(sorry, Dear Reader: WordPress was down for a bit, hence the delay in posting):
I don’t write alpha males. I don’t like them. Pushy, overbearing jerks, most of them. Well, I should say, I do write alphas, they just aren’t my heroes. Lord Tharp is an alpha male, and what did he do? He was such a jerk to his wife she leaves him, crossing into another dimension (which gives a whole new meaning to divorce), and then he starts a war.
General Marthen was another alpha male, and he was a little off in the head, if you know what I mean. Even in my non-Gordath work, they just don’t come up too often. There’s Carroth in The Warlord and the Princess, which can be found on this blog, but otherwise, blech. Plus, he was sort of the hero but mostly I poked fun at him.
Alphas seem to rule the romance genre though, and I just don’t get it. Most men aren’t like that, and who would want one if he were? Pushy, overbearing guys are a pain to be around. You always have to listen to them and they always want you to be at their beck and call, and maybe music soothes the savage beast, or breast, or however the saying goes, but I guess I’m just tone deaf in more ways than one.
I like the men in Gordath Wood and Red Gold Bridge. They are strong, stalwart, honest, and conscientious. They stand fast. Crae gets a lordship and what does he do? He hands it over to his wife, who should have had it in the first place. Joe never gives up on Lynn. Never. He tries to find her, even going to jail for her disappearance, but he never gives up hope. And Colar – Colar is still young, and he’s tough, and he’s being pulled in a couple of directions, but through it all he’s just trying to find his footing and do the right thing. He’s becoming a man.
In closing, we turn to Say Anything for the last word in alpha males.
“Don’t be a guy. The world is full of guys. Be a man.”
Alphas. Who needs ‘em?
6 Comments
Martin Owton · October 12, 2009 at 8:32 am
Hear hear!
Pain in the ass most of them.
Marry one and you’ll be a second class citizen in your own home until the day you divorce ’em.
J. Kathleen Cheney · October 14, 2009 at 8:14 am
Oh, are you reading those books I lent you? ;o)
Patrice Sarath · October 14, 2009 at 1:34 pm
I haven’t had a chance yet to do more than start the novella one. No, I was mostly going on some of the other novels I have read previously.
That whole “taming the bad boy” thing is a powerful theme, no question. Look at Sex and the City and the relationship between Carrie and Big. Yet, I find Big grotesque. I much preferred the other men in the movie. Then again, I was never a fan of the show and only saw the movie because I went with friends.
(My friends were all like, “You what? You think Big is gross?” Oh well.)
J. Kathleen Cheney · October 15, 2009 at 1:21 pm
The novella is the only one in which the male isn’t an ‘alpha.’ All the others are. Be warned.
We were discussing the whole ‘reformed rake’ thing on Teach Me Tonight the other day. We agreed–it doesn’t happen that way in real life.
Maria Ragucci · November 23, 2009 at 9:09 am
Very belatedly, but you can NEVER go wrong with “Say Anything”. “Get ready for greatness, Lloyd.”
Patrice Sarath · November 23, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Hah! Smart women loooooove Lloyd Dobler.