For the sake of argument, everything I’m about to share with you is absolutely my opinion unless I am citing a statistic, in which case, I’ll tell you where I got it from. Cool? Great.

What makes the best stories tick? How much we, the audience, empathize with the characters. Take a step back with me for a moment as I roll the clock back to 1984. I could go back farther, but I am specifically going back to the day I saw the first Terminator movie. I was 12, and I saw it on a Saturday afternoon at my favorite theatre. Me, my popcorn, and my mom settled in to watch the movie.

As a side point, I love sci-fi movies, and Terminator had time travel, so check! I loved big action pieces, with lots of booms, and the film definitely had those. I loved characters I could invest in, and go on this journey with—and guess what, yep, Terminator had that in spades.

More, it had characters I empathized with. Sarah Connor didn’t seem to be particularly special. She was a waitress and had a roommate and was just trying to make ends meet. She could have been my neighbor, or my friends or even one of my parents. My mom was a waitress. So right away, I’m invested in her. Now she spends half the movie getting chased by some unstoppable killing machine and kidnapped by a guy who feeds her this story about being from the future.

Her reaction is what any one of us would have. Are you crazy?

Yet, in the end, she falls in love (or at least some mad survival lust) with Reese, and then in a final battle, manages to kill the Terminator. She does it. Reese keeps her alive long enough to help, and he survives long enough to do some damage, but Sarah rescues herself at the end.

Holy crap. This was like when Princess Leia grabbed the blaster and started shooting. Or when she told them all to jump into the garbage chute. Leia, who’d been held captive, actively participated in her own rescue. In later films, Leia is part of the strategy, the straight-up fights, and eventually strangles Jabba the Hutt during the rescue of Han. Leia was a bad ass.

Sarah Connor inherited that mantle.

Now I can go on and on about the badass heroines of action movies (trust me, I could), but here’s the thing—too often I heard when I was growing up that action movies were for guys. Rom coms were for chicks. We even call them “chick flicks”. My parents wouldn’t get me Star Wars toys, cause those were for boys. But I could have this pretty pink Barbie, cause it was for girls.

Action-Adventure whether it’s Terminator, or The Bourne Identity, or The Avengers isn’t just for “boys.” In fact, according to Deadline.com (see I told you I’d cite the data), Avengers: Infinity War had an audience of 40% women. Of course, it also had a huge audience period as culmination of 10 years of franchise building. A franchise I have wholly supported and am a tremendous fan of.

Why?

Cause I can empathize with those characters whether he’s a king of a hidden country with mystical powers or a narcissistic billionaire in a suit or a remnant of the cold war era spy with varying shades of gray to her morality. I can empathize because the writing, and the action, and the characters themselves have invited us along on this journey.

At the end of the day though, my love of action adventure with elements of romance or not, dates back to that Saturday afternoon in a theater as the end credits began to roll on Terminator. The film didn’t have a happily ever after, if anything, the ending was ominous. A promise that all the horrible things Reese warned her of were coming, yet we also had this sense of hope and Sarah was invested in saving her son and eventually the future.

I love writing these types of stories in some fashion whether it’s a paranormal adventure about wolves on the hunt or military insertion to save someone or a humorous romp of royals trying to deal with life. It’s about the adventure, and yeah, the action. I love reading them, too. Or watching them. Sometimes we’ll pick up a book or go to the movie because it looks cool, but we only stick around or come back for more if it takes us deeper.

Whether it’s saving your kids, saving your house—hell saving the cat—we can live vicariously through the heroes and heroines in our books, and our movies. I love multi-dimensional heroes and heroines. My heroes are not all alphas, and my heroines are not all helpless, needing to be saved. Sometimes the battle is intense and physical, sometimes it’s haunting and emotional.

It’s always about the journey.

Okay, and the hot guys. Yeah, I’m a little shallow.

Sometimes.

What do you love about action/adventure and romance? Do you have a favorite film?

Don’t Miss Heather’s Brand New Releases in the Special Forces & Brotherhood Protectors series:

Shielding Shayna

Honor comes in all sizes.

Shayna Morgan has been a little bit of everything in her life—a daughter, a niece, a sailor, an investigator, and homeless. Nerve damage has left her with only partial feeling on her right side, and pain threatened to cripple her. Family pulled her home from where she slept in her car outside of DC, but it was the men and women of the Brotherhood Protectors who inspired her and gave her a purpose. She may not be able to fire a gun with any accuracy, but her new project fulfills her in so many other ways—helping other female vets just like her. It’s all hard, honest work and good sweat until a shadowy threat takes aim at her ranch.

Purpose comes in all shapes.

Fergus “Oddjob” Roper went into the Air Force at 18, before making a lateral move to the Navy, and then left the SEALs when he was 33. After 15 years of service, two wars, multiple deployments and 3 degrees, he’s looking for his next mission. After a year in Texas working with a horse trainer specializing in equine support animals, he’s heading to Montana to visit with old friends. He came for the beer, and stayed for the women…one woman in particular. Oddjob doesn’t mind mucking stalls, or helping out on the project—but what he wants is to shield the woman who saved his life, even if she doesn’t know it.

Link: https://heatherlong.net/books/military/special-forces-brotherhood-protectors-kindle-worlds/brotherhood-protectors-shielding-shayna/

Covering Coco

Life between the cross hairs

Retired Navy SEAL John Jacob “Jacko” Johnson earned a reputation for being cool under pressure, having more kills from behind the scope of a sniper rifle than anyone else active on the teams, and being a total smartass. Some things don’t change, and not even a traumatic brain injury sidelining him keeps him from kicking in when his friends need it—most recently a top-secret mission to retrieve a lost asset.

Bolt action is louder than words

Coco Adler’s military career ended abruptly on a dishonorable discharge. Or so reads her military file. Recruited for a top-secret program, she digs in deep. When her cover is nearly compromised and she can’t reach her handler, she goes dark but stays on mission. The last thing she expects is a lunatic in a Hawaiian shirt to take her down a moment before a sniper’s bullet would have.

Forced to work together, Jacko will do everything to cover Coco’s extraction—even if it kills him.

Link: https://heatherlong.net/books/military/special-forces-brotherhood-protectors-kindle-worlds/special-forces-operation-alpha-covering-coco/

Meet Titus – the Soon to be Alpha of the Rock Prowler Pack when interviewed by one of his pack’s cubs.

“You want something, Sammy? An interview for your school magazine? Well… I suppose it couldn’t hurt.”

Sammy giggled and opened up his writing book. “So, T. what’s your nickname.”

Titus: “Never had one. Not unless T. counts. You started something the first time you called me that. Now the whole pack uses it.”

Sammy blushed. “It suits you. But I said Big T first, what with you being so big and all. Anyway. Where did you go to school?”

Titus:“I planned to head to earth and do some serious study”—he shook his head—“but things went so far south it never happened. Some witch kidnapped my true-mate and I spent almost a century trying to free her.” The wolf’s shoulders slumped as he stared into the distance. After a deep breath, he added. “Not that she wants anything to do with me or the pack. I guess you can say I graduated from the school of Hard Knocks.”

Too young to understand Titus’s pain, Sammy shook his head. “Girls suck.”

Titus:“Only when you’re a cub. Give it a few years and you might say different. My best dream was to bond with my true-mate but she wouldn’t even look at me. Now I don’t have any dreams left.”

Sammy carefully wrote Titus’s every word in his notebook. “What would you do if you became rich overnight.

Titus:(growls softly). “I can’t see my luck changing now. No, don’t write that bit down. Let’s just say I’m not hurting financially and I don’t need more money.”

Sammy broke off to sharpen his pencil. “And what’s your favorite food?”

Titus:Nothing tastes good anymore except whisky. No, don’t write that down either. Just put that I don’t have much appetite. I hunt and I eat whatever I can find. That’s it, Sammy. Interview over.”

Titus stood and beckoned a group of cubs over.“Time for your tracking lesson. Give me a two-minute head start, and if you find me, I’ll shout the lot of you an ice-cream.”

To Seduce an Omega

The Rock Prowler alpha condemns Viola for her inability to shift. Forced into poverty and isolation, she ekes out a meager existence as a healer. As the pack omega with a crippled knee, she’s forbidden to mate. Her first heat beckons, but no wolf will dare to bed her.

Titus, a wolf rejected by his true mate, overflows with violence and anger. The Lykae King sends him to take over the Rock Prowler pack. He condemns Viola for wanting payment before she treats her patients and threatens to bring in a new pack healer. With her crippled knee and no other income, she’d starve.

She-wolves from families who disagree with the alpha have vanished. When Titus investigates, the alpha’s allies imprison both him and Viola. To escape, he must seduce Viola—the she-wolf he insulted and reviled. If that’s not bad enough, she despises him for his seeming allegiance to the alpha. As he gets to know her, she steals his heart, but after all that’s happened, how can she accept him when even his fated mate refused him?

Buy links
Amazon USA            https://amzn.to/2MFqbcR
Amazon UK               https://amzn.to/2K0Z3TS
Amazon Canada      https://amzn.to/2M89aXA
Amazon Australia    https://amzn.to/2ytGFBS

 Excerpt

“Heal her.” The stranger scowled and thrust the injured woman at Viola.

She blinked and stepped back so quickly she almost overbalanced. After taking a moment to stand up as straight as her crippled leg allowed, she donned her professional healer persona. “For a price. Cash. Up front.”

Viola lied, of course. Leaving anyone in pain was beyond her, but the man with the broad chest and gold-flecked eyes didn’t need to know that. Besides, unless she got hold of some cash soon, she might never eat meat again.

The low growl that rumbled from his throat and the way his eyes narrowed made her wish she’d stayed silent. He bared his fangs, and although she wanted to retreat, she stubbornly held her ground.

His lip curled. “Do it. I’m good for your fees. Just get a move on.”

His deep, angry rumble made her think of a volcano ready to erupt. And damn, when she stared up him, he looked as tall as the mountains that trapped her in Rock Prowler territory. Out here in the midst of the forest, miles from the nearest settlement, she should be wary. This stranger emanated strength, protection, and…flat-out fury. At her.

His jaw clamped as he shoved past her into the hut. She followed, mentally triaging her patient. Tansy’s clothes hung off her in tatters, and an arrow stuck out of her leg. Deep scratches, the sort only a murder thorn could inflict, covered her torso. The woman’s breathing came in fast, shallow pants. Her skin looked as though it had been touched with frost, and rivers of dried blood stained her leg.

Absently, Viola wondered what the other woman been up to that involved tangling with a bush renowned for shredding skin. Not running from Mr. Fix-It here, I hope. Ignoring her concerns and her attraction to a newcomer with the short hair and bad attitude, she reached out to stroke Tansy’s hair. Rather than gather her supplies, Viola hardened her heart and met the stranger’s gaze.

With his torn ear and bent nose, Mr. Fix-It looked ready to tear out her throat. Her stomach clenched as though he’d punched her, and his disgusted look promised a reckoning once she’d tended Tansy’s wounds. Viola’s tender heart went out to the woman in his arms. Despite her bold words, she’d never let Tansy suffer, but she needed to bargain to survive.

As the pack’s omega wolf, she expected nothing from anyone—except insults, of course. Chin high, spine stiff, she kept her hands at her side. “Perhaps you shouldn’t have chased her into a murder thorn in the first place. Of course, I’ll help her once we’ve agreed on a price.”

The stranger’s furious growl cut to her heart, but unless she demanded her cash in advance, she’d starve.

About Kryssie Fortune

Kryssie’s imagination runs wild. She loves dragons, sensual Fae, and sensual vampires. Show her a dominant Lykae male and her toes curl. Feel free to visit her website or check out her blog. She can also be found on Facebook or Twitter.

Author links
Website: https://kryssiefortune.wixsite.com/kryssiefortune-books
Blog: https://kryssiefortune.blogspot.co.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kryssie-Fortune-Author-Page-267100286738528/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KryssieFortune

Have fun! ~DD

Hello fine readers! Along with being a new author and guest blogger (thanks, Delilah!) I’m a volunteer leader with Team Rubicon│Disasters Are Our Business, Veterans Are Our Passion(https://teamrubiconusa.org/)

I live in Western Montana. It’s beautiful, but that beauty comes with a price. This year, the Clark Fork River flooded several subdivisions in Missoula—a major flood, the kind not seen since the 1970s. Sandbags were needed—a lot of them, right now. Missoula is a wonderful, weird town and people are really helpful—sometimes too helpful. Without direction, volunteers sometimes cause more problems than they solve. So, at the request of the county, Team Rubicon stepped up and took charge of the sandbagging chaos. Over the course of two weeks, we directed over 2,100 volunteers and filled more than 112,000 sand bags with 1,967 tons of sand. Which is pretty incredible! But the most incredible part was the last day.

Every year, Missoula hosts a rugby tournament called Maggot Fest. This year, many of the teams decided to help the day before the tournament. They filled a lot of bags, in their own very special way. Ways we wouldn’t let anyone else use. So, now for your pleasure (and some shudders) I give you hot, sweaty rugby players!

(Photos by AM Scott, except overhead sandbag photo courtesy of K. Kirkbride)

Yes, I do have a book. Get your copy, FREE! If you like Firefly, I think you’ll like Lightwave: Clocker.

Freedom ticks away, one nanosecond at a time… When a bounty hunter closes in, Saree jumps on Lightwave Fold Transport, the only way out-system. But Lightwave’s crew might be a bigger threat. Can Saree hide her real identity as the only human Clocker? Or will the crew uncover her secret and turn her in for the reward?

Download here: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/uhu01itzno If you download my book, I will add your name to my infrequent mailing list; I don’t spam or sell your info and you can unsubscribe anytime. Clocker is the first of a space opera series, not an SF romance; while there are adult situations, there’s no erotic sex and the swear words are all made up. Enjoy and have a great summer!

The habit of writing everyday no matter what started for me around 2009 or 2010. I was invited to join a group. This group is named GIAM, which stands for Goals Inspiration Amity Motivation. Amy Atwell began the group to allow writers to form friendships and share like interests. This was before social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and all the others became so popular.

I joined the group in 2009 when Amy created a special loop called Writing GIAM 100×100 on Yahoo. I don’t know how many of us started with the group. I do know there are currently six of us still there writing our little hearts out.

We have become friends. The type of friends that you can rant, vent, cry, and laugh with. It might be virtual, but we’ve grown close. We’re scattered over the United States with one in Canada. But we are next door friends.

These women shared the trial of living with my sister during my husband’s serious illnesses, the heart break of losing him after almost forty-one years. At first the lady that handled our loop, JoAnn Banker, would send out certificates each time one of us crossed that 100 straight days mark. Then at the end of a full year of writing we received a bottle of champagne. I received mine in 2012.

We have all fallen off the loop at one time or another for whatever reason. We didn’t make our 100 words that day. Some of us had surgeries, some had personal things, that toppled us off the bus. That’s what we are. A bus full of friends writing along posting our word counts some every day others every couple of days. We get back on the bus and keep riding.

I was at year five moving towards year six when I had knee surgery. I wrote words the night before the surgery for Monday when I was having it. Then faithfully I wrote every night on my smart phone, I wasn’t smart enough to download MS Office and Dropbox to the phone. I used the memo app to write and I counted each word to make sure I had 100 words. It worked great until Friday night after the surgery on Monday. I was sent to a nursing home for rehab and it was about fifty or sixty miles from where I lived. I was angry, and the anger boiled over when the computer I brought wouldn’t turn on.

So, I blew off five years of not missing a day. Now, I’m back up to year three writing my way towards year four. There are four that are on year one, one that is on year six and myself on year three.

I’ve heard people say they can’t write every day. I work full time, no kiddos except for a four footed one called Precious, but I did it even the nights my husband went to the hospital and yes the night he died. I was already writing that day trying to make NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for 2011. I didn’t make the 50k for NaNo but I did make my 100 words.

I have another friend that’s written over three thousand days without missing a day. She’s not on our loop, but she’s determined too. Her determination paid off with a traditional publishing contract when she pitched her books.

Now, these days have given me several different stories some complete others incomplete. Still I keep typing at least 100 words every day.

Yes, life gets in the way. You dig out your grit and determination and start over. Or you can sit there and say I can’t. My mother always told me, “Can’t never could do anything.” I guess my brain absorbed it and made it my mantra deep inside.

When I was little they called me stubborn, now it’s called being strong because of certain things I’ve done these past few years.

I hope that you find your path and that if you have your path already you will reach out to someone who maybe needs a little help finding theirs.

CK Crouch
https://ckcrouch.com/
Romance Tangled up with Suspense

Nothing in Margo Simmons’s life comes easy. She can’t claim the inheritance on a condo apartment her uncle has left to her until she is gainfully employed in a job for a year. She meets the man of her dreams but anguishes over a loving relationship because he is still emotionally tied to his deceased wife. With great difficulty, she becomes the guardian to a recently orphaned child she had been tutoring. Margo evolves from an insecure, newbie elementary teacher into a woman determined to fulfill the secret desires locked in her heart. My story speaks to anyone who has suffered a loss and had to start over.

Get your copy here!

Updates on Secret Desires by JL Regen:

I’m so pleased to report that the Audible.com version of my romance will happen between June and July. Readers commuting to work or just relaxing with my book, will be able to listen to my love story, which, by the way, was inspired by a true story.

Thank you, Delilah, for this wonderful opportunity to tell romance readers about my book.

JL Regen

P.S. Please do leave a comment on writerjr1044@gmail.com

Conner Udine is a prince and a hero all rolled into one. And Olivia had a slight crush on her brother’s best friend when he was at her family’s over for dinner. She never said a word. And unlike her sister Scarlett, Olivia is unassuming and would rather read a book than admit to her real feelings. She’s the youngest Hawke sibling and honestly she blogs about books for a living. Could she do more? Yes, but her shyness really holds her back.

Conner needs to be in his kingdom so to protect Olivia he flies her to his European kingdom and sets her up in the castle. But when Scarlett and Gabe say Maddox was arrested, they both thought the threat was over. Olivia goes out to explore.

Conner is faced with a decision as there is some ancient law that he must marry and his father needs him to marry sooner rather than later. But in showing the sweet Olivia around, he starts wondering if she’ll be the perfect bride. However this small bliss is threatened when someone starts trying to kill Olivia and Conner needs to protect her. As Maddox is in jail it can’t be him, but the threat against the Hawkes continues.

Tempting Conner

One sweet, unassuming book blogger targeted by an assassin. One handsome prince sworn to protect her. These two have nothing in common, except undeniable chemistry.

Prince Conner Udine is a man of honor. When he promised his best friend and former Marine buddy that he’d protect his sister, he never imagined that it would lead to a lifetime commitment. When a sixteenth century law resurfaces, his life plan takes a drastic turn, and now he has to marry before his thirtieth birthday.

Olivia Hawke liked Conner from the first moment she saw him, but she never revealed that to him. Now, he’s her protector, and she has to live in his castle.

As if that’s not awkward enough, he’s just revealed that he has to marry, and fast.

Will she agree to give him her hand and finally get the happily-ever-after she’s always dreamed of?

Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BGSGFG2?ref_=pe_2427780_160035660&tag=smarturlebook-20
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/tempting-conner/id1327662178?mt=11
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tempting-conner-victoria-pinder/1127222090?ean=2940158608186
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/tempting-conner-1
Google: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Victoria_Pinder_Tempting_Conner?id=ELFFDwAAQBAJ

Contest

a Rafflecopter giveaway