by Vivi Anna

The sexiest, smartest, leather-clad hell-raiser ever to walk the post-Apocalyptic Earth is always on the prowl for enemies and sexual conquests. But now Kat is chasing something very different–and far more dangerous. She’s caught a killer virus and only one man has the cure–a scientist named Onyx who dwells in the deadly city of Inferno. If she’s going to make it there alive, she’ll need the help of Hades, her favorite lover–a man who’s big, mean, and hotter than hell. But he won’t help her for free–he wants her body and her heart, and he’s not going to settle for anything less than a lifetime of pleasure. Because once they enter the Inferno, they may never come out again…

With my new book INFERNO out, the sequel to HELL KAT, I often think about where the story came from. What made me want to write about a treasure hunter named Hell Kat and the adventures she goes on in pursuit of money and love. Well I guess it’s because…

I love action!

I’m addicted to it, whether it’s in books, movies or TV shows. My first foray into action adventure had to be seeing Star Wars about ten times in the theater. I was, and still am, a huge Star Wars fan. I love that good against evil storyline. The hero’s epic journey against all odds to face evil and defeat it.

Then I discovered the allure of the action hero.

I can still remember seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981 for the first time in the movie theaters. I was 11. That first scene in the jungle when he’s shrouded in the shadows, and then all of sudden the sound of a whip echoes through the trees, and then he steps into a beam of light…and there he is…Indiana Jones, sexy adventurer. Even at that age, I knew what did it for me. I was a smitten kitten to action adventure stories from then on.

Then there was Romancing the Stone in 1984. Still one of my favorite movies. It had it all. A timid heroine being forced out of her comfort zone to save her sister, traveling to a distant land and meeting the sexy adventurer, and having the adventure of her lifetime while falling in love and saving the day! Damn! That’s great storytelling.

Of course you can’t forget about the awesome book series from some of today’s best writers. There’s Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt series. Matthew McConaughey plays Dirk in Sahara, based on one of Clive’s books. Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, to me, are two of the best action adventures books around. I’m also a sucker for government spies and secret agents, so of course there’s Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne series, and the granddaddy of them all, Ian Fleming and his James Bond.

I adore those action heroes! But now, I want to see the action heroine. What about the girl that can kick some serious butt and is smart and cunning too? I want to read more books about her and see more movies with her going on great adventures and saving the world.

I think with the movies, we’re doing pretty well. There have been some good ones in the past ten years, some great heroines. Ellen Ripley from the Alien movies, Sarah Connor from Terminator, Lara Croft, Selene from the Underworld movies, Sam Caine from The Long Kiss Goodnight, Milla Jovovich in the Resident Evil movies, Trinity in the Matrix movies. On TV, we had Charlie’s Angels, and Sydney from Alias.

Recently I read two amazing books in an action adventure series by Alex Archer, called Rogue Angel. The series is about an archaeologist named Annja Creed (great adventuress name BTW) and she gets involved in an adventure involving the legend of Joan of Arc, the greatest action heroine of all time, IMHO. Well, as well as Boudicca…she was way cool, too. Anyway, its chalk full of history and chases and cool action. I love it.

I want more of that kind of storytelling. I think we need more adventurous heroines in our books. I was crushed with Silhouette announced the Bombshell line would be ending. WAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I’m still mourning over it. There were some great books in that line, some awesome authors. I just hope those stories can find a new home at another publisher.

Come on girls, let’s get our action on!

And to help you do that, I’ll be giving away two copies of INFERNO to those action heroines that come to comment in the next two weeks.

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