I love the Vikings. Not the Minnesota football team—I’m a Steelers girl all the way. I’m talking about the seafaring warriors who sailed to the New World and back long before Chris Columbus was born. They built kick-butt boats still admired today for their sleek construction. They brought trade and organized communities to many parts of England and beyond, leaving a lasting legacy.

Yet history so often paints these guys as bloodthirsty heathens who murdered and raped their way to power. Well, no surprise there since the Vikings did not leave a written record to tell us their side of the story. We only have the writings of the conquered, and how fair are they going to be?

I bring up the Vikings today because my current release features a Viking hero and I’m fairly partial toward him. And of course, in writing Wulf, I got to thinking about why—as readers—we’re continually drawn to those dangerous types. Vampires, Vikings, international super spies who can kill you silently in ten different ways. And this wondering brought me to my bookshelf—the source of answers to all of life’s questions for a reader.

I found a few different answers, but my favorite came from one of my personal writer heroines, the incomparable Susan Elizabeth Phillps. SEP has a contribution in the classic anthology Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women (Harper 1992, Jayne Ann Krentz ed.) Her essay about “The Romance Novel and the Empowerment of Women” reminded me: “The domineering male becomes the catalyst that makes the empowerment fantasy work. The heroine isn’t as big as he is; she isn’t as strong, as old, as worldly; many times she isn’t as well educated. Yet despite these limitations she confronts him—not with physical strength, but with courage and intelligence. And what happens? She always wins!” No wonder we love those dangerous guys—the harder they come, the harder they fall, right?

The essay is fun to read—the way anything Susan Elizabeth Phillips writes is fun to read. And I think she takes on a fundamental truth about romances that is deeply underscored with the dangerous hero. We don’t just read romance for the happy endings. We read to see a woman take on a man who challenges her in every way possible—and wins his heart. We love to imagine we have that kind of power. Sometimes maybe, we do. I know my Saxon heroine managed the feat. And I envied her the journey! I hope you’ll check out THE CAPTIVE, but either way, I hope you’ll enjoy the next feisty heroine you meet all the more – knowing she’s a reflection of the courage and strength we all strive for.

***So which bad boy hero lingers with you long after the book has ended? A bawdy pirate lord? A sexy bloodsucker? Maybe even a raiding Viking? Chat with me about your favorite bad boy heroes and I’ll give away a copy of THE CAPTIVE to one random poster.