Monday 8 December 2008

Christmas Cracker Number Two, and a competition!

After a busy few days of family and friends and endless hours spent on sleet-lashed motorways I’m struggling to catch up on ordinary life. Whoever thought it was a good idea to go away the weekend before the busiest week of the school year? Oh yes, that would be Him then.

Kate Hewitt is way ahead of me in bringing you news of the joint competition we’re holding. Both of us are at the point of embarking on new books, so we’re asking you to tell us about the kind of settings and heroes you like best. This follows neatly on from the ‘hot hero’ discussion we had here a couple of weeks ago, so leave your top tips for melting men here (ooh—check me out—I’ve gone all alliterative) and your favourite fantasy settings on Kate’s blog and we’ll each draw a winner next week. (And who knows—the combination may just end up being a book waiting to be written, in which case Kate and I will have an undignified wrangle over who gets to do it...) You don’t necessarily have to supply names of specific individuals for the hero (unless you want to) but now’s your chance to throw in any physical attributes, personality traits, mannerisms, values, nationalities, family circumstances even particular professions that you love reading about and which help to create a man who turns your knees to water.

Talking of which, here’s Christmas Cracker number two. (BIG sigh.)


The only clip I could find of this on youtube is dubbed in Spanish, but I watched it about 3 times before I noticed because unsurprisingly, I wasn’t listening to the words. I want to go to an office Christmas party and I want a dress like that and I want Rodrigo Santoro to be there. And I want to leave my mobile phone in the taxi on the way home.


12 comments:

Anonymous said...

My favorite sort of hero is confident to the point of arrogance. This trait makes it all the more satisfying when he realizes the heroine is oh so much more than he first thought her to be and he must set aside his pride and sense of rightness to convince her of his devotion. It helps too if he is damaged in some tragic, heart-breaking way, and he discovers she is the key to finding himself whole once more.

Lovely contest. Thanks so much!

Trenda

Unknown said...

Oh yes-- isn't confidence the greatest aphrodisiac in the world? Yum yum yum-- what a shame they can't bottle it and sell it!

I'm also SO with you on the damaged hero. Totally irresistible.

Thanks Trenda!

Anonymous said...

Remember the project I am supposed to be completing at a gentle pace? Well, it's been side-lined for a bit. Lovely daughter's reading fair project has turned out to be tons more work than I'd originally anticipated. Plus, she absolutely insisted on having a costume to go along with said project. Guess who's making it? BTW, her project is on The Wizard of Oz...the book not the film. I had forgotten Dorothy's slippers were meant to be silver so was forced to return to the craft store to swap out red glitter for silver. Must start sewing that dress soon...

Jane said...

I would love to see a hero modeled after Eric Bana. The hero must have a great sense of humor and be trustworthy. Everyone loves a tortured hero, but of course I want him to find his happiness with the heroine. Maybe he was betrayed by a past love or he never got approval from his family.

Unknown said...

Dorothy's slippers were silver in the book? Really?? I didn't know that! I feel your pain on the sewing, particularly since this is the first year I can remember that I haven't been called upon to construct three lavish Christmas play costumes from a tablecloth and a box of sequins with two days notice...

Anyway don't worry about the other project. It'll all keep turning itself over in your mind as your hands are busy and you'll return to it with fresh inspiration in the new year.

Jane, the betrayal idea is very compelling-- I like that a lot. And a sense of humour is SO attractive. I've just finished reading Michelle Styles's A Question of Impropriety (which I must blog properly about soon) and the hero in that had the most gorgeous, dry, sharp sense of humour that really did it for me!

(And you realise that now I'm going to while away the rest of the morning watching Eric Bana clips on youtube, don't you?!)

Unknown said...

Oooo Rodrigo!! Yum! Over the weekend he became number one choice for my Italian hero for next wip but one.
Confidence is so sexy as is competance. That feeling you get when they are passionate, focussed and good at something... and you start thinking how much fun it will be when they are that focussed with you *swoon*

Anonymous said...

OOh India! Just LOVE that clip--Rodrigo is really scrum isn't he?

Now,to heros. I have to confess to really loving the classic tall, dark and handsome types. Hair above the shirt collar,sharp suits, no piercings and no tattoos(they do say you turn into your mother eventually don't they?!). He doesn't have to be mediterranean, but those sort of looks always work for me. All that dark hair and five o'clock shadow lend themselves perfectly to an man who is angry, passionate, powerful and arrogant. Oooh the domination!!

As far as real life inspiration goes (and I'm going to be soooo predictable here)any man that can wear a vest, zip up cardi,a woolly hat and STILL make me go weak at the knees has got to be The One. David Gandy is perfection (even down to that cute little scar under his right eye).

But he's mine.

Lots of love,

Rach.
XXXXX

Unknown said...

Biddy-- how fab are you, thinking two books ahead? Rodrigo will make a gorgeous hero because he has that very very slight touch of geekiness, which makes him seem every so very slightly vulnerable. (One of the qualities I like in a hero!) I'm absolutely right there with you on focus. Nice point, missy. Focus is EXTREMELY sexy for the very reason you give!!

Oh dear Rach-- I have a hero with a tattoo coming up in my March release! He does have dark hair and a bit of five o'clock shadow too though, so I'm hoping the two might cancel each other out? He's also pretty angry...

Thanks for the addition of David Gandy to our hero hall of fame. A certain Ms Abby Green is currently being inspired by him (she sent me some very hot pics of him in the shower, which made me have to lie down under the desk for five minutes) The scar detail is nice too... I adore that hint of hidden suffering.

Anonymous said...

Yup, silver shoes...I read the book when I was my daughter's age, and seeing as that's been a very long time ago :-), I had forgotten. Daughter wanted to know why Dorothy wore ruby slippers in the movie, so we did a bit of research and found the choice was made to take advantage of the new Technicolor process. Still, daughter is determined to "go by the book," so she'll be wearing silver shoes. :-)

Jane said...

Eric Bana was awesome as Hector in "Troy." I never tire of watching clips of Hector fighting Achilles.

Unknown said...

But silver would have co-ordinated so much better with the blue gingham dress... (Don't tell me that didn't appear in the book either?!)

Jane-- oh yes, how hot is he? I'm trying to decide what exactly it is about him (apart from the leather outfit, of course) that makes him so sexy. The hair, I think. Not too long, not too short, and just inviting you to grab hold of it...

Anonymous said...

Oh, the blue gingham dress was definitely in the book! It was a shame they (the filmmakers)couldn't include all the delightful details from the book, things like the journey to "Dainty China Country" and the green spectacles that Oz made everyone wear so Emerald City appeared to be completely green, oh and the golden cap which the wearer can use to summon the Winged Monkeys (who by the way aren't meant to be so horrible as they appear in the film...they are forced to obey the whims of the person with the cap...) Well, that was probably more information than you needed. Sorry but I am fairly breathing "OZ" these days! :-)

Trenda