mother was a market retailer and her father a taxi-driver. He was killed in a road accident, and his daughter was deeply wounded that his life was sacrificed for the family.

Her mother began a new family, leaving Sunisa in the care of her grandmother. She felt she was struggling alone but persevered in school and graduated in political science from Chulalongkorn University.

Her mind was set on the military as a way to serve the country.

After some time Sunisa became a news reporter and anchor for Army-run Channel 5. She was trained in journalism by the Associated Press and visited war-torn Iraq and Thailand's anguished South.

Her news and military career, Sunisa says, is by now a "bonus" in her life. She has accomplished what she set out to do.

"I won't be sorry if I die doing the job I love. After all, my book will still be there after I'm gone."

She set out to write a book two years ago, knowing it had to be about someone very famous.

She spent her life savings on a trip to London, where Thaksin was living in exile, in the hope that he'd agree to an interview.

"Thaksin Where Are You?", covering the ex-premier's life since the 2006 military coup, was an overnight sensation. And the military brass was not happy.

Following a formal review, the Army shifted Sunisa back to her old job in the Office of the Army Secretary. There would be no more reporting for Channel 5.

Chastised by the military and stung by negative publicity, she was shaken so badly that she couldn't even think of writing for a year.

Then a journalist friend asked her if she'd lost her pen. She realised she had to get her life back.

Pondering a book on Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva as well, she started calling Thaksin about a possible follow-up.

"The title 'Are You OK?' was originally intended for Abhisit," Sunisa says. "He wanted to be the prime minister, but he'd been waiting so long. I wanted to ask him: 'Are you okay?'"

However, after dozens of appeals, Thaksin assented to a second book. She flew to see him many times, to various countries, including Nicaragua, where he'd been granted honorary citizenship.

Sunisa says she paid her own way everywhere she went.

"I've never had any privilege or shortcuts in my life. I've worked hard, and now I'm working for the Army. I'm proud of that.

"So it hurts," she adds in tears, "every time people say I take Thaksin's money. I can make money from my books: why would I have to trade my dignity by taking money from Thaksin?"

Sunisa remains as devoted to the military as ever, despite the clashes.

"Serving the Army is one of my and my family's great sources of pride. I respect the Army, and I see great virtue in being an Army officer.

"My work as an officer and as a writer complement each other," she contends. "I can contribute to the country through both.

"At the moment I have no major duties in the Army, but if one day I'm given an important assignment I'll do my best, because that's my main job."

Sunisa is already at work on a third book. She won't reveal the subject, saying only that it's about someone in whom all Thais will be deeply interested.

She also plans to study film-making in the US, and she has a definite subject in mind for her debut project: Thaksin Shinawatra.