OK, so as
hero material, Vikings are a little rough around the edges, considering the way
they jumped medieval all over anyone who got in their way. Ah, but there's the
key: The Vikings rocked the Middle Ages
-- as a rule, folks weren't all that nice to one another back then -- and the strapping
Norse gods among fighting men who kicked Anglo-Saxon arse really never even
considered taking names. They were too
busy chasing wenches - sometimes with raised weapons. But let's not put too
fine a point on that, shall we? Because we're talking historical romance heroes, and digging 'em often requires a healthy
suspension of disbelief.
Yet, Vikings are much more heroic if we look at them from history's point of
view, rather than the caricaturized one we've gotten from What's-in-Your-Wallet
credit card ads. Author Emily Bryan (who,
as Diana Groe, writes gorgeous, highly sensual Viking romances such as "Maidensong ,"
"Erinsong " and "Silk Dreams " ), says once we get to know them a little better,
we'd love the Northmen a lot more.
"The Vikings have gotten a bad rap somewhere. They weren't blond
knuckle-draggers," says Bryan.
"They were adventurers who pushed the boundaries of the known world...gifted
linguists who served Byzantine emperors as elite guard and even traveled
overland to Baghdad.
They sailed across the North Atlantic without
a compass, for pity's sake! If that's not hero material, I'd like to know what
is!"
It definitely is the stuff of dreams
for many romance readers, and for a while, Viking romances rocked the genre. Readers
adored the "manly" ways of the Viking hero; his overbearing bone-headedness
gave him an even richer road to travel on the way to redemption, technically known
in romance fiction as the "Get on your knees, you big jerk, and swear fealty to
my superior feminine intellect and power" dénouement.
OK, I just made that up. But it
pretty much is at the heart of why contemporary readers might spin romance
around personages from history who were pretty brutal, no matter how one looks
at it. Yet Bryan
says our vision of the Viking may be colored by history written not by the
victors, but the conquered.
"In my research," Bryan
states, "I found one English chronicler who decried the way ‘the Northmen seek
to undermine the chastity of our English women through their foreign wiles.'
The wily Northmen were wearing clean undergarments and combing their
hair!"
And cleanliness goes a long way toward making an historical hero appealing, especially when some fans have trouble suspending disbelief when reading about less-hygienic time periods. Bryan says their fastidiousness made Northmen desirable potential mates, and makes them attractive romance heroes.
"Northmen were taller, stronger, and
they bathed at least once a week at a time when Christian Europe was bathing
once a year whether they needed it or not. What's not to love?
Well, there's just about everything to love about romance Vikings when they're
the guys who meet their soul mates across space and time in Sandra Hill's
contemporary/historical time travels.
Hill offers gritty historical detail and "authentic" sensibilities in
her Vikings, then pairs them with strong contemporary heroines who talk as much
trash - and save the day just as often - as the pillaging hunks whose world the
women turn upside down. Check out Hill's
hip, funny and sexy "Viking Heat ," in which a Navy WEAL is tossed back to
Viking days and hooks up with an honest-ta-Thor berserker.
If you'd like to see more Viking romance, let your favorite authors and publishers know. Knock down their doors if you have to; it's the Viking way.
How do you feel about Viking
romances? What are some of your
faves? What did you love/not love so
much about the Viking romances of the past? Would you like to see more Viking romances written?
Michelle Buonfiglio writes about romance fiction and pop culture daily at Romance: B(u)y the Book (RBTB). Check out all of her UB columns here.
