Incy Black
  • Home
  • Blog: Into The Black
  • About
  • Books
  • Contact Incy
  • PRIVACY
  • Home
  • Blog: Into The Black
  • About
  • Books
  • Contact Incy
  • PRIVACY

INTO THE BLACK

I'll take him hard boiled, please...

7/29/2013

 
Picture
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles, FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Picture
Image courtesy of James Barker, FreeDigitalPhotos.net
I couldn’t write a Beta hero if he donned the finest kid gloves to pet, soothe and sympathize me into a gentle swoon with his ‘neighborliness’.  Yes, I am prejudiced, but I have to go with my heart as a reader…when I write.

I like my heroes tortured, damaged, and in pain, especially when they are so lacking in self-awareness, they couldn’t find their own pulse.  I enjoy a right royal bastard, the king of jerks and pricks, because to me, behind all that iron-balled posturing is a man worthy of an epic saving—by a heroine with sufficient grit and passion to bring about his redemption—but never, never, his full surrender.  (If you’ve fallen for a bastard, it makes no sense that you’d continue to love him if he changed to the extent a jaunty halo wouldn’t look out of place, gleaming atop his handsome head.)

Of course, such men are not always easy to like. And therein lies the rub. Because you don’t just want your reader to like, you need them to fall in love. You want them to cast aside their aversion along with their knickers (panties—as I’m learning to speak and spell American).

Revealing the integrity that lies beneath the mean as a celibate snake, hard boiled exterior is far from easy. And that’s where the backstory comes in, the drive behind his motivation if you like. The bastard hero needs a reason to behave as he does. A convincing apology (unspoken by him) to excuse his bad-assed-ness.

Some of my favorite heroes (and heroines) who put the ‘B’ into bastard and bitch but who nevertheless have a weird kind of integrity one can only respect are:

The brethren of the Black Dagger Brotherhood  J R Ward
The Dark Hunters (especially Acheron) Sherrilyn Kenyon
The very hot and jaded, fighters against The League (Born of Shadows etc) Sherrilyn Kenyon
The Ghost Walker warriors Christine Feehan
Lords of the Underworld Gena Showalter
The exquisitely psychotic detective, Kathy Mallory, created by Carol O’Connell
Grace Macbride (of the Monkeewrench Software fame) P J Tracy
Lucas Davenport John Sandford
Dave Robicheaux James Lee Burk
The brilliant John Luther (played by Idris Elba) in the BBC drama series Luther
Lady Fury Shehanne Moore


Any more entries for the Rogues’ Gallery?... I’d be delighted to investigate and add them.

Yey, I got a Summer Sun Award

7/12/2013

 
Picture
Thanks to the inimitable Shehanne Moore (jaw- droppingly gifted writer of The Unraveling of Lady Fury), for landing me with a Summer Sun Award, apparently an accolade for those bloggers who brighten the day in some way, either by their blog content or by what they do for others.
.......And as with all things Ms Moore, I have to prove my worth--by answering some 'sunny' questions and they identifying a further eight worthy bloggers (see list below) to whom to pass the baton.  So here goes:
Favourite song with summer in the title or the lyrics (give the line): School’s Out (for Summer) – Alice Cooper. This song never fails to invoke memories of passionate rebellion, the details of which must forever remain hidden.

Favourite book about summer: Any holiday brochure covering the  luxuary end of the market--admitedly not strictly a book, but if the weather is all I remember about a story, then I sure as hell didn't enjoyed reading it.

Favourite hot summer film: Ice Cold in Alex
Picture
The scene where the characters stumble into a bar in anticipation of an ice cold beer is forever stamped on my mind. Oh the sweat, the sand, the naked chests, the stiff...upper lips.
Favourite summer memory:  Though I could outrun, out climb and out punch most boys, I will forever relish the satisfaction of donning a bikini (aged 14)  to prove (contrary to popular opinion), that I was indeed female and had the 'assets' to prove it. Oh, and making tar babies--you know, when its so hot the tarmac bubbles and oozes and you get to roll the resulting thick black gloop into marble shapes and stick them together.  I made entire tribes and never once went down with flu.
 
Favourite summer holiday destination: South of France, every time!

What books will be in your suitcase this summer? As an impulse buyer, you’re guess is as good as mine, but my summer will be complete should I stumble across a series containing a minimum of eight smoking hot reads. (Recommendations welcome by the way--I've exhausted, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Christine Feehan, Lara Adrian and Stephanie Laurens' Cynster series). BUT Shehanne Moore's His Judas Bride will most certainly head the list if it's available.

What’s your likely destination this summer? In truth…the back garden (subject to a full and thorough eviction of the slow-worms)
Picture
I don't care how harmless these nasty reptilian creatures are reputed to be, if it looks like a snake and writhes like a snake, I need to move neighbourhoods--fast!
What hottie would you most like to be sharing the hot days and long nights with his summer?
Well, Josh Holloway is just plumb tired out, and Ian Somerholder has other distractions, so I'm easy, as long as he possesses the following levels of hotness:
Picture
Hips like this...
Picture
A smile like this...
Picture
...and a chest not dissimilar to this.
Picture
A face like this...
There that was relatively painless (though I sure would like to know how I managed to erase spell check from this programme).  To my fellow nominees, rules of the award are as follows:

1.  Display Summer Sun Award logo and link back to the blog of the person who nominated you.
2. Answer the questions as listed above.
3. Nominate a further lucky eight receipients (one for each sunray on the picture.

Good Luck!

Shehanne Moore


Jessica Baker

Meg McNulty

JM Stewart

Aurelia B Rowl 

Alison Lodge

Louise Rose-Innes

Fiona Chapman

    RSS Feed

    Subscribe to our mailing list

    * indicates required
    Hard Men the Hard Way
    Picture
    BUY NOW
    Picture
    Picture
    TWEETS

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    November 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    Categories

    All
    5 Things Never To Do...
    Awards
    Fire Starters
    GUEST
    Guest Blogs
    Guest Blogs
    Rant
    Wip
    Writing

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photo used under Creative Commons from LetTheCardsFall