ANNOUNCEMENTS

VIRTUALLY HERS came out Oct. 2009. Get it at SAMHAIN Publishing. VIRTUALLY ONE coming soon.
VIRTUALLY HERS OUT IN PRINT AUG 2010.

I've also made available at Amazon BIG BAD WOLF a COS Commando book, an earlier manuscript about Killian Nicholas Langley. You can sample the first five chapters right here. EBOOK now available for KINDLE, NOOK, and at SMASHWORDS for $4.99.

I appreciate all your emails. If you'd like to buy Virtually His NEW, please contact me. Thank you.



CLICK:

Big Bad Wolf Author's Note/CH. 1

Big Bad Wolf CH. 2

Big Bad Wolf Ch. 3

(more chapters on left side bar below)



To read excerpts of VIRTUALLY HERS, scroll down & click on the links on the right.



EMAIL ME AT JENN AT GENNITA-LOW DOT COM


VIRTUALLY HERS UPDATE

VIRTUALLY HERS OUT IN PRINT AUG 2010! Discounted at Amazon!

To read & comment on the poll (left column), click HERE. Thank you for all the wonderful posts there!

UPDATE: I SOLD THE SERIES TO SAMHAIN!

Here's your UBER VIRTUALLY HERS YAK THREAD!


GLow Twitter

Follow The Glow

Some readers having browser problems with the Google Followers Widget still. For now, you can still follow me through your Blogger Dashboard.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Spies Should All Be Like Super Jack

Jack Bauer, that is.

I yelled at the tv last night as I watched my favorite show, 24: "JACK FOR PRESIDENT!" He can do anything, that man. Shoot multiple bad guys while talking on a cell phone. Expose himself to radiation with nary a nausea wave. Stop heroin addiction by glaring at the needle. Call the prez's private line by just saying "Get me the prez." Track terrorist cars with a Game Boy.

This week he was more decisive than the newly sworn-in President, taking matters in his hands. The President wouldn't give permission to torture a suspect as the first act of his Presidency during a possible nuclear warhead compromise, by God, Jack would think of a way to get to the suspect. Outside the box, of course. Get the job done, that's my man.

And so that's how I always think an uber-spy should be...he takes on an operation and makes it a quest, like the knight of old, and tests his willpower, endurance, and intelligence against the enemy, the Big Bad, as us Buffy fans like to call it. And above all, he has to fight himself, because he's human too but can't show it. His focus on the job is super-human; yet his internal angst for all the sacrifices he has to make is outrageously human. He deftly juggles all these eggs while everyone throws stuff at him...he dodges and keeps juggling even if he gets hit...because he's Jack and he will not , can not, fail.

;-) And ludicrous as some of the scenarios of 24 are, that's why I love watching Jack Bauer. And that's also why I'm willing to suspend my disbelief when I read a great romantic suspense novel. I rarely question the correctness of procedure or the overblown aspects of an adventure, as long as the integrity of the hero and heroine stays true.

Jack would start to bore me if he suddenly starts asking advice and letting red tape stop him doing what he knows is right, and so would any book I read, if the hero veers off his true path. If the book is about a cold hearted spy (re: agent/operative/Alpha bad ass), near the edge of no-return, looking for redemption, don't let him blink and be a coward and not follow through for no other reason than because the author is the coward and can't go forward on the true course. Because, as a reader, I will see through that, and I'll know the author has cheated me as well as the character she gave me.

This is my number one priority when I write and I try to keep this as the foundation of my books. First, I look at my special hero in the eye and he will tell me, "This *** is the line I will not cross." Then as his creator, I lure him as close to that line as possible. His job is to coolly and cleverly avoid all my traps while staying true to his core. As a romance hero-uber spy, he has a very difficult balancing act to do because crossing the line can turn off his cheerleaders (readers).

I've read only one dark romantic suspense that had the hero cross the line and yet managed to keep me on his side. He lives in Anne Stuart's Moonrise, one of three very dark RS that she wrote in the 90s. I've studied him, rereading every one of his actions, over and over because he intrigued and bespelled me so. There is nothing redeemable about his actions yet he pushes on his quest to help the heroine toward an ending only he understands might be the end of him in her eyes. Something in him wants her to see him as he really is--a monster, he thought. A man, he hopes, who can be loved.

Then Jed, my own uber-spy, came into my consciousness. He has crossed many lines, I assure you, and I'm still waiting for him to say, "This ******** is the line I will not crossed." And then I know I have him ;-).

Oh, okay, dammit. I admit that I'm writing a stupid proposal for my next book and I'm thinking of Jed McNeil, your favorite uber-spy. He is no Jack Bauer (radiation can kill him, I think!) but he will be a man who will give everything he's got when he sees something he wants ;-). Give you one guess what that is.

Bear with me while I learn. The first button likes the POST. The second button likes the BLOG site. Please help me by "liking" me. Thanks!

8 comments:

nightshield2003 said...

Are you kidding? Jed is invincible, dude! Nothing can bring Number Nine down. Not even radiation. ;-)

Speaking of 24 ... I've stopped watching it. My heart just can't take all that suspense.

PS: Ya know, an advance copy of The Hunter would make a really good (advance) birthday present. [grin]

~Leah

Gennita said...

Be brave,little bird...

;-)

Mary Stella said...

Sure, Jack can leap tall buildings with a single bound and ward off radiation poisoning -- but can he remember to take out the garbage and pick up his socks? Oh wait. He's an uber-spy, so he probably prioritized those daily tasks to the bottom of his list. Saving the world must come first! :-)

nightshield2003 said...

OMG! Da Raven found my other hiding place. :-p :-D

Gennita said...

xs and ys,
Is that you, Raven? You can read the blurb of Hawk's story on Amazon.com . Just click on the title and there ya go!

P/S I have no idea whatcha talking about Leah learning from me, pffft.

*****************

Hi Mary Stella,
I don't think it will be very good to write about the uberspy doing a load of laundry...unless sex is involved ;-). Heh.

nightshield2003 said...

Yup. That's Raven. I'm a contributor to her blog. She says I'm learning from you, or more likely, from that rogue 8-Ball. I don't see it. Hehehe.

Luv ya, Raven! :-)

Gennita said...

I checked out the blog and read your entry, my dear. LOL. Well done, you have learned well. LOL.

Mary Stella said...

Genn -- It can involve sex on the washing machine during the spin cycle. *g*

DAILY DOSE OF CUTE PUPPINESS

Send My Publisher A Nudge