Paranormal Romance Blog

Linda O. Johnston blends Norse mythology and police action in her new book from Silhouette Nocturne, Back to Life. Linda’s here blogging about how she brought Valkyries into today’s world for a passionate paranormal romance…

by Linda O. Johnston, author of Back to Life, Alpha Wolf and Claws of the Lynx

My newest Silhouette Nocturne, BACK TO LIFE, is now on bookstore shelves!  I really enjoyed writing it, and it’s a real thrill to see it there, available for others to read. And what a great cover!

In BACK TO LIFE, the heroine, Skye Rydell, isn’t an ordinary K-9 cop.   She has Valkyrie powers over life and death–and must make a quick decision whether to save SWAT officer Trevor Owens when he is mortally wounded.  When she does, she senses something he has yet to accomplish… as well as an unanticipated connection between them.

In BACK TO LIFE, I made up my own interpretation of Valkyrie powers.  One thing I learned while researching Valkyries is that the actual legends are varied.  In some Nordic myths, Valkyries were considered corpse goddesses, represented by ugly, carrion-eating ravens.  In others, Valkyries were depicted as gorgeous, virginal women who attended dead warriors as they existed in Valhalla.  Or, they were beautiful battle maidens who rode to earth on heavenly steeds to pick over battlefields for the slain warriors who would spend eternity in Valhalla.  In some legends, they did both.  Sometimes they were, instead, prophetesses who predicted the outcomes of battles.  Their numbers varied, and so did the identity of the goddesses who acted as their leaders.  In each case, though, they were involved with the dead or dying.

That’s part of the fun of writing paranormal romance.  An author can make up her own versions of legends, and make them work for the story she creates.  Reality isn’t necessarily a factor, since most people don’t believe those kinds of paranormal beings exist anyway.  But consistency, and making their stories work enough to seem feasible and somewhat realistic–that’s what counts.

There are characteristics inherent in certain legends–werewolves, vampires, etc.–that people tend to think define them.  But that’s not always so.  Vampires may need to drink blood to survive, but not all of them, in the stories of today, attack people and suck blood from their necks.  Werewolves generally change under a full moon, but in today’s stories they may have more control over when it happens, and how.

In BACK TO LIFE, Skye inherited her Valkyrie powers over life and death from a long line of female ancestors and has friends with similar backgrounds who share her powers.  As a K-9 cop, she comes upon a lot of crime scenes because of her job, and in many people are dying or close to death.  She has a decision to make about whether to save their lives, if they are not too close to being gone for her to assist.  For those already past help, she can decide whether to accompany them over the rainbow bridge to a post-life existence worthy of heroes, or not.

When she finds sexy SWAT officer Trevor Owens very close to death, she knows exactly what she must do…

I hope you enjoy BACK TO LIFE, and my modern interpretation of Valkyrie powers!

Linda O. Johnston

www.LindaOJohnston.com

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