True Romance: Who Rescues Whom?

The results for the draw for Charlaine Harris's "Dead in the Family" and Kirsten Cashore's "Fire" have just come in and the winners are:

Lynn Rush wins "Dead in the Family"
Anne wins "Fire"

Congratulations to both of you—if you could email me via contact[at]helenlowe.info with a postal address, I will get the books away to you asap.

And thanks again to everyone for joining in the conversation—it's been great. I'll see you again next year—on New Year's Day in fact: in between times, I'm going to think about how we can have some fun with that! :)

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Last month we talked about what makes a story truly romantic and you told me that for you, the X factor can include to honor and defend; a look, a touch, and the sense that two people are meant to be together; having plenty of chemistry but also leaving something to the imagination; self-sacrifice and the willingness of star-crossed lovers to fight for each other—and definitely that element of forbidden love.

All so true—and just as much for film as for print, as Pamela honed in on a little later in the month.

Shortly after that I was watching Pretty Woman—an oldie but a goodie for me in the romantic stakes. (Of course, one of my friends maintains that the most romantic scene in the story has to be where the Richard Gere character gives Julia Roberts his credit card—but getting back on topic … )

Right at the end of the film there’s the scene where our hero overcomes his fear of heights to “rescue” the Julia Roberts character—and then asks (something like): “what happens next?” And of course she says: “She rescues him right back!”

This is the bit that got me thinking, because one of the trends of contemporary fantasy is the kickass chick—whether it’s Buffy, who always manages to rescue herself in the end as well as dusting the vamps or slaying the demons; or Sookie Stackhouse in Charlaine Harris’s True Blood novels (ok, I think they’re the Sookie Stackhouse series, but you know what I mean) who as often-as-not rescues the paras; or Katsa in Kirsten Cashore’s Graceling who is an archetypal alpha heroine.

All great stories and heroines that we love—but 'tell me true', is there any secret yearning (as last month’s comments suggest there might be) for the alpha hero who sweeps all before him to rescue our heroine from dastardly villains and “love only her” for ever after (keeping her in the style to which she would entirely wish to become accustomed, of course!)

Or do we like to mix it up a bit more, Pretty Woman and Ever After style, and have our heroine rescuing her man “right back?” Or is it just nice to have the choice, depending on time, place and mood?

I’d love to hear what you all think!

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Giveaway Time!

To help the discussion along, I’ve got two books from the writers mentioned above as giveaways for a couple of lucky posters: a copy of the latest Sookie Stackhouse novel, Dead in the Family (to be drawn first), and Kirsten Cashore’s Fire (to be drawn second). This giveaway is open to all Supernatural Underground followers, US or international.

Just add a comment on your preference for “Who Rescues Whom” before the next Supernatural Underground author posts to go in the draw (which will be via Random Number selection.) As always, you can earn points (i.e. the number of times your name goes into the draw) by:

+1 Posting in the comments section
+1 Linking to this post on Twitter
+1 Linking to this post on Facebook
+1 Linking to the Supernatural Underground or my Helen Lowe on Anything Really blog on your own blog/website.

Just post the total number of points that you’ve earned in your comment. And don’t forget to check back to see if you’ve won!