Every Hero Has His Day

There are heroes, and there are anti-heroes. There are alpha and beta males. There are Apollonian and Dionysian archetypes. Like chocolate, I like different kinds of men to inhabit my stories. Sometimes I like them very, very dark, like 80% cacao - dark chocolate. And sometimes I like them a little sweeter...maybe 50% cacao sauce drizzled over raspberries.

When it comes to protagonists, I don't create them, so much as they arrive, fully formed, like Athena in battle armor springing from Zeus' head. And when they make an appearance I pluck them from the air and put them to work in my stories.

Next month, a lovely, knights-of-the-round-table sort of hero makes his first appearance. He's sincere and has a sense of honor. He's beautiful and built and really enjoys sex. His name is Thane, and he's about to fall in love in Pact of Princes I: Silent Siren. The story that is told in Pact of Princes I & II, is my friend Gavin's favorite story that I've written so far. I wrote it a while back, and only recently tried to find it a home. I guess when I wrote it, I pictured Thane looking like Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall, and I thought about a group of brothers who love each other, but who are also competitive. Thane is the best of what's good in the world these men inhabit.

I also really love mythology, and I've always been interested in the strange relationship between Ares, the god of war, and Aphrodite, goddess of love. So a while ago, I dreamt up story that's urban fantasy crossed with myth. Ares, an antihero, is big and bad, consumed with his own lust for war and for a mortal woman. He's so dark, she must reform him. But what woman is really up to the task of taming a war god?

Like many writers, I sometimes wonder if I've taken the right approach with a story. When so many women love the alpha males and in the age of vampires and dark anti-heroes, I wondered if Thane was alpha enough. I was delighted then when my editor from Changeling, Vikky with Two Ks sent an email saying that the proofreaders "LOVED (with a passion)" Pact of Princes I and begged to read the second half.

Then I wondered if Ares was too dark. I'd submitted War God to an editor at Red Sage in the summer and hadn't heard back. I knew that she was probably simply busy, but a part of me wondered...maybe she doesn't like the story. Maybe she doesn't like his character. And then yesterday, I received an email from that editor saying that Red Sage would like to acquire War God.

Phew. I can breathe a sigh of relief because a part of me loves these men...and gods. And I feel like it's my responsibility to tell their stories well, so that the tales can be published and they can live in the public domain forever.

So now all is right with my world; all my heroes will have their day.