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A few weeks ago I mentioned the new TV show New Amsterdam starring Nikola Coster-Waldau in my Writers At Play group blog post.

I’ve been following reviews of the show around the internet, and today came across Sarah Stegall’s review of the latest episode “Honor”, where she said:

But I do have a two-fold problem with this romance. First, I see zero chemistry between Coster-Waldau and Alexie Gilmore. Sorry, but it’s just not there. I still see more sizzle between Coster-Waldau and Zuleikha Robinson, even if they’re sparks of antagonism. So far, the doctor comes across as vapid. Not even the use of The Decembrists’ Angels and Angles in a love scene could rescue it.

I agree with Stegall about the lack of chemistry between the romantic leads. I think this was most evident during the first kiss after the carriage ride scene, where it seemed like these two actors kissed because that’s what the script said to do. I didn’t see much emotional or physical awareness build-up between them to lead to that kiss. It just happened all of a sudden.

Second, it would be nice if John were actually showing signs of attraction to Sara as a person, rather than Sara as potential grim reaper. Because that’s what it’s starting to look like to me—John is rushing into a romance because he’s desperate to be mortal again. One feels he would seduce a fencepost if he thought it would grant him relief from immortality. I need to see more actual proof onscreen that this is a love story literally for the ages, rather than another quick roll in the hay by a master seducer.

I think Stegall is onto something here. This would actually be a great source of conflict between these two characters — that John sees Sarah not as a person or a woman, but as a means to an end. That could be a huge roadblock to meet the terms of the enchantment that their “souls are wed,” which implies a deeper connection than just rolling in the hay with a master seducer. In fact, it may be that all the skills he’s learned over the years won’t be enough to woo her, he’ll have even more to learn about love.

It’s an interesting hook that even after 400 years of studying people and love, John will still have more to learn.

The special guest today over at my group blog, Writers At Play, is Christina Hogrebe of the Jane Rotrosen Agency. Hogrebe will be fielding questions on what she looks for before offering literary representation, what may or not be “hot”, or any other questions you may have. This is your chance to Ask An Agent, and as a special added bonus, Christina will be giving away a free copy of “WILL WRITE FOR SHOES: How To Write A Chick-Lit Novel” by Cathy Yardley to one special commenter.

Ding dong. Apple calling. Perhaps in the ongoing quest of companies to maximize marketing to women, Apple has welcomed Avon cosmetics CEO Andrea Jung to its board. WIRED magazine muses on the possibilities. Just please, Apple, don’t make a pink Hello Kitty rhinestone encrusted iMac or iPod. I beg you. I kind of resent the idea that manufacturers seem to think that making something pink is the best way to market their products to women. According to WIRED, “Jung is the first woman to sit on Apple’s board in a decade.”

The new io9 blog is talking about temporary hotels. Kind of reminds me of William Gibson’s coffins in NEUROMANCER.

If you’re looking for new shows to watch during the writer’s strike, and you missed the boat on LOST, ABC is offering all three seasons online, for free, in HD. (By way of SFUpdates.)

There’s a GI Joe movie in the works! Is Barbie going to make a cameo? Seriously, I can’t wait to see what they do with the Shana Mae “Scarlet” O’Hara character, which IMDB says will be played by Rachel Nichols. I have friends who have been trying for years to get me to read comics and I’ve never been able to get into it. I may have to change course on that, since Scarlett would make a great Danger Gal profile, not to mention The Baroness Anastasia.

The Literary Assassin and I have been having a great conversation about female characters in the Star Wars universe in the comments to my recent Danger Gal profile of Princess Leia Organa.

Carole McDonnell over at the Fiction Beyond The Ordinary group blog has a good article “In defense of romance,” about why she writes and reads Romance.

This week’s Danger Gal Friday profile is on Lt. (jg) Naval Reservist Helo Pilot Teri Howe from Suzanne Brockmann’s Out of Control.

Recently, the debate over “forced seduction” scenarios in the Romance genre has surfaced again after statements made by Julie Bindel in an article for The Guardian. Since this subtype of the Romance genre isn’t the topic of this blog, I won’t go into the details here. Dear Author and SBTB both have great discussions going on right now on this issue, so head over there if you want to know more about it. Also, author Louise Allen has written a rebuttal, having been personally mentioned by Bindel.

While this particular Romance subtype isn’t what I personally like to read, it’s lazy to judge a whole genre based on an unrepresentative sampling — and a misrepresentation of that sampling to boot. In the discussion over at SBTB, several commenters asked for recommendations on books that didn’t deal with “forced seduction,” with Alpha heroes who didn’t display the difficult personality traits of the heroes in this subtype. A whole bunch of authors were mentioned, Suzanne Brockmann being one of them. I’ve loved Brockmann’s entire SEAL and Troubleshooters series, and thought Lt. (jg) Teri Howe would be a good character to profile in light of this discussion, due not only to her Danger Gal status, but also to her particular inner conflict. Spoilers do follow, so if you haven’t read this book proceed at your own risk.

What I like about Teri Howe is that we get to see her rise to the status of Danger Gal. From the get-go, Howe has the Danger Gal skill and determination: she’s a pilot who can fly anything from a prop to a small jet to a helicopter, and she graduated from MIT. From Howe’s accounts of her childhood, it’s a safe bet she financed her own college education. Her real passion in life is flying, and I’ve met more than a few pilots who’d fit that description, so this bit of characterization rang true for me. There’s a reason Flying magazine has a bumper sticker that says “I’d rather be flying.”

The backcover summary describes Howe as “one of the best helicopter pilots in the naval reserves . . . tough, dedicated, and highly-skilled,” but as reviewer Kate Nepveu summarizes: “[Howe is] a great pilot but less assertive when off-duty; through her friendship and then love with Senior Chief Stan Wolchonok, she grows into an all-around kickass person.”

On more than one occasion, Wolchonok assumes a certain kind of behavior from Howe based on his experiences with her as a pilot. He comments to himself and others the high respect he has for her as a pilot and a person. He’s stymied when someone so cool under pressure in the cockpit can cave completely when faced with a sexual harassment situation. He builds a trust with Howe by keeping his own libido in check and she finally confirms his suspicions of childhood sexual abuse. Wolchonok helps Howe to transfer the skills she already has in other areas of her life to deal with this problem. Once she begins to master standing up for herself and going after what she wants, Howe decides she wants Wolchonok and pursues him; something he never thought was possible.

Some might say that Wolchonok swept in and solved Howe’s problem for her by removing her from a stressful situation, but all he did was give her the reprieve Howe needed to access the skills she already had in order to solve the problem herself. Wolchonok is a virile Alpha hero who is the heroine’s biggest fan and would never dream of treating her poorly. He helps the heroine see who she really is and to embrace it. At the end of the book Lt. Teri Howe has transitioned to a full-fledged Danger Gal, with kiss-ass skills and the attitude to go with it.

Out of Control is a great example of how the Romance genre can’t be boiled down to its stereotypes of sheik billionaires, savage Highlanders and secret babies. It’s about ::wait for it:: the power of love, most often Romantic love, but specifically regarding how that connection can change a person to live up to their full potential as a human being. I know what you’re thinking, savvy SF reader: sappy, sappy, sappy. But it’s not. Love, affection and sex — which can be primal and gritty as well as roses and chocolate — are some of the most fundamental qualities we human beings yearn for and it belongs as part of a multi-dimensional character in any genre. The Romance genre, though, to quote commenter Poison Ivy over at SBTB, is “an apotheosis of an intimate relationship.” Just like all books, Romance reflects and shapes its readership. This one reflects a woman dealing with deep emotional pain, who with help from a strong man not afraid to show his nurturing side, learns to stand up for herself in all areas of her life.

Other reviews of this book:
All About Romance
The Romance Reader

A lot has been happening behind the scenes for me in the past couple days.

– Michael May has graciously posted about my site and my book AVATAR. Already one reader is lining up. Gee, now I just need a publisher.

– When Fangirls Attack, December 10 issue is linking to my Wonder Woman Danger Gal profile.

– ScienceDebate2008, is a group of bloggers calling for a genuine presidential science debate moderated by actual scientists and not TV commentators. Imagine that.

– Dear Author is discussing the “forced seduction” type of Romance novel. Of course, I had to voice my opinion in the comments.

I posted the following to the B&N Bookclub Boards the other night and thought it should also appear here on my blog.

Character-driven Science Fiction uses science to explore human relationships all the time. The distinctions between Science Fiction and Science Fiction Romance are just about where the emphasis of that exploration is placed.

A couple examples to illustrate my point:

In Richard Morgan’s Hard SF ALTERED CARBON, your brain can be “downloaded” into hardware and who you are can be put into another body. This happens to the protagonist, and it’s a sticky situation when he realizes his partner was actually in love the guy who’s body he’s been using. Is she falling for the main character, or is her attraction just because he’s using her lover’s body?

Susan Grant’s HOW TO LOSE AN EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL IN 10 DAYS is about an interstellar assassin, sort of like a Universal Soldier, built to be a killing machine by stripping out his humanity. What happens when the tech is removed? Will the humanity return? Can he deal with what it means to be human, which of course includes primal needs like love?

In Chris Moriarty’s SPIN STATE, the main character is a genetic construct, meaning she was grown in a vat, a type of clone. She’s faked her identity because otherwise she would have no rights. She falls in love with an artificial intelligence who routinely borrows the bodies of volunteers in order to be mobile. Can an AI be truly sentient and love another? The book also explores sexual preference issues. It has a seven-page list of citations on quantum entanglement – it doesn’t get much harder SF than that.

In Linnea Sinclair’s GAMES OF COMMAND, one of the characters is a cyborg who started having actual feelings and rerouted his programming to continue experiencing them. If anyone finds out he could be shut down. Can he experience real human feelings and continue to live as a cyborg? Is he human enough to have a real relationship with another human being?

All of these books explore what happens to our relationships when we start putting technology into the human body. In Morgan’s and Moriarty’s books the exploration of these relationships are definitely there, but they don’t take center stage. You could strip the relationship part out of them and you’d still have a story, a one-dimensional story, but a story nonetheless. In Grant’s and Sinclair’s books, the science is the relationship and the relationship is the story. You can’t have one without the other. I loved all four of these books, but I do enjoy more the emotional satisfaction at the end of an SFR novel.

This weeks’ Danger Gal Friday is Captain Chasidah “Chaz” Bergren from Linnea Sinclair’s RITA Award Winning Science Fiction Romance Gabriel’s Ghost.

Chaz Bergren was once the Pride of the Sixth Fleet and captain of an interstellar patrol ship who often pursued smugglers like Gabriel Sullivan, but the story opens with Chaz sentenced to a penal planet after a court martial for a crime she didn’t commit. From the opening scene, Chaz breaks with stereotypes by getting herself out of her own jam: In the first few pages she kills an eight foot Takan bent on rape. From the get-go we understand Chaz is not to be taken lightly.

Sinclair writes fun space opera, but what she really excels at is intertwining a solid Science Fiction story with Romance. Chaz and Sully have a long history of cat and mouse games, and that undercurrent of attraction weaves its way into every interaction between these two characters, but it doesn’t overshadow other aspects of their personalities or the story.

Chaz is not only an excellent patrol ship captain, but an exceptional one, and also an expert in small weapons and hand-to-hand combat. When she thinks that Sully’s offer of freedom is a trap Chaz calls him on it, threatening bodily harm that isn’t a bluff. She’s been on the prison planet for three weeks at this point in the story and still maintains a calm and in control attitude. Sully isn’t there only just to rescue her, he needs her skills for a very important run.

One of the reviews on Sinclair’s web site is from Cindy Penn of the Midwest Book Review, who points out something else interesting about Chaz:

“Furthermore, I confess to a growing weakness for mature heroines who can present themselves as total equals, matching strengths and vulnerabilities to men with likewise believable and endearing characterizations.”

Chaz and Sully have different areas of expertise and they respect that in each other. Chaz isn’t out trying to prove her skills every other page, which is refreshing. No one questions her piloting abilities. Even more than that, Chaz is a sexually experienced woman, once married and divorced. Compared to the monkish life Sully has led, Chaz is in many ways much more experienced.

I don’t want to spoil what Sully’s secret is if you haven’t read this novel yet, especially since it’s fundamental to the story and to Chaz’s acceptance of him. I will say though, that on a second reading it’s fun to see all of the hints Sinclair sprinkled throughout the beginning of the novel. In hindsight, I should have guessed his secret, but it was woven in so subtly I accepted it as part of his personality. It’s delightful to see Sully acting in character throughout the novel, and perhaps that’s why when his secret is revealed it feels right. It’s a surprise, but one that grows out of the naturally unfolding story.

This week’s Danger Gal profile is on Bree “Banzai” Maguire from Susan Grant’s novel The Legend of Banzai Maguire.

Lately I’ve been profiling great characters from movies and TV, but I’ve been ignoring some of my favorite novels. Recent conversations about the state of Science Fiction Romance/Futuristics/Romantic Science Fiction/Speculative Romance over at Linnea Sinclair’s group blog (here and here) and the eHarlequin Susan Grant Otherworldly Men forum discussion have reminded me about how some of my favorite books fall into this category. It also describes well what I write.

This is a challenging fusion of subgenres to write, but when done well the sum is better than its parts. These recent discussions outline the challenges in detail, and if you read Romance but don’t mind seeing a SciFi movie once in a while, or read Science Fiction and are looking for characters with a lot of depth and range of human emotion that includes love, then check out the links above. My only point to add is that the Romance and Science Fiction genres are not mutually exclusive. The division is not binary, but really a spectrum of emphasis as the two genres merge. This variety I think in part explains why we’ve got at least four names to describe these types of books: We’re really trying to describe where the emphasis is, on Romance, Science Fiction, or a true integration of the two.

But I’m supposed to be talking about Banzai Maguire. Publishers Weekly has predicted that:

“[T]he ‘action romance’ niche is small but growing, and high-caliber tales like this one will ensure that it continues to do so. A national advertising campaign should put Banzai on many romance readers’ wish lists, but the book also holds crossover appeal for sci-fi/fantasy fans.”

Grant herself points out characteristics of Banzai that also hold true for many other books in this category:

“The Legend of Banzai Maguire doesn’t follow the traditional plot-structure of most romance books. You don’t meet the hero in the first chapters; there are two men for whom the heroine might fall; and the book is most definitely the ‘heroine’s story.’ With boot-shaking excitement and genuine mortal terror, I’m waiting to see what reader reaction will be for this ‘genre-mutt!’”

For these reasons, I’d place The Legend of Banzai Maguire as more Science Fiction than Romance, but the Romance elements are woven tightly into the story, provide a depth it wouldn’t have if removed, and made me care even more about the characters.

So, like all the other Danger Gal Friday’s I’ve profiled, how does Banzai Maguire break stereotypes? First, her profession. Banzai is a U.S.A.F. pilot on a routine mission when she’s shot down and frozen in stasis for 170 years. Grant’s military and airline pilot experience lend a big dose of credibility to this aspect of the story. Banzai finds herself stuck in a sadly familiar misogynistic situation when a high-powered man in a tech-savvy but primitive world finds her interesting enough to want her as a favored concubine. Banzai finds a way out and as one reviewer described, she is “a strong, quick-witted heroine who can get herself out of her own jam, thank you very much (unless she’s stuck in suspended animation).”

Banzai doesn’t have to resort to using her feminine wiles to escape and even rescues U.C.E. SEAL commander Ty Armstrong, the man who set out to free her himself but was captured in the process. Armstrong is a Maguire history buff, infatuated with her disappearance as many have been with Amelia Earhart’s. At first, Armstrong has difficulty seeing the woman behind the legend, but once Ty works past this attitude and he realizes they have common goals, he falls for her.

At the end of the novel, which is the first installment of the 2176 series bookended by Grant, Banzai and Ty are a team out to uncover the ways the U.C.E. maintains its benevolent dictatorship with others who feel as they do. Banzai leaves a potential life of luxury as a world leader’s favored concubine for a much harder life to fight against tyranny.

I enjoyed the Sleeping Beauty twist when Ty revives Banzai from stasis, but wasn’t thrilled with the “mad scientist” angle as the cause. I would have preferred Banzai’s cockpit to have some kind of built-in stasis mechanism that initiated but malfunctioned. This didn’t detract from the novel overall, however, and The Legend of Banzai Maguire is a fine example of the meshing of Science Fiction with Romance, and with a kick-ass heroine to boot.

My friends Tammy and Terri have beaten me to it and already posted about CBS’s new vampire show Moonlight starring Alex O’Loughlin as Mick St. John, a vampire private detective bitten 60 years prior by his bride Coraline and a definite anti-hero.

Oh geez, an anti-hero vamp PI? Yeah I’m hooked already.

(Even if the opening “interview” was a little cheesy.)

Besides that, though, I enjoyed a few refreshing twists, namely that his assumed “sidekick” Josef is nothing of the sort. Hedge fund trader and all around egomaniac, I think Josef will turn out to be one of the Big Bads of the first season, pushing Mick into a dark corner regarding their true natures. Moreso though, I like Beth Turner. She’s an investigative reporter, but so far not the TSTL type and she’s got great gadgets like an iPhone. Who says girls don’t like technology?

Non-Romance readers may not realize it, but Moonlight is a straight-up Paranormal Romance novel put on the TV screen. The trailers have “love” and “romance” all over them and it works. Because we all want someone to love the monster inside.

My only criticism so far is that while a character like Mick St. John is always fun for the drool-factor, one of these days I’d like to see a female vampire not be written as evil, or in Coraline’s case obsessed with the child she can’t give to Mick. But maybe I finally found the angle I’ve been looking for as a unique take on vampires?

If you missed it, or just want a refresher, check out the video trailers for Moonlight. Edited to songs by Nickelback, Evanescence and Shinedown, the trailers set the tone of the series.

Woot!

My friend Terri Garey has just been immortalized on local TV. If you like spooky mysteries with some romance for spice, check out Terri’s book Dead Girls Are Easy.

Read the news story or launch video.