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Valentine's Day wasn't always a commercial holiday
There are two camps when it comes to Valentine’s Day — those who love Cupid and hearts and flowers and those who believe it is a commercial conspiracy created by the candy and card companies.
In reality, Valentine’s Day was a tradition long before candy hearts and greeting cards.
The origins of Valentine’s Day are a combination of myth and fact that track back to Christian (St. Valentine) and early Roman (Lupercalia) traditions.
Valentine greetings can be traced back as far as the Middle Ages, although written valentines didn’t appear until after 1400. The oldest valentine dates back to a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans, in 1415.
Cupid, often depicted as a arrow-toting cherub, is thought to be an interpretation of Eros, the Greek god of love.
Valentine’s Day, as we know it, is celebrated in the U.S. Canada, Mexico, UK, France, and Australia. By the mid-18th century, it became common to trade small tokens of affection or handwritten notes. Commercial greetings evolved around 1900.
I’m a fan of Valentine’s Day for the simple reason that it promotes romance, love, and passion. Here’s to Cupid and a Happy Valentine’s Day!
Romantic suspense research: DEF CON
Right now I am working on Mission: Impossible to Love, book 3 in the Impossible Mission romantic suspense series. After coming up with a premise for the story, it’s time for the fun part: research!
In Mission: Impossible to Love, Sten Jenkins and Elizabeth “Izzy” Benson are sent to a hacker convention, posing as black hat hackers trying to sell software that could jeopardize the security of U.S. military drones.
In researching black hat hackers, I learned about DEF CON, one of the world’s largest hacker conventions. Held annually in Las Vegas, the event draws IT security professionals, law enforcement officials, journalists, lawyers, federal government employees, students and–of course–hackers.
Since the first DEF CON in 1993, the event has expanded to feature speakers on a variety of topics, as well as cyber-security challenges and competitions known as hacking wargames. It has also gone international, with DEF CON CHINA 1.0, scheduled for May 31 to June 2.
A hacker convention is the perfect setting for romantic suspense that includes technology, cyber crime and “virtual’ espionage. Such events are straight out of today’s headlines. I hope readers enjoy the very real element of cyber danger in my new military romantic suspense story, coming July 25.
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