A man less ordinary.

Yeah, yesterday I read a couple of ebooks I bought sometime ago. Really read them. They were all by Mary Hughes who’s become one of my favourite authors now. It’s great when you can see an author’s personality in their work, they have a certain style and it’s even better when they can surprise you whilst keeping the style that makes them them. It’s also nice to see people break out now and then and do something completely different even if it’s a so called epic fail. Better than never evolving. (However, evolving via writing requires a high level of articulation; you need to be able to get across what you are thinking or you’ll just end up a phoney).

Writing lessons from moi of all people aside, when I went on Mary Hughes’ website she had as a heading “strong heroes and even stronger heroines.” That furthered my respect for her. Her heroines are strong, funny and feisty but very human. Not just “kick ass” with always a witty come back, they’re rounded individuals with personalities not just shown up as flaws. (I get tired of quotation marks). And their interaction with the men is fun, alive, their thoughts; emotional and resonating.

When you have a strong hero, you need a stronger heroine. I don’t know of this balancing act people talk about and opposites attract (I always agreed with similars stick together as one author put it) but the hero, let’s call him a man, in Mary Hughes’s books is sort of the strong silent and brooding type. One reminded me a little of Edward Cullen in his slight impatience in situations. In another book I read after, the man wasn’t like that and he was less raw and more talky in a way that made him more ordinary and that made me realise sometimes you want to read about a man less ordinary. Even if that makes him a cliché. You want to read about someone who gives no thought to standing up to another man and looking the villain and who is afraid in some way and form as every living thing is but not afraid in the ways ordinary men are because a man less ordinary has more of basic, raw and primal instinct in an old world sense. And that’s because Mary Hughes writes about vampires. I’ve yet to believe in the mythology of vampires (not just blood drinking individuals) but they are certainly less than ordinary when it comes to strength.

I then read Whisper and Sigh by Barbara Huffert. The man in this is no vampire but he does have that basic raw and primal insinct as vampires do and he is strong. He's a man less oridinary. And his sex talk is hot.

"She’s had enough of her stagnant life, can’t take another day, so she walks out, destination unknown. She didn’t know what to expect…but it wasn’t the unrestrained reaction to the mysterious man who suddenly appears on the beach beside her...." Whisper and Sigh

"Spartans do it with discipline.
Times Square on New Year’s Eve. A million partiers chanting the final seconds. This year, it’s a countdown to death.
My name is Twyla Tafel and I’ve uncovered an insane plot to unleash berserk vampires on those unsuspecting revelers. I have to stop it, armed only with my great admin skills, my useless art degree—and Nikos, a severely hot vampire who I’d love to photograph as a Spartan king roaring his muscular challenge at the Persians.
But Nikos has issues, if you know what I mean. Roadblocks in his psyche that say stop when all I want is go-go-go. See “severely hot”, above.
Although if I finally break through Nikos’s reserve, I may get more than I bargained for. He’s seriously big, seriously built, and more than just a tad dominant. Still, it’s time to push my limits and find out who I really am, so I’m willing to try…I think. I’m sure. I’m mostly sure. Until he starts stalking me with those sable bedroom eyes and long, sharp fangs—!" The Bite of Silence by Mary Hughes


"I yelled at him the entire ride home. Half of what I said was carried away by the wind. But he got the gist. I know that because the instant we reached my townhouse Julian hauled me off the motorcycle and kissed me, just to shut me up." Biting Nixie