MY FATHER THE WARRIOR

I think about warriors a lot these days. It goes with the territory of being a writer of medieval romance. In the days of William the Conqueror, Henry Beauclerc and the Plantagenets, men had to be warriors, prepared to defend what was theirs.
I find myself driven to write the stories of these heroic men, who fought in horrendous battles - like my hero Ram de Montbryce, a hero of Hastings, in CONQUERING PASSION.

I love reading about them too. Who can forget the commanding Simon de Montfort in Virginia Henley's THE DRAGON AND THE JEWEL.

And I fell in love with Simon de Beresford, champion of King Stephen, in Julie Andresen's SIMON'S LADY.

Don't misunderstand. I LOVE a good Regency romance, and I too can swoon readily over Loretta Chase's Lord Dain, and Anne Stuart's Adrian Rohan (ar any of the Rohan's for that matter!) But give me a warrior over a rogue or a roue any day! 
It's a wonder England survived the Regency at all as a nation, with so many dissolute noblemen!

One reviewer has remarked that it was unacceptable and 'unheroic' for my 11th century Norman hero, Ram, to have a brief sexual liaison with a Saxon widow while he was betrothed to my heroine. She missed the point of the circumstances of post traumatic stress after the battle of Hastings! Seems the roguish Earls of the Regency cannot be heroes unless they've slept their way to the pages of a best seller!

But I digress! Back to the reason for this post. November 11th is REMEMBRANCE DAY here in Canada, and I'm thinking especially of my late father, a man who fought on the beaches of Normandy, almost 900 years after my hero Ram left there to fight for his Conqueror.

My William wasn't really a 'warrior', but he spent six years in the British Army. It changed his life...and mine. He often joked it made a man of him. News for you dad - you were already a man, a defender throughout your life of all you held dear. I've dedicated one of my novels to my dad. The dedication reads,


"For my father, William.
A Lancashire lad through and through, honest, loyal and true."
Miss you dad.





Here is a link to a poignant video to honour the fallen. Willie McBride by Celtic Thunder.