A lot of discussion goes into what makes a great Blaze hero. A discussion I particularly like.

A quick search of our own Blaze blog reveals a gold mine! Joann Rock talks about how heroes are made here.

Lori Borrill wrote about Favorite Heros here.

Karen Foley talks about how much she likes a hero in a uniform here.

And be sure to check out where Jillian Burns talks about a favorite topic of mine, bad boys, here and Nancy Warren shares what makes a man sexy here.

Now what about those Blaze heroines? I decided to ask a few author friends what makes a great Blaze heroine.

Julie Kenner said, “To me, the great thing about a Blaze heroine is that she can be anything-she can have a strong personality, a great career, and an unabashed sense of her own sensuality. But she doesn’t have to have all of them. Maybe she’s confident in the boardroom and shy around men. Maybe she’s a flirt, but fears commitment. The point being that a Blaze heroine is like the women we know, women you could imagine hanging out with. And, yeah, they can be just a little bit larger than life.”

Lori Borrill added, “I think a good Blaze heroine is one who takes chances. She may not start out having embraced her inner strength, but by the time her story ends, she’s dug deep and found the courage to go after what she wants.”

Candace Havens talks about a heroine’s attitude. “To me a great Blaze Babe is a strong, fiesty woman who takes the world, and her men, on her terms.”

I’m giving Alison Kent the last word. “A Blaze heroine is SMART: Sexy, Mindful, Accomplished, Resourceful, Together.”

By the way, if you want to keep reading about the Blaze heroine, check out Tawny Weber’s recent blog or Bonnie Edwards’ here.

So many wonderful things came out of the television show Friends, but among the most memorable was “the list.” Remember Ross’s laminated card of celebrities, should he meet them, that he would be able to have sex with them with no guilt or recriminations? What always struck me as funny was that it was laminated. A permanent list. How can someone do that? Mine is always changing.

For several years, I had the “two Hughs” at the top — Grant and Jackman (though Grant fell in and out of grace on the list, but his performance in Love, Actually kept landing him a spot even after I kicked him off…). Our own Leslie Kelly has been fortunate enough to actually meet THE Hugh, so we can completely understand why she would have him on her list. Meeting in person would have to clinch it!

The only constant on my list is Pierce Brosnan. I’ve loved him since Remington Steele. The man has looks, talent, smarts, social conscience, class… the whole package. I think I can safely say he will never be off my list (well, as long as he never sticks with that terrible scruffy facial hair, etc — that was bad). I’m sure he’s relieved to know this.

My recent list has included Enrico Colantoni, whom I enjoyed in Just Shoot Me, but he became listworthy in Veronica Mars (it was the Sheriff’s uniform). Also, Tim Roth, though I have to say I think it’s more Roth’s character Cal Lightman on the new show Lie to Me whom I find attractive.

I also have to include Tony Head. I love Angel and Spike, but I would have taken Giles over both of them, any day. I just discovered Jeremy Renner (Jason) and Ian Kahn (Davis) from The Unusuals. There has to be room for them on the list; they could probably bump the fictional Cal Lightman.

As you can see, my list is always a work in progress. You can also guess why most of my heroes, almost all, are dark-haired.

Who is on your list? Could you have it laminated or are you fickle like me? Share, and I’ll pick a winner to receive a cute mini-tote I made. There might even be a book inside.

Helloooo, Mr. Advertiser Man? Yeah, you in the suit pitching your next bright idea for a TV commercial–the one that includes a woman lounging by a swimming pool and up walks some guy you think is our idea of the perfect romance hero? Yeah, that one. Before you go too far with that, I’d like to show you something. If you’ll just come with me, it will only take a second. It’s this way, down the hall and around the corner. Yeah, here it is. It’s the 21st century.

Huh? No, it’s not new. We’ve all been here for about a decade now. Yeah. And you’ll see a few things have changed. Namely, that guy you’re assuming is our romance hero? He looks nothing like this:

Nope, I’m sure. If you were to stroll through the romance aisle in the book store or–here’s an idea–actually talk to a woman who reads romance? You’d discover this guy was fashionable about….oh….thirty years ago.

Yeah, really. Equating him to our fantasy man is about as appropriate as casting these guys as dreamy rock stars:

Yep. That was the 80’s. It’s 2009 now. Why don’t you join us?

If it’s a romance hero you’re looking for, may I suggest someone like this?

I literally stared at this picture for 4 months while writing my latest Blaze. He was the inspiration for my hero. It’s Jon Hamm, but I called him Marc Strauss. Nope, not Damien or Sebastian or Jaque-Phillipe. Just Marc with a “c”. And believe it or not, you’ll find guys like this on lots and lots of romance novel covers. We love men in suits, clean cut guys with jobs and maybe a really nice car. Yeah, traveling by schooner is kinda out these days.

Bare-chested heroes riding in on white horses, you ask? Sure, we love horses and love men riding in on them, and no, shirts aren’t required. But today they’d look a little more like this:

Firemen are also pretty hot. We’ve been lusting over them for about 10 years now. Yep. What’s that? No, I’ve got no idea where you’ve been. It’s actually kinda old news, really.

You could do a Top Gun military man too. We’d prefer one of those Navy Seals that actually captures the pirates instead of the pirate himself.

Heck, we’re easy. You can even do a Speedo as long as he looks like this:

Just stop with the billowing white blouses buttoned down to the navel. Even women don’t wear those anymore. And if a man’s going to unbutton his shirt that far, we’d just as soon he take it off. Oh, and if anyone in the room utters the word “mullet” please fire them on the spot and send them to the nearest Motley Cruefest. They seriously shouldn’t be in the business of selling anything to women–or grown-up men, for that matter.

So, ladies, while we have Mr. Advertiser Man’s attention, is there anything else you’d like to add to this public service announcement? Better heroes you’d like to see in their ads instead of the Fabio-cut-outs they’re still throwing at us? Husbands who aren’t complete imbeciles jumping up and down in front of the Glade air freshener trying to get it to spritz?

What type of hero would get you to drop the remote, run to the store and buy the product he’s selling?

Alas, it’s true. Gil’s gone. And millions of women across the world are left with no other option than to buy up nine seasons of CSI on DVD and spend the rest of our lives living in the past.

Yet, what’s worse than seeing him go is the fact that he’s left before I could ever really get a handle on why I loved him so much. I mean, think about it. The man loves bugs more than breasts, his most prominent character trait is emotional oblivion, and he’s a solid decade my senior (no, really, he is). One gets the distinct impression that life as Mrs. Grissom would involve lots of spoiled dinners, lonely anniversaries and cold showers. So why has he entered the hearts of so many women as an unwitting romantic lead?

I mean, does this honestly work for you?

I think we’re addicted to the challenge. Like our fascination with playboys and bad boys. When it comes to fantasy men, we seem to yawn over the ones who make life too easy on us. After all, what fun is it getting flowers from a guy who gives flowers to all his dates? We want to believe we’re that one-and-only, the uber-special someone who got the rebel to conform, the rambler to settle down, and Gil Grissom to drop his bug jar and come to bed. They aren’t reality, but when it comes to entertainment, who wants reality?

Unfortunately, now that this TV fantasy man is gone, I’ll have to find myself a new one. (I’m sorta eyeing Jon Hamm from Mad Men.)

But this brings me to the question: What TV heroes have you loved and lost over the years? Were you a Gil Grissom fan? What about Jason Priestly from Beverly Hills 90210? Were you all over Don Johnson during his Miami Vice years? Tom Selleck, Magnum P.I.? Or, if you’re as old as dirt like me, here’s a blast from the past: Paul Michael Glazer from Starsky & Hutch. (Oh, man. If there was a Tiger Beat with his picture on it, I owned it!) What TV heroes have you loved and lost over the years?

Thanks to Jennifer LaBrecque for sharing this hilarious video!

So… whatchya think? I think I like Blaze heroes better, don’t you?