Ednah Walters talks about 'tortured heros' and Slow Burn'

It's my great pleasure to have Ednah Walters as my special guest today, as part of her Book Tour at the VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR CAFE.  I asked Ednah to talk about one of my favourite subects - heros, namely tortured ones..

Go on then Ednah, give us your take on THE BEST HEROES ARE….

“Hi, my name is Ednah and I’m a tortured-hero addict.”

Say, “Hi” then share your addiction(s).

Seriously, what type of heroes rocks your world?  Is it the flirt? The perfect and charming one? The serious, meticulous kind? The cocky bad boy?  The nerdy hunk? The tortured brooder?

I remember a critique partner kept pushing me to read J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood books. I resisted for so long but finally succumbed.

For months she raved about her favorite hero. All she talked about was Hollywood—I can’t remember his name now, but if you’ve read the series, you know the one. He’s the gorgeous hunk with multi-shaded blond hair.  She raved about how hot he was, gorgeous and charming…everything she loved in a hero.
When I finished four of the books, I only had one word for her—Zsadist. Boy, talk about a tortured hero. I loved Z before I read his story.  Cried when I read it. And he spoiled the rest of the series for me.  Okay, he didn’t exactly do that.  After I read the ghost wife book, my interest in the series tapered off.

Anyway, this post is not about Ward’s BDB series. It’s about heroes.  What we like in our heroes and what we don’t.  Look at TV characters we love, the programs we tune in to watch every week. I’m talking about Dr. House, White Collar, Monk…. I may like smart, nerdy guys (I love The Big Bang Theory), but my favorite guys are the tortured heroes.  The White Collar guy…what can I say? He’s so in love with his Kate he can’t see straight.  Monk and his dead wife.  House…why is House tortured?  He’s so complex every time I think I’ve figured him out, he surprises me.

Why tortured heroes? I like to see them come out the dark place and into the light, watch them become transformed by the right woman.  They tend to resist falling in love the hardest, yet they long to be loved the most. When such a man lets a woman in, you know it’s for keeps, ladies.  You got him for EVER.
So in my books, I always try to make a hero as imperfect as I possibly can and tortured. If it’s not family issues, it’s personal ones.  Ron, in SLOW BURN, is from a wealthy family, but it’s as dysfunctional as they come. They have secrets, most of them not good. They’re not big on touchy-feely moments either, so he has a lot to learn about trust and love.  Then there’s the tortured part, the guilt he carries with him that only adds to his character.

In MINE UNTIL DAWN, my hero has it worse—dealing with rejection from his father. Part of the time he wishes the old man would stay out of his life the other part he wants his approval.  So there, I admit it—tortured heroes are my weakness. 

BLURB:

She doesn’t want to deal with the past...

Ten years ago, Ashley Fitzgerald witnessed the death of her parents in a tragic fire and blocked the memory.  She pretends to have moved on, is a successful artist and photographer, until the morning she opens her door to a stranger she assumes is a model and asks him to strip to his briefs .

He wants to expose the truth...

Wealthy businessman Ron Noble has the body, the jet, the fast cars and the women, but he hides a deadly secret.  His father started the fire that killed Ashley’s parents.  Now someone is leaving him clues that could exonerate his father and they lead to Ashley’s door.  Blindsided by the blazing attraction between them and a merciless killer silencing anyone who was there the night of the fire, Ron dare not tell Ashley the truth.  Yet the answer he seeks may very well tear them apart.

While a demented arsonist...SLOW BURN(s)...and plots his ultimate revenge.

Slow Burn by E. B. Walters

Publish Date: May 1st 2011

Publisher: Firetrail Publishing

Genre: Adult 18+

BIO

Writing about myself is not as easy as penning a saga about fictitious characters.  Where to start?  What to add?  What to leave out?  Don't want to bore you with stories of my childhood...when I walked, got potty-trained, talked...so I'll start with the more interesting stuff. 

I started making up fairytale stories before I could write, even wrote a play which was performed by my class in high school, but I didn't complete my first story until I finished my PhD in chemistry and decided to be a stay-at-home mother. The first books I wrote were picture books about the adventures of a little lion called Little Leo and his pet Cockatoo.  My kids got a kick out of hearing me read them out aloud.  Then I moved to mid-grade chapter books.  Their favorite was Goldilocks before the Three Bears.  Then I tried my hand at contemporary romance and romantic suspense. That didn't go so well and besides, I couldn't read them to my children. 

And the little munchkins grew and became teens and moody and impossible to please...digressing again.  As teens. my babies wanted to read teen books. Vampires and werewolves were in.  A professor of mine once told me that you can either be the first or the best at what you do.  I wasn't too keen on jumping on the vampire/werewolf bandwagon, so being first was out.  And I couldn't see myself being the best, self-taught writer that I am.  So I decided to write something different--the fallen angels.  

The idea for Awakened (originally named The Awakening) rose from the inner recesses of my mind after a friend told me the stories of kris/keris daggers. All I knew was that the weapon had to be at the center of my story. Soon the characters formed in my head and wouldn't leave me alone, especially an orphaned girl named Lil. 

Finding a home for Awakened wasn't easy.  Books about fallen angels by other authors hit the shelves while I was still trying to find an agent and an editor willing to take a chance on me. 

Like most of my stories, Awakened is full of romance, mystery and adventure. I believe in the power of love, and that's why I spice up my stories with romance. 

I live in picturesque valley in northern Utah with my husband, five children and two cats...one is with ADHD.

Awakened, now available on Amazon and B & N

http://www.ednahwalters.com

http://ednahwalters.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/ednahwalters

http://www.facebook.com/people/Ednah-Walters/100000535104042




Thanks Ednah.  You can follow Ednah on her tour by checking the calendar at 
  The Virtual Book Tour Cafe.