CozyUp With Your Favorite Hero

Keta Diablo is with us today to give us her take on heroes and why we love them. She's a marvelous writer, as this review below for her book Decadent Deceptions attests. And right now she's offering a two -for-one deal, which, if I've done my links right, you should be able to find on her website by clicking on her Falling Stars cover to the left. (If you couldn't tell by the cover, it's a post-Civil War story, which puts it at the top of my TBR list.) Or use this link: http://www.ketadiablo.com

"The author writes a delightful love story of long-denied love that culminates in an mixture of mystery and devotion rarely seen. Simply an amazing book."

Cozy Up With Your Favorite Hero
Keta Diablo

Statistics tells us the majority of romance readers are women, so it stands to reason the majority of heroes in romance novels are alpha males. You know, those strong, heart-throbbing, larger-than-life men who are anything but ordinary. The more tortured they are, the more the heroine and the readers fall in love with him. And yet, the best-loved hero will have a few minor faults or weaknesses that a gifted author will capitalize on. Who can resist a man that shows kindness and patience to animals, children or his mother and, contrarily, can wield a sword with the utmost precision, out-ride, out-shoot and pummel his enemies to death in the blink of an eye?

Character faults in our hero intrigues readers and encourages them to stick around to find out if the heroine will still love him as the layers are peeled away. More importantly, will the hero realize his vulnerabilities and come to terms with them? If he grows and changes from the beginning of the book to the end, the author has done a fine job in this regard.

Yes, we want our hero to be handsome, tall and financially secure, but there must be some mystery thrown into the package, some measure of susceptibility in order to make him real. And humor never hurts. I’ve always admired the hero who laughs at himself, or offers a witty retort while staring down the face of death. For me, this does not detract from his manliness, but enhances it.

We all love our Sheiks, our Highland warriors and take-no-prisoner mercenaries, but we love them more if once in a while they fall off their horse or trip over their own feet while chasing down the villain, don’t we?

I know I do. Give me a hero who is confident enough to own up to his shortcomings, laugh in the most dire situations and comfort a bereaved child, and I’ll ride off into the sunset with him any old time . . . white charger or not.

Happy reading and may all your heroes make your heart thrum!

Keta Diablo writes for Phaze, Siren Publishing, Ravenous Romance and Noble Romance. If you would like to read about some of her heroes, please visit her web site at http://www.ketadiablo.com and sign her guestbook or drop her an e-mail at ketadiablo@yahoo.com. She loves to hear from readers.

CONTEST! WHO'S THE HERO?

Big day Tuesday! It's the release of APHRODITE'S BREW in print! In celebration, I've got a fun contest for you- a sort of Treasure Hunt: WHO'S THE HERO?


GRAND PRIZE: Sterling silver hand crafted Art Nouveau style pendant by Tom Hakins, a hand-dyed silk scarf, and a $5 gift certificate to Samhain's My Bookstore and More
SECOND PRIZE: Choice of sterling silver Celtic earrings and hand-dyed silk scarf and $5 gift certificate to My Bookstore and More
THIRD PRIZE: Hand-dyed scarf and #2 gift certificate to My Bookstore and More
FIVE ADDITIONAL PRIZES: $2 Gift Certificates to My Bookstore and More

THE CONTEST

Below are some engravings and paintings, some in the form of book covers I've designed for other authors. Each of them poses the same question:

WHO'S THE HERO?

First, the blog comments: Comment in the blog on any of the pictures. Short or long, serious, funny or off-the-wall, one word or fifty, all answers are right, as long as they pertain to the subject. Each answer earns you one chance in the drawing.

Don't want to comment? No problem. Skip this step and go to the next one.

Second, the treasure hunt:(And don't mix these two steps up) Click on each picture's title, which is a link to a different place. (Some of these might require signing up, like MySpace or Facebook, so if you can't or won't do this, email me and I'll give you a different opportunity.)

You can do as much or as little as you want, but the more you do, the more chances you get. Each link you complete will give you five more chances in the drawing. Somewhere on that page you'll find my answer (not the right answer, just mine.). HINT: It will say: "ANSWER #__. . ." DO NOT POST THIS ANSWER ON THE BLOG like you did your comments! Instead, copy the first three words of MY answer into an email to me, then do the same for the others, using the addy below:
contest@dellejacobs.com

You must use a valid email address. It will not be shared with anyone else, but I may very occasionally use it to notify you of future releases. No, no newsletter. No Yahoo groups. No constant bombardments of any kind. I hate them and I'm too lazy to use them myself.

Deadline: midnight Feb. 9th, and one entry only, please (but you can add on answers if you haven;t done all of them). A drawing will determine the winners, who will be announced on February 10th.

Ready? Here it is! Click on the pictures for an enlargement.

#1: You have lots of choices here. This is "Lorenzo and Isabella", by John Everett Millais, who did not perhaps intend for any of these guys shown to be a hero in our sense of the word. But if you were writing this story, WHO'S THE HERO?


#2: An interesting body language question here, in "The Last Dance- Mine, I Think?", by J. Haynes Williams, which made into the cover design of Janice Susan May's SECOND CHANCE. What do you think: WHO'S THE HERO?













#3, the beginnings of a cover design. It comes from John Pettie's "Two Strings to Her Bow", named after an English country saying, meaning a girl who is possibly playing one beau against another.

But WHO'S THE HERO? If you were writing the story, which one would you choose? And while you're at it, would you do something about her cocky attitude?








#4: "The Dispute", an early half-tone print after the picture by Friedrich Kaemmerer.

Again, WHO'S THE HERO? The guy with the broken chair leg for a weapon? His adversary, who is being roughly escorted away? Or...?






And #5: "The End of the Song", by Edmund Blair Leighton. Give this one some thought. This is an interpretation of the Tristan and Isolde story from the King Arthur legends.

WHO'S THE HERO? Is that fellow stroking his beard perhaps King Mark, the man Isolde is affianced to marry?

Some say this is Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot, but probably not. If it were-- would you choose differently?

REMEMBER, DON'T POST the Treasure Hunt answers! Email them to me instead.

Ready? Then go back to the pictures and start playing! Good fortune to you!