Felecia sent me a link to a fun What Action Hero Would You Be quiz. My somewhat surprising result: I’m half Lara Croft and half Jack Sparrow. Hmmm…I can completely see myself digging around in an old tomb and searching for artifacts. And, well, I guess I could see myself steering on the high seas as I search for gold. Then there’s the fun bit about the rum Jack likes. Perhaps my quiz result wasn’t as off as I originally thought!

What hero would you be?

A few days ago, I had lunch with a friend at a seafood restaurant on the bay. As we walked toward the restaurant, we admired the two great white sharks leaping from the roof of the restaurant, and then my friend pointed out the alligator that was scaling the side of the building. I remember thinking it would be really weird if gators could scale buildings. (Yeah, I didn’t think it was the least bit odd that great white sharks could be inside said building and bursting through the ceiling!) And, then, today, I see the story about the alligator who climbed a wall and nearly rang a doorbell.

Jeez. Turns out those things can actually climb. I saw an expert on TV this morning who said they’d even been known to scale fences. What???

Scary stuff. Who knows where a gator will turn up next? (Please, please not in my backyard!)

Harlequin is sponsoring a writing contest for its American Romance line. Writers (both published and unpublished) should send in the first chapter of their work (up to 5,000 words) and a synopsis of the story. The story must be set in America. (Cuz, well, it is for the American line…) Winners will receive a subcription to the American line of books for a year AND (here’s the important part) a detailed editorial evaluation. In the past winners of contests like this one have gone on to sell their work to Harlequin.

For complete details, check out these guidelines.

The new Superman Returns movie opens this weekend. Yeah, I’ll see it. After all, I’m a huge Superman fan. Loved Lois and Clark, watched all the Christopher Reeve films. Even read a few of the comic books.

Oh, yes, I’m a definite fan.

A few people have complained to me that they don’t like the story of Superman because they don’t like Lois. Not like Lois? The idea seems absurd to me. She’s strong. Funny. Okay, sure, she’s obsessive, but aren’t we all? The general complaint I get is that Lois is supposed to be a hot-shot reporter. The best the Daily Planet has to offer. And this hot-shot can’t figure out that if you take off Clark’s glasses, he’s identical to Superman.

Well, of course, she doesn’t realize that fact! Not at first, anyway. Her failure to recognize the man-of-steel has nothing to do with her reporting skills, however. It has to do with love. At the start of the Superman tale, Lois loves our flying hero, not his alter-ego Clark. So, when she looks at Superman, she sees him differently. In one memorable episode of Lois and Clark, Lois even explains this “different vision” as a sketch artist draws an image of Superman. She complains that the image isn’t right. That the jaw is stronger. The hair not as mousy. The eyes more intense. Without the extra emphasis, the guy in the drawing could be anyone…even Clark.

Lois is blinded by love. She sees her man with the famous rose-colored glasses, and thus, he is, well, super. It is only later when she begins to fully appreciate Clark that she recognizes that he and Superman are one in the same.

And, honestly, haven’t we all been guilty of this blindness at some point? When you first fell in love, didn’t you think your guy was smarter, funnier, or better looking than everyone else? Sure, you might be the only one who saw the fellow that way, but that’s because you were blinded, by love…just like Lois.

I love history. Absolutely love it. Heck, I even taught it for a while. So many really interesting, really weird things happened in the past.

One of my favorite things to do is to take a real historical event, analyze it, then twist it. Oh, yeah, I get lots of plot ideas this way. Take for example, the Beast of Gevaudan. In the 1760s, France wasn’t the safest place to be. A strange, wolf-like beast (the Beast of Gevaudan) was prowling the countryside, killing dozens of people (a hundred according to some), leaving a trail of blood and terror in its wake. Eventually a creature was killed (actually, I think several creatures were killed–and the hunters all said they’d slayed the beast!), but one particular wolf/dog was killed by–gasp–a silver bullet.

Now, for the most part, my little Beast tale is supported by fact. But, in my mind, I add a bit more to the tale. I think the Beast was a real werewolf. And I don’t think the creature was ever killed by a hunter. I think it simply left the area in search of a new hunting ground, and I think it continued its attacks for years…and years.

There I go, twisting history.

When I wrote my werewolf novellas for Red Sage, I decided to create werewolf heroes who hailed from France…in honor of the Beast. (But don’t worry, my heroes aren’t blood-thirsty fiends–they’re the good guys, really! The pack always punishes any wolf/man who attacks innocents.)

Of course, there are so many other tales from history that interest me. King Tut’s tomb, Cleopatra’s suicide, Elizabeth Bathory and her blood baths. So many…

Does anyone out there have any favorite historial facts that you’d like to twist?