This weeks’ Danger Gal profile is on Annja Creed, the protagonist in the Rogue Angel series by Alex Archer. The Rogue Angel series is Urban Fantasy, and I realize that I normally stick to Science Fiction novels, TV shows and movies for Danger Gal profiles, but I enjoyed this book and this character.

Published by Gold Eagle books, a division of Harlequinn, “Alex Archer” is actually a Gold Eagle house name, as Wikipedia explains it:

The series was first envisioned by Randall Toy, a Harlequin executive who fell in love with the history concerning Joan of Arc and wanted to develop the idea of a present-day Joan. Veteran action-adventure editors Feroze Mohammed and Nicole Brebner teamed up with Mel Odom to flesh out their series. The first eight novels were written by Victor Milan and Mel Odom. New writers joining the series starting with book nine include Jon Merz and Joseph Nassise.

Creed is an orphan who grew up in New Orleans, has a keen interest in the martial arts, a Masters in Archeology and even has her very own MySpace page. In the first book of the series, DESTINY, Creed is chosen to wield Joan of Arc’s mystical sword after finding the final piece of the weapon. The wizard Roux and his sometimes-friendly-sometimes-not apprentice Garin Braden have been piecing the sword together for 500 years, ever since it was destroyed at Joan’s death and, cursing them with near-immortality. While investigating the Beast of Gevaudan (or simply “La Bete”) as a type of Lara Croft for a documentary show called Chasing History’s Monsters, Creed is pulled into a hunt for lost treasure by crooked mobster with his hands in every illegal activity for miles around.

The series is Gold Eagle’s first to showcase a female protagonist, but the novels appeal to both genders. While Gold Eagle normally angles its novels toward a male audience, they decided to try something different with Rogue Angel. Harlequin editor Nicole Brebner explained in a Star newspaper article that:

“Women are responding to her because she’s strong but she’s not perfect, she’s not superhuman, she makes mistakes, she’s kinda goofy. Men like the action (and) she’s a sexy woman,” Brebner added.

Creed is a very active character and doesn’t suffer fools lightly. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series.