Alpha Males

There's a lot of talk lately about the Alpha Male. Rose Wynters, a current bestselling author of paranormal, dystopian, werewolf and plus sized romances says,  "We all know an alpha…. They are the guys that seem to always get the girl, the guy that is cool without trying and always on their game. They are cool, calm, and in control. They are James Bond."  That sounds very accurate to me, they are the stars, the heroes of many genres of fiction.

Nearly forty years ago...yes, you read correctly, forty flippin' years ago...I was alive, I was young, I was deep into multi-tasking before anyone even knew that it existed. My friends and I, all of us young wives and mothers, between trips to the school, PTA, dirty laundry and dirty dishes were totally infatuated with reading historical romances.  On our limited budgets, we frequented the used bookstores, passed the coveted paperbacks around, shared and impatiently waited our turn to read the next wonderful fantasy.

The 1970's spawned authors such as Jennifer Blake (who still writes), Johanna Lindsey, Jennifer Wilde, who was actually a man and wrote such titillating titles as Love's Tender Fury. The Alpha Male was the king of these romance novels and as far as I am concerned the queen of writing him was Kathleen Woodiwiss. I still have a row of paperback books on the shelf in my living room by this exquisite writer. I was sad, when she passed away a few years ago. She was faithful to historic settings and events and her characters were rich and made the reader want to live in the story.

I enjoyed reading so many of Kathleen's books.  I always said that my favorite leading man was Wulfgar, in the novel, The Wolf and the Dove. The book was set in medieval times and I fell in love with the Iron Wolf of Normandy from the moment he rode astride his big stallion into the lady Aislinn's castle keep. All those years ago, one of my little darlins' scratched around with a red pen on the very page that describes this scrumptious male, but I managed to still read his description; He stood tall, at least two hands higher than herself though she was not of short stature. His tawny hair was tousled and streaked by the sun, and though the long coat of mail was heavy, he moved with an easy strength and confidence. ......His eyes were wide set and the brows well arched above them, when as now he was angered, they drew down and blunted his long thin nose and lent to his face the look of a hunting beast. His mouth was wide, the lips thin yet finely curved. A long scar that ran from his cheekbone down the line of his jaw line grew pale and the muscles beneath it worked as he ground his teeth in anger.
Sigh-h-h.

M. Woodiwiss and all of these authors wrote the "Alpha Male" to perfection. They also, of course, as was the way of the times, created a sexual tension that made you just about want to pull out your lightly teased hair. And we, young, vital female inhabitants of marriage would secretly gossip and discuss the books and giggle with our scraps of teenage dreams, "Do you think they are ever going to actually do it!?" These authors would tease and string you along, make you wait breathlessly all through hundreds of pages for your pair to consummate their love.  And when you finally got there and finished the story, you hungrily wanted the next book to read.

The term "Alpha Male" may be a current catch phrase, but the real and fictional incarnation is certainly nothing new. 

Click "comment" if you would like to leave a note.