WELCOME BACK TO THE BLOG, HEATHER! :)
Heather Long lives in Texas with her family and their menagerie of animals. As a child, Heather skipped picture books and enjoyed the Harlequin romance novels by Penny Jordan and Nora Roberts that her grandmother read to her. Heather believes that laughter is as important to life as breathing and that the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus are very real. In the meanwhile, she is hard at work on her next novel. Where to Find Heather:
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Superhero Love
"Even when I'm playing a superhero, it has to be steeped in reality." – Michael Fassbender
I have to know what happens!
Some of my favorite stories in the 1980s were tales of romance among these super powered heroes who sacrificed to protect the innocent. One story that stands out for me was Garfield Logan – also known as Changeling when he was in The New Teen Titans (formerly known as Beast Boy in the Doom Patrol and later redubbed Beast Boy again because of the Teen Titans animated series. Told you I had a geek card!) and his love for Tara Markov also known as Terra, the earth powered sixteen year old psychopath who infiltrated the Titans to learn all their secrets and sell them out.
Gar experienced first love with all its awkward pangs for Tara and when she betrayed them all, she broke his heart into a million pieces. Now why would that story stand out to me? Because at its core, it was a coming of age story for Gar, the story of a love a man (Slade Wilson) had for his son and the blind honor to avenge him even though he didn't do the 'honorable' thing and the devastating loss that occurs when love goes wrong.
For everyone who asks me why I married superheroes and romance, I didn't have to—the comics got there long before I did with couples like:
• Lois Lane and Clark Kent
• Bruce Wayne and Selena Kyle
• Reed and Sue Richards
• Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson
• Scott Summers and Jean Grey
• Dick Grayson and Princess Koriand'r
• Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance
The list goes on and on. So when the opportunity arose for me to write my own superhero romance, I jumped in full throttle. Behind every mask is a person with needs, desires, and emotions. The best superheroes are not black and white – they are a myriad of layers – good and bad, who still make the conscious choice to sacrifice and use their abilities to help others. They inspire and they lead the charge and like the military heroes we honor – they don't ask for anything in return. That's why those who wear capes and dog tags are referred to as heroes.
Like the great stories of heroes from mythology, comic book superheroes provide us with a pop culture mythology so rich it created a billion dollar film this past summer. Yesterday's Heroes challenges our concepts of time travel, fate, and the effect of one choice on millions of lives, but at its heart, it's also a love story between Rory and Michael.
I hope you'll check it out. Do you have a favorite superhero or superhero romance?
~Heather Long
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Yesterday's Heroes by Heather Long
Publisher: Carina Press (September 17, 2012)
Genre: Fantasy/Futuristic Romance
Pages: 82 (novella)
Aurora “Rory” Graystone
Codename: Halo
Abilities: superior reflexes, I.Q. and aptitude for calculating probabilities
Mission: find missing teammates
Rory knows she’s being watched, and she’s not about to let the hunter catch her in his trap. She’ll confront her stalker, a man she suspects is involved in the disappearances of other superheroes--if she can ignore the sensual heat that fills her every time he’s near…
Michael Hunter
Codename: Hard Target
Abilities: expert tracker and sniper
Mission: kill Rory Graystone
One of five desperate men sent back in time to save the future, Michael believes eliminating Rory is the key to his mission. But even as he takes aim, a split second of doubt causes him to miss his shot.
Drawn together by passion, and on a collision course with fate, can Rory and Michael work together to change the future? Or have they set in motion the horrific history the time-travelers are trying to prevent?
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Yesterday's Heroes by Heather Long
Excerpt
He missed.
He never missed.
Michael stared at the sidewalk swarming with citizens and shopping debris.
His bullet had hit one of the shopping bags, turning it into scraps of leather, metallic buckle bits and paper drifting in the air.
How the hell had he missed?
Michael allowed himself the twenty seconds it took him to collapse the rifle back into his bag to analyze. But it was twenty seconds too long.
Her slender, lithe body appeared over the roof’s edge and landed, one knee and one foot down for balance. Power coiled through her body’s compact musculature. Intelligence shimmered in her violet eyes.
Danger sheathed her like a halo.
She was absolutely magnificent.
“Going somewhere?” Her voice undulated, low and husky, the sardonic notes pinging his nervous system as though they were played on a too-tightly-strung guitar.
“Unfortunately, no.” A flick of his wrist dropped the small-caliber weapon into his hand, but the woman rolled, twisting and turning through the air as she avoided his bullets.
Incomprehension tangled with irritation. He never missed.
Until today.
Twice in as many encounters.
“Tsk, tsk. Didn’t your mother teach you not to play with guns? If you’re going to shoot at something, hit it. Otherwise, what’s the point?” The come-hither voice was close and the liquid heat in her tone tormented his cock. He narrowly jerked his head back, avoiding her fist whiffing the air just millimeters from his nose. But he had no time to savor his victory as her arm completed the arc, punching down on the crook of his elbow.
Nerves screaming, he released the gun and jerked himself to the right to avoid the blow of her leg lashing out at his knee. He struck back, unsurprised that she avoided the strike. She used her forearm to send it wide and swiveled so that his own mass and velocity sent him flying over her shoulder.
An unexpected grin turned up the corners of his mouth. Despite her slighter frame and fragile appearance, the she-vixen offered him a challenge.
God she’s fast.
He slammed against the rooftop and rebounded to his feet, pivoting to face her. Gone was the sweet white t-shirt that hugged her breasts. In its place was an almost-white body suit that lingered like a lover on every curve. A rainbow swath of color wrapped around her right thigh, cut up across her hip and over her abdomen to blaze a trail of treasure to her left breast. The Kevlar-based polymer shimmered in the morning sun.
It was both practical and erotic.
Deep within his brain, the microchip he’d thought dead flared to life. Data scrolled across his internal eye, a mechanized voice reciting the information
Target acquired: Codename Halo.
Abilities: Superior reflexes, high I.Q. and an uncanny knack for discerning the possibilities
Suggested defense: Unknown
Suggested offense: Unknown
Computers were not meant to be sarcastic, but the advice carried the weight of dry humor that Michael associated with the programmer it imitated.
“Got a name big boy?” Her words were a provocative tease and his body tingled in response.
Her voice spawned a physiological side effect on his anatomy. It must have a correlation with her ability, but the chip remained silent on the matter. Her second attack came in a flurry of kicks and palm strikes.
Michael could take a man down with three moves or less. She was slender, slighter in build, and he should be able to snap her in two. Instead, he blocked, evaded and turned her blows until he was able to capture a wrist and spin her back against his chest, his arms coming down to cage her. She turned her palms down, her suggestive little ass rubbing his crotch as she tried to break the hold.
Using his size and associated muscle mass, he bent with her, his fists shackling her wrists, his knuckles brushing her firm breasts. She twisted her hips, going for the side spin. Michael moved with her, boxing her tighter to his body. The motion brought the rich, velvet of her hair to his nose. He drew in a lungful of her scent. The tart lemon was a top note, but beneath the citrus was a distinctively musky, feminine scent.
Blood surged into his cock and she stilled as his arousal pressed solidly against her backside. The teasing curve of her body was soft against his hardness, filling his mind with erotic images and the desire to determine just how the sexy little body suit came off.
Had any battle been more fun?
Or more exciting?
“Done?” He touched his lips to her ear, stealing the smallest taste of her flesh. Her tender skin tasted of schnapps and cool malt, both decadent and sweet.
“Nope.”
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Thanks for stopping by today, Heather! :) I cannot wait to read this one--sexy super heroes, who could resist that? Readers, don't forget to answer Heather's question:
Do you have a favorite superhero or superhero romance?
PS: If anyone has problems commenting (like I've been hearing), please email me [The_Book_Queen@yahoo dot com] so I can get the problem figured out! OR so I can add the comment for you until we get it figured out. I'm thinking of switching to Disqus for comments--any thoughts? :)
Enjoy!
Until Next Time,
*TBQ's Book Palace is a member of both the Amazon and Barnes and Nobles affiliates program. By using the links provided to buy products from either website, I receive a very small percentage of the order. To read my full disclosure on the matter, please see this post!
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