It's true that some things--such as wine and cheese--get better with age. And while I enjoy both, and I'm sure they'd make an interesting blog topic, today I'd like to discuss something a bit...prettier. (Or at least, more fun to look at *g*)
My top five picks for men who have gotten better with age!
1. Hugh Jackman. I think most of us could agree that the years have been kind to Hugh *g*
2. Liam Neeson. I fell hard for Liam in Love Actually.
3. George Clooney. I never watched ER but I do remember George from his days on The Facts of Life. Yes, he has definitely improved with age :-)
4. Patrick Dempsey. The same goes for Patrick who I first saw as a nerdy teen in Can't Buy Me Love.
5. Sting. I recently saw footage of Sting in concert and he still kicks butt up on that stage! I also love that he's into yoga *g*
Who are your picks for men who have gotten better with age?
We have an AHA Go Red pin for one commenter today. I'm also giving a copy of Tawny's latest Red Hot Blaze, BREAKING THE RULES!
The healthy heart tip for February 20 is: Try something new - dare yourself to try a new fruit or vegetable. Next time you're at the store, pick up something you've never made before. Many grocery stores have free recipe cards in the produce section or just type the food into your favorite search engine.
Romance Writers of America and the American Heart Association have partnered to raise awareness of heart disease in women and encourage you to join us in wearing red on February 4, National Wear Red Day. Visit Go Red for Women to learn how to fight heart disease.
From Feb 1 through May 31, 2011, receive one free romance e-book when you sign up for the American Heart Association's Better U Program and one after you complete week six of the program. And look for the Eat Smart for Your Heart limited edition magazine (that features this offer) on newstands and in a grocery store near you.
Go Red for Women is trademarked by the American Heart Association, Inc. Romance novel downloads provided by Belle Books.
Thanks to the wonders of Google Alerts, I encountered this particular blog topic. The lovely Kylee J from Kylee's Journal included my hero Keirnan Fitzgerald from The Treasures of Venice in her list of Top 5 Male Crushes.
This exercise involves listing your favorite male "crushes" from books you've recently read. Or perhaps it was your top male "crushes" from any book, which makes me feel even more complimented that Kylee included Keirnan on her list.
That forced me to think (always a painful process) about which drool worthy heroes I would include on MY list of crushes, besides my own three yummy hunks, Donovan, Keirnan and Kevin, of course. How to chose from so many worthy candidates?
ANY of Anna Campbell's gorgeous, tortured hunks (Kylemore, Gideon, Eirth) are certainly drool worthy, as are Christine's dangerous Max Brooke, and the scrumptious Jardine. And I can't forget Christie's scandalous William Atherton or Donna's naughty Lord Nicholas! Plus on the contemporary side are Jeanne's dark and dangerous Caine Bradley, and Kate's sexy Derek Stone. Susan and Beth's reformed bad boys, Patrick and Dillon, and Tawny's cursed reporter Sebastian. And I'm not even through with just Bandita books yet.
Clearly this is a case of "too many heroes, too little time!"
So besides all those already mentioned, here's who would make my short list:
Roarke from JD Robb's In Death series -- he's sinfully gorgeous and rich, plus he's Irish! Just can't beat that combination.
Jamie Fraser from Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series --he probably single-handedly made both red heads and Scot heroes sexy.
Rupert Carsington from Loretta Chase's Mr. Impossible --he's pretty much impossible to improve upon.
Ranger from Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series -- Okay, okay! I know Stephanie will probably end up with Morelli, and she probably should. But Ranger is the one who makes my lil heart go pitty pat the loudest!
All righty, I'll stop there and let you have a turn. Who are some of the drool worthy heroes on your short list?
We all love a good rescue, don't we? Many of us in the Lair especially like rescues involving massive boom. Most rescues, though, are a lot quieter. Even when there's boom in a romance novel rescue, the more important salvation comes when the hero and heroine free each other from their baggage--when love lets them finally shed the ghosts, scars, and fears of their pasts and make a new life together.
This blog was inspired by the Remy Zero song "Save Me," which happens to be the theme song for Smallville. The chorus, which is the part in the credits, starts, "Somebody save me, let your warm hands break right through me." (At least I think "me" is the last word in that line. It's hard to tell, and I found competing versions on the net.)
Think for a minute about all the saviors in the novels and movies you love--from "everyday" heroes who find it within themselves to step up when needed to firefighters and police and soldiers and Navy SEALs and BAD agency and other covert operatives and Dark-Hunters and vampires and wizards and super-heroes. Genre fiction abounds with them. There's something innately appealing about a character dedicated to saving people.
In Tears of the Sun, a gritty, violent but moving film, Bruce Willis as Lt. Waters leads a SEAL team taking refugees out of a war zone. They come across a village where residents are being brutalized by rebel forces, and Waters tells his guys they're going in. One of his men says, "Rules of engagement, LT?" They've been told by their commander that their rules of engagement, their code of conduct, is to fire if fired upon. Waters looks at him and says, "We're already engaged." By compassion and simple humanity. And I have to say watching the SEALs take out the bad guys was a thing of beauty, if a bit gory.
In Acheron, we finally take a complete look at a character who has spent millennia saving humanity. At last, we have all the pieces of this hero's story, all the pain and humiliation he had to overcome, and see the damage his youth did to his soul. The first half of the book makes for difficult reading because it's so full of pain. Luckily, all that leads to redemption.
One of Acheron's friends tells Soteria, Ash's true love, to remember how hard it is for someone who has known neither kindness nor compassion to show them to others. As Ash and the Dark-Hunters have saved others from agonizing deaths, Tori rescues him from the humiliation and pain of his past. It isn't easy. The biggest obstacles to the rescue are his shame and, despite all the marvelous things he's done and has the ability to do, his lack of self-esteem and lack of faith in his own resourcefulness. In the end, Tori's love for Ash forces him to be the man she sees him as and gives him a bright future.
Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, dramatically risks life and limb to save his love, Kat Boleyn. It's a dramatic, fabulous rescue, but it doesn't resolve their larger problem. Sebastian has extraordinary physical gifts, money, and a brilliant mind, but he can't convince Kat a lord and an actress can build a life together. She unshakably believes marriage to her would isolate him socially and ultimately make them both unhappy.
In a later book, a tragic secret comes to light. I'm not spoiling it, but I will say I hoped someone would rescue one of the characters from the resulting grief and pain. Looks like that'll be in a future book. I hope.
On Smallville, Clark Kent goes into tunnels full of Kryptonite to save his arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor. The tunnels are also wired with explosives, on detonators that are running. With the Kryptonite down there, Clark is in as much danger from a bomb blast as anyone else. His friend and confidante Chloe Sullivan tries to discourage him, but Clark won't be swayed. At last, she grudgingly concedes, "I get it. You don't get to choose who you save. Not if you're Clark Kent."
Acheron and Sebastian and Willis's Lt. Waters and Superman and their ilk inspire those around them and, by extension, their readers or viewers, to look to their better angels. How cool is that?
I've been watching a lot of Smallville lately. Comic book geek that I am, I watched the first couple of seasons, but I'd been out of high school so long that a show focusing on high school angst, even with super-powers, just didn't grab me. I drifted away from it, watching an episode occasionally if I remembered it was on. While I wasn't looking, it got interesting. Lois Lane brought a dose of attitude and a fondness for verbal sparring with Clark to Smallville. What really got me to pay attention again, though, was a rescue.
I happened to tune in to an episode last year in which Clark had no powers and was working as slave labor somewhere in the former USSR. Finally, someone showed up to rescue him--Oliver "Green Arrow" Queen, the world's greatest archer. Oliver and Clark didn't fight their way out of the situation in quite the usual way, though they did throw some punches. Oliver mostly talked and bought their way out, preserving Clark's cover and his own.
Note what Clark says to Oliver at the end of that clip, "What took you so long?" He knew his friends would find him. Counted on their doing so, and don't we count on our friends to help when we need them? In the previous season (Season 7 for DVD-ites), Clark and Oliver teamed up with a posse of super-heroes to rescue people with powers from becoming Luthorcorp's lab rats, a mission that played a big role in forcing Clark to take a wider view, to look to all the world's problems and not just those right around him.
The Chloe character mentioned above irritated me hugely at first because she wasn't in the Superman mythos I grew up with, but I've come to like her. I've also come to view Lex Luthor differently. Thanks to the writers and to Michael Rosenbaum's nuanced portrayal, Lex was a much more complex character than the comic books gave us. (The character has since departed.) Lex actually saved Clark in one episode. Watching a bunch of episodes back to back, as I've been doing, reveals a pattern of Lex being desperate for love. In fact, Chloe tries to explain Lex to Clark by saying, "Total absence of love. Someone once said that's the definition of evil." Yet every time Lex had a shot at love, his Machiavellian dealings torpedoed it, just as the fears and scars and ghosts of so many characters' pasts in romance novels torpedo their shots. Until the right lover comes along to save them.
Five for Fighting's Superman album contains a song called "It's Not Easy" that actually is about the Man of Steel and contains the lines, "Even heroes have a right to bleed" and "Even heroes have a right to dream." Sure, they do. But they often put their own pain and their own hopes and their own dreams aside to save the lives and wellbeing of others. That's part of what makes them heroes. It isn't always simple, though. As Oliver says to Clark in one episode, "I know you want to save everyone, but sooner or later, you'll have to make the hard choices. That's what heroes do."
In a romance, heroes and heroines who sacrifice their hopes and dreams for each other usually somehow attain them anyway or end up with something even better. If only things were that way in real life.
Some of you may remember that I have a weakness for ensembles. The quality of a hero's or heroine's friends can say a lot about the lead character. Even loners usually have someone who helps or supports them. Nicholas Brisbane and Sebastian St. Cyr are loners but have people who help them. Brisbane has his assistant and his former mistress. Sebastian has Tom, his light-fingered tiger, and the magistrate, Jarvis. Holmes had Watson and, at times, Inspector Lestrade. Frodo had the Fellowship of the Ring and the gift of Galadriel. Acheron had Jaden and Simi and Appollymi and Savitar and, for a time, Nick.
Chloe and Oliver and Lana and Lois (one of the few "good guys" in the Smallville universe not in on Clark's secret) and the love of Martha and Jonathan Kent all make Clark who he is. Clark is lucky to be surrounded by people who care about him and keep his secret, but Oliver Queen pushes him to step up to what his powers can do, which is why I used his picture so many times on the blog. (I also think he has a way cool costume, pictured at right.) Coming from someone who also sacrifices to save others, as Oliver does, the advice seems to have more punch for Clark than it would coming from an ordinary person. All the people in Clark's life help him remain true to the best in himself.
Isn't that part of what our own friends and loved ones do best, keep us true the best in ourselves? Save us from our darker angels?
For more about Smallville and its fandom, click here. New episodes return in September. What's your favorite book or movie rescue (with or without boom)? Which hero or heroine do you think made the most heart-wrenching sacrifice, and why did you choose that particular one?
A mystery package of books from RWA (which have now arrived, so I'll be posting winners tonight) will go to one commenter.
Tomorrow is Father's Day here in the States which, for some unknown reason, has me thinking about some of my all-time favorite Movie/TV Dads! (I know. It's scary how my brain works. Let's just go with it, shall we? *g*)
So here, in no particular order, are my Top Ten Favorite Movie or TV Dads:
1. Rick Castle (Nathan Fillion) of TV's Castle. So far I've only caught a few episodes of this show but the thing that struck me right from the beginning was Castle's relationship with his daughter Alexis. Alexis is actually more mature than her dad but their love for each other is clear *g*
2. Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) in Definitely, Maybe. I'm a huge Ryan Reynolds fan (and I can't wait to see him with Sandra Bullock in The Proposal!) and this movie about a single dad telling his daughter about his past was very sweet :-)
3. Jack (Michael Keaton) in Mr. Mom. Oh, how I love this movie! Jack loses his job and soon embraces his new role as a stay-at-home dad. Anyone else remember this scene where he's trying to get his son Kenny to give up his woobie (security blanket): "I understand that you little guys start out with your woobies and you think they're great... and they are, they are terrific. But pretty soon, a woobie isn't enough. You're out on the street trying to score an electric blanket, or maybe a quilt. And the next thing you know, you're strung out on bedspreads Ken. That's serious."
4. Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) in Sleepless in Seattle. As much as I love the romance in this film, I also love the bond between Sam and his young son Jonah.
5. Robert (Patrick Dempsey) in Enchanted. I can't get enough of this movie and Robert is such a cynical New Yorker but his love for his young daughter pushes him to bring fairy tale princess Gieselle home.
6. Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) in TV's Bones. Seeley is a tough FBI agent AND a caring father. And he's easy on the eyes, too ;-)
7. Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) in TV's Friday Night Lights (one of my fave shows!) Love how sexy Eric is with his wife and how wonderful he is with his daughters. Plus, as a football coach, he's a role model/father figure to many of the boys on his squad.
8. John Winchester (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) of TV's Supernatural. Before JDM was in Watcher's, he played Sam and Dean's father and I have to admit, I fell hard for this tough guy who would do anything to protect his sons.
9. Daniel (Liam Neeson) in Love Actually. The story line of Daniel and Sam is my favorite of this fabulous movie. Seeing their relationship grow after suffering a huge loss is so bittersweet.
10. (TIE) Richard White (James Marsden) and Clark Kent/Superman (Brandon Routh) in Superman Returns. Young Jason White couldn't ask for two better Dads!
Who are some of your favorite Movie/TV Dads? Which star would win your vote as sexiest dad? I know we have a few Hugh Jackman and Johnny Depp fans out there *g* Let's hear it!
Despite certain aspersions cast by one Anna Campbell in yesterday's blog:), I'm a peaceable person by nature. As a child, I practised the odd faux karate move on my brother and the other annoying boys in my neighbourhood, but since those days, I haven't really been one for confrontation of any kind, much less the physical.
There are incidents in every woman's life when her man might see the need to defend her with his fists. A couple of times, I've been sick with apprehension in just that situation, because rather than thinking how romantic it is to have a man protect me, I get scared that maybe the other fellow has a knife or has friends nearby, or if my defender did punch the other guy's lights out, he might get arrested.
In fiction, however, it's another matter.
Big strong men who are prone to violence--I love reading about them and I love writing about them, too. THE DANGEROUS DUKE opens with my hero, Max, Duke of Lyle, dangling a man over a balustrade by the ankles until he agrees to hand over valuable information. In fact, that was the image from which the entire book sprang. If you read Max's story, you'll get a sense of a man who will stop at nothing to achieve his aims. In my July release, WICKED LITTLE GAME, the Marquis of Vane has the huge, honed physique of a seasoned prizefighter. Unlike many of the Regency beaux who spar in Jackson's Boxing Saloon, Vane is a serious athlete. He trains with commitment and passion, the same way he does everything else (including love my heroine, Lady Sarah, but that's another blog!) I modeled him on Captain Barclay, a gentleman athlete who trained many top prizefighters of the day. When Lady Sarah sees Vane stripped to the waist, engaging in sparring practice with a hulking great giant in his empty ballroom, she experiences a visceral reaction:
Nothing could have been farther from his usual demeanor than the sight that met her eyes in his ballroom tonight: a wild, primitive display of masculine aggression.
She ought to be disgusted. She’d never seen anything more magnificent in her life.
What is it about these fictional warriors that we love so much? Have you ever had your honour defended? (I know Donna has a story about that!) Were you scared, disgusted, triumphant? Did you tell him to step out of the way so that *you* could kick some butt?
At a recent writers' festival where Anna Campbell and I sat on a panel about historical fiction, a man in the audience asked us what was the appeal of Regency-set historical romance. Anna instantly quipped: "Men in Boots".
Now, of course that was a (largely) flippant reply, but I will be the first to admit it is part of the appeal.
Having heard from wonderful writers like Jenny Crusie and Anne Gracie how effective collaging has been for their creative thought processes, I gave it a try for The Dangerous Duke. I'm not sure I have the hang of it yet, but it certainly helped capture the mood of the story. I'd look at the chart I'd made and fall into that world--a welcome change from staring at a blank page.
I often envy contemporary writers their ability to walk into a thrift shop or somewhere and say 'oh, that's the jacket my heroine wears in the first scene'. You can touch the fabric, try it on to see how it would fit across someone's shoulders. As an historical writer you can't do things like that so easily, unless you live near collections of period garments or stately houses. I should be so lucky!
Finding pictures of Men in Boots for my collages is a challenge. I want men who look like they could be a hero in my novel, or even a villain. The typical male model you see in magazines is tanned and muscled from gym workouts which sculpt him into a different shape from an English aristocrat of the Regency era, no matter how much riding, fencing, manual labor, etc the aristocrat might have done. And let's face it, many models, however gorgeous, have absolutely nothing going on behind their eyes. They don't project the sort of personality you want in a hero.
Usually, I look for actors in period dramas for my collage heroes. And thanks to the resurgence of Austen and Bronte adaptations, there's an increasing number of images to be found.
Most often these men don't really look like my hero at all. There might be an expression, an aura, a tilt of the head that's just right, however, and that's enough.
If you're a writer, have you tried collaging? How has it worked for you? If you're a reader, who would you cast as hero in your favourite romance? URLs if possible, please, so we can check them out--ahem, I mean judge whether they are of the right calibre for heroes in a romance.
One random winner will score chocolate and a signed copy of The Dangerous Duke.
Before I forget, BH Dark, aka Kathy Love and Julie Cohen were supposed to be here today but instead will be here on Wednesday. Between sickness and traveling they just couldn’t get here today.
Back to the topic at hand: Heroes!
No, not those heroes. I'm talking about the wonderful guys we love to read and write about.
I thought today would be a great day to talk about a romance authors favorite thing (and most readers too) —the unforgettable hero. Way back when (I’m not going to date myself here) it appeared as if most heroes were the same. Those great novels had the moody, alpha hero who did whatever it took to get the girl, only to be humbled a little by her love at the end of the story.
But today, it takes all kinds to win the hearts of our heroines. Everything from Billionaires to firefighters to accountants. Today’s heroes can be an alpha or a beta or even a mix of the two. My personal favorite is the mix that some people call gamma. I have a hard time writing a man who’s too alpha even though I write historical and know it would be completely accurate. I need a man who shows his softer side before the end of the story. At the same time, I find writing a hero who is more beta also difficult. I need the hero to be a little angsty, moody and willing to do what it takes to win the heroine.
Even among the Bandits, I find it interesting to see the type of heroes we write. We have authors who write fantastic alpha heroes and some who are either a mix or heading toward beta. I love the variety.
So for me, an unforgettable hero is one with strong alpha characteristics and isn’t afraid to show his beta side. Without that touch of softness, I really have a hard time believing they will find that happy ever after.
What about you? Who are some of your favorite heroes and why? What makes a hero special to you? For you authors, what are your favorite type of heroes to write?
Early on when I started writing romance and learning about the romance publishing field, one of the "rules" I often heard was that heroes couldn't be in fields like sports, acting or music. I didn't understand why. After all, I'd had crushes on guys in all those fields and more that don't regularly show up in romance novels.
Now I know the publishing companies have done studies and say that certain heroes sell more books, but like settings for historicals, I still think there's room for other types of heroes. Don't get me wrong -- I'm all for sexy cowboys, cops and carpenters. I've read lots of romance novels with those types of heroes that were fabulous.
But why can't our heroines fall for the lead singer in a rock band? Oh, say, one who looked like Ville Valo in HIM. :)
What about an actor who would fall for the normal gal instead of the Hollywood beauties? I know there's at least one other Bandita whose heart goes thumpety-thump at the mere mention of Eric Bana. No one can see the following scene in Troy without falling in lust. After all, love usually starts with a physical attraction.
Then there's the athlete hero who can devote himself to a woman like he does his sport. Perhaps he even looks a bit like tennis star Rafael Nadal. Hey, I doubt many women would kick him out of bed for eating crackers.
What types of heroes do you not see in romance novels but wish you did?
Buffy has two of them. So does Stephanie Plum. I believe our own Kirsten Scott is writing two potential love interests for her heroine in The Delcroix Academy series. They're the ultimate accessory--not one but two hawt love interests for our heroines. Erotic romance takes the love triangle even further, and I'm told the menage a trois sells like hotcakes. But we're seeing a lot more of this phenomenon in traditional romance, too.
Do these love triangles simply explore another female fantasy, or is something deeper happening here?
The romance thread in stories featuring women has changed dramatically over the years. In the past, the heroine often had two love interests, it's true, but one of those dishy men usually turned out to be a blackguard, or at least unworthy of our heroine's love, while the other revealed himself her true knight in shining armour. Wickham or Darcy? There was never any real doubt who Elizabeth would choose.
Now, things have become a lot more ambiguous, particularly in series like Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books. Stephanie's life is complicated--there's good cop/bad boy Morelli and scary lethal dude Ranger and she can't seem to decide which she wants more.
Poor Buffy the Vampire Slayer has a lot on her plate. There's the saving the world thing to cope with on top of the normal trials of being a young woman in modern society. And then there's the slight problem that the only time her true love releases his inner demon is when he has a moment of perfect happiness with her. Angel (most of the time) is the demon turned good. Spike is the vampire who might love Buffy or kill her. Each of them seemed right for her at a certain point in the series. Isn't it magic the way great writing can make you cheer for one man (or demon) to win, then change your opinion in the next episode?
There's something luxurious and thrilling about wanting (or more accurately, being wanted by*g*) two different men. But my theory is that writers are doing more than simply turning up the heat for their readers or providing a smorgasbord of yummy men to choose from. Secondary characters often reflect aspects of the protagonist's character. So, what does it say about Stephanie Plum that she has a solid relationship with solid cop, Morelli, yet hankers after the risk of Ranger?
I think most traditional romance fans still like the happily ever after, and they like one hero to get the girl. But what do you think? Is it possible to love two men at the same time? Do you think there's a place for two heroes in a romance?
by Christine Wells Dark, tortured heroes--don't we love them? Heathcliff, Rochester, Jervaulx, Anna Campbell's Kylemore, any of Anne Stuart's bad, beautiful boys. The worse our hero is, the more we love it when a good woman brings him to his knees.
I've learned a lot from screenwriting experts lately. There was that lightbulb moment from Debra Williamson, who swung by the lair recently and talked about irony, among other things. And today, while listening to a lecture about character arc from Michael Hauge, all my vague ideas about redeeming the dark hero clicked into place.
Have you ever heard someone disparage a redemption story because 'people just don't change'? That attitude was one I struggled with when writing Scandal's Daughter. I had an irresponsible rake as a hero and I had to redeem him by the end. But I, also, believe that people don't change.
It got me thinking, if I believe people can't change, why, then, do redemption stories work for me? How do we, as writers, make them believable?
Michael Hauge talks about a character's identity, the mask he or she shows the world, as opposed to his essence, who he really is, or who he could be if he lived up to his potential. It's that essence which the heroine sees and it's that essence the author sets about exhuming, step by step, throughout the book. When he is redeemed at the end, the hero has not changed fundamentally. He has become the man he was always meant to be.
So, who is your favourite tortured hero? What made you like him, despite his bad boy attitude?
Donna MacMeans, Trish Milburn, and Nancy Northcott will all be in Atlanta for the Moonlight and Magnolias conference in Decatur, Georgia September 30 through October 2nd. If you're in the area, stop by for the booksigning. We'd love to see you.
Redeeming the Rogue by Donna MacMeans received a 4.5 star TOP PICK! review from Romantic Times Magazine.
Living in Color by Trish Milburn is now available on Kindle, Smashwords and at barnesandnoble.com for the Nook.
2011 Golden Heart® Finalists!Nancy Northcott and Anna Sugden are finalists in Romance Writers of America®'s prestigious Golden Heart® Awards.
Riding The Waves by Tawny Weber was awarded a Reviewers Choice Award by CataRomance.
Cosmopolitan Magazine - April 2011 - out now! features an excerpt from Jeanne Adams's Deadly Little Secrets Pick up a copy today!
Nominated for Best Suspense of 2010! Romantic Times Magazine has nominated Jeanne's Deadly Little Secrets for their Best Suspense Award. This is Jeanne's second RT nomination.
by Beth
Romance Writers of America and the American Heart Association have partnered to raise awareness of heart disease in women and encourage you to join us in wearing red on February 4, National Wear Red Day. Visit Go Red for Women to learn how to fight heart disease.
In 
Now, things have become a lot more ambiguous, particularly in series like Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books. Stephanie's life is complicated--there's good cop/bad boy Morelli and scary lethal dude Ranger and she can't seem to decide which she wants more.
