Saturday, September 25, 2010

Guest Author Dana Marton: Passion + Action = Paction (and Giveaway!)


I'm so happy to welcome author Dana Marton to the Lair! Dana Marton is the award-winning author of twenty-three books with Harlequin Intrigue. The latest is The Spy Who Saved Christmas, more of a Die Hard kind of Christmas story than It’s a Wonderful Life. High stakes, instead of fruitcakes. Dana is known for her fast-paced action and sexy, emotional romance. Dangerous men, thrilling women. Connect with Dana online at danamarton.com and facebook.com/danamarton.

Thank you for the warm welcome, Kate!

I read a wide variety of books. My favorites are romance novels, of course. Specifically, romantic suspense, the kind of story I also write, like this month’s The Spy Who Saved Christmas. But even when I read outside of the romance genre, the stories I like best are those that include a love story.

Love is a part of every human story. In fact, love is what makes us human, and the search for love is what makes our characters relatable.

In a good romantic suspense novel, the passion and the action are inextricable. Paction, you might say.

The romance is the motivation for the suspense. The hero and heroine love each other – even before they admit it – so they put their lives on the line in order to keep the other safe. They throw themselves into the path of danger on each other’s behalf.

Here are a few movies that adeptly combined passion and action in such a way that one would not exist without the other. Paction movies.

  • Avatar – The hero entered a new world and fell in love. If he hadn’t fallen in love, he would likely have succumbed to the pressure to leave that world behind. But because he loved his heroine, he fell in love with her world, so much so that he was willing to fight to the death to save it.

  • Casino Royale – First, let’s get this out of the way: Daniel Craig is H-O-T. Can I hear an “Amen”? Now, about the movie… In past James Bond movies, there was always a romantic interest, but we knew that she wouldn’t hold his interest for long. But in Casino Royale, the prequel, James found true love, and the loss of that love explained why he would never let himself feel that deeply again.

  • True Lies – This is an old movie but not old enough to be cool. However, I’m naming it anyway because it’s one of my favorites. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a mild-mannered salesman, or so his wife believes. But in truth, he’s a spy whose frequent trips are actually dangerous missions. When his restless wife gets pulled into one of those missions, the stakes rise, and the hero will do anything to save the woman he loves. And she puts herself in danger’s path to save him, too.


When I write a Harlequin Intrigue, I write a paction story. The romance and the action are inextricably combined. In The Spy Who Saved Christmas, Reid Graham and Lara Jordan share one night of passion, and then Reid is killed in a mysterious fire, leaving Lara pregnant and alone.

Reid is an undercover spy, and he had no idea Lara was pregnant when he allowed her to believe he had died two years ago. Now he’s about to break the biggest case of his career, and Lara reappears in his life at the worst possible moment. For the first time, Reid has something to lose – the twin sons he’s never met, and the one woman he could never forget. With bullets flying and enemies hot on their heels, Reid and Lara have to work together to bring their babies home by Christmas.

Paction.

Do you love paction books and movies as much as I do? What are some of your favorites?

Contest: Each time I reach another 100 people who “Like” my Facebook page (facebook.com/danamarton), I’ll select a random fan to win an Amazon.com e-gift certificate. Please come to my page and click “Like” for your chance to win.

Also, one lucky commenter on today’s blog will win a free copy of a book from my backlist.

23 comments:

Jane said...

Congrats on the upcoming release, Dana. I love paction. Do "The Mummy" and "Last of the Mohicans" count as paction? I think Pamela Clare and Cindy Gerard's romantic suspenses are great examples of paction.

catslady said...

Congrats, Jane :)

You named two movies that I really like. Actually I think all my favorite movies would fit your paction - Legend, Lady Hawke, First Knight, Highlander, The Mummy and so many more. I've enjoyed many of your books and this one sounds exciting!

Anna Campbell said...

Hey, Jane, well done on the chook!

Dana, welcome to the lair. Kate, you do bring us the most interesting guests. And it was interesting that Shane yesterday and Dana today were both talking about the necessity for a love in even the most hard boiled action story. Amen to that.

Dana, I must say I LOVED Casino Royale (rather like the photo too!). Love the shower scene. Sigh. And no, what you think might happen in a James Bond, DOESN'T!

Did you know TRUE LIES was based on a French original with the very gorgeous Thierry l'Hermitte as the star? I love that movie - it's such a clever idea. I like TRUE LIES but I must say TLH does a fabulous line in sophisticated James Bondery! If you haven't seen it, you should try and find it. Just looked it up, it's called La Totale. Fab stuff!

Helen said...

Well done Jane enjoy your day with him

I do love the sound of this book Dana I love paction books and movies some of my favourite paction books are Pamela Clare's I Team stories and of course Sherrilyn Kennyon and Dianna Love's bad series. Love all the movies that people have suggested as well and of course Jeanne Adams books are great paction reading.

Thanks Kate for inviting Dana today I have added Dana's name to my must have authors and will be watching out for them

Have Fun
Helen

SiNn said...

congrats Dana ur work sounds awesome I havent had the privlage of reading any of ur work but would love too did like you on face book and have added you to my wish list

Deanna said...

Daniel Craig ... mmm ... yum! Sorry, can't write anymore. Too busy dreaming about Daniel Craig.

Unknown said...

well done Jane, have a good day

I love paction books, in fact I love any books with romance in them. I have just started Pamela Clares Hard Evidence and it starts off with someone being killed..... so I presume there will be more action before I finish it and,of course romance.

Dana Marton said...

Thank you for all the great movie recommendations, Ladies!!! You brought up a few of my all time favorites. Now I have a list I'll be downloading to watch again.

Thank you for the books you mentioned as well, I'm always looking for new favorite authors!

Jane--LOVE the Mummy!

Catslady--Thank you for reading my books!

Anna--I'm going to look up La Totale. Thank you for recommending it! I didn't know True Lies was a remake. Well, I learned something today. :-)

Helen--Sounds like we have the same taste in fiction.

SiNn--Thank you for liking me on FB!!! I'm looking forward to getting to know you there.

Daz--He has that effect on me, too! LOL I'm tempted to put a poster of him up in my office, but I fear I wouldn't get any work done.

Barb--I like books that start with a body on the floor. Tells me we're plunging straight into action.

Wishing everyone a great weekend! Thank you for stopping by to visit me here today!!

Dana

Virginia C said...

I do enjoy reading and viewing great romantic suspense stories! The romance and the suspense enhance each other, making for a more intense story line, and both elements of the story must be resolved for a satisfactory conclusion! However, sometimes there are cliffhangers which lead to sequels. That's OK--as long as it all leads to the "HEA".

I have always enjoyed great romantic action partnerships. My favorite pair is from TV's "Remington Steele"--Pierce Brosnan and Stephanie Zimbalist were a dynamic duo! Then there are movies like "Romancing the Stone"--continual "one upmanship" and sparks flying all along the way! The classic romantic suspense duo on film would be Nick and Nora Charles from "The Thin Man" movie series, which originated with the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. William Powell and Myrna Loy were superb as "Nick and Nora". Mischievous, sexy, smart and sassy--the sparks flew right off the black and white film!!!

Laurie G said...

Paction

Christina Dodd has several books that would qualify.
Also,
Merline Lovelace, Diana Palmer, Loreth Anne White, Ann Voss Peterson, BJ Daniels, and Lindsay McKenna

Movie: Body Heat with Kathleen Turner and William Hurt, To Catch a Thief TV show too

Linda Henderson said...

I think the Mummy movies were my favorite. Romancing The Stone, Jewel of the Nile and a couple of others I can think of. I enjoy those kinds of movies.

Minna said...

I like action movies! Some of my favorites are Undercover Blues and Mission: Impossible.

catslady said...

I just thought of Romancing the Stone - one of my favorites.

Anna Sugden said...

Oh wow! One of my fave Intrigue authors in the Lair! How cool! Welcome Dana, and thanks for hosting her Kate.

I'm a big fan of romantic suspense - love paction! It's one of the things that I think makes writing romantic suspense so challenging keeping all those threads woven together and developing with pace!

Karen Rose is one of my all-time faves, as are Cathy Mann, Merline Lovelace, Dee Davis, Cindy Dees and of course, Suz Brockmann and Debra Webb.

Anna Campbell said...

Barb, adored the hero of Pamela's Hard Evidence! She writes really luscious men!

chey said...

I really like paction books. I rarely remember titles though.

Kate Carlisle said...

Dana, Great post! You may not know this, but I have a special place in my heart for Daniel Craig. He's my boyfriend! (Don't tell my husband.) "Paction" is such a fun word! How about a paction TV show? I looooove Castle. The passion is understated but simmering under the surface. And I love the humor in the show.

Thanks again for joining us here today!

Sheree said...

Congrats on your new release! I, too, was mesmerized by the picture of Daniel Craig, even if he's a blond James Bond. I was a fan of Remington Steele, back when I was an impressionable kid, so dark hair is better on Bond, James Bond.

ironss[at]gmail.com

Pat Cochran said...

Even though is a budding screen
writer, I don't watch many movies.
One favorite at our house is
Princess Bride, does that count
in the paction category? And how
about my TV favorites: White Collar,
Burn Notice, and the Glades?

Pat Cochran

Pat Cochran said...

OOPS! Left out the fact that my son is the one screenwriting! LOL!

Pat Cochran

Dana Marton said...

Virginia--I totally agree that a romantic partnership adds a lot to a suspense story. I love it when there are layers and layers that I can dig into.

Laurie--We have all the same favorite authors!

Linda H--I love action/adventure romance. I even wrote a few. I hope they'll make a comeback. It seems right now all publishers want is small town romance.

Minna--I'm looking for a great action movie to watch this afternoon with DH at home. We were going to go to the movies, but it's raining like crazy out there, so I don't feel like going out. Nothing better for a rainy day than curling up with a good movie or book.

Dana Marton said...

Anna S--Thank you for reading my books! Sounds like we have very similar tastes. Karen Rose is amazing!!!

Anna C--Have to put that on my list. Thank you for the recommendation!

Chey--If you only forget book titles, you're lucky. Seems I can't remember anything these days. DH says it's because my head is always in some alternate universe, with fictional people. He might be right. But reading is supposed to improve memory. So we are both on the right track :-)

Kate--Thank you, thank you, thank you again for having me. Your books are amazing! Someday I hope to write as well as you do. Your stories are truly captivating.

Dana Marton said...

Sheree--Oh, those older Bond movies. I need to get my hands on some.

Pat--You have a writer in your family? I'm jealous. Right now where we are, I don't know any other writers. Well, I know someone who writes non-fiction and another person who writes poetry. But I don't know them well enough to talk shop. I sooo miss that. Virtual writers groups are wonderful, but I miss the days when I used to get together with my romance writer friends in PA.