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Wednesday, March 30, 2005

COUNTDOWN TO TARTAN DAY


KILT RELOADED



THE Tartan Army have been exploiting it for years, but now the sheer potency of the kilt as worn by a true Scot has been seized upon by a new breed of American romance writers - with profitable results.

Authors of novels with titles such as Master of the Highlands, Devil in a Kilt and Heaven and the Heather, have found that they can barely write the books fast enough to keep up with the demands of their smitten readers.

Romance novels are big business in the United States, with one in 50 readers getting through more than 100 of the potboilers every year.

The genre brought in $1.4 billion (£750 million) in 2003 alone.

But perhaps following on from the success of Braveheart, this year’s publishing sensation is the racy plaid-ripper, where the men are smouldering Scots, the countryside is wild and rugged and the women are all a-quiver.

Books with covers showing brooding, muscular, kilted heroes gazing out over the hills and glens are topping the best-seller lists.

The authors, some of whom can barely contain their passion for a land they see as impossibly romantic, say their books are successful because Scottish men in kilts are so breathtakingly beguiling.

Sue Ellen Welfonder, author of the bestselling Devil in a Kilt, said: "It’s the kilts. That or the men that fit in them. Scottish men are unbelievably sexy."

Devil in a Kilt tells the story of Duncan MacKenzie, an inarticulate cad who falls for Linnet MacDonnell, a feisty lass with second sight.

One passage from the book runs: "Linnet’s cheeks grew warmer ... as did the rest of her body, but she fought to ignore the disquieting sensations. She didn’t want a MacKenzie to bestir her in such a manner. Imagining how her da would laugh if he knew she harboured dreams of a man desiring her chased away the last vestiges of her troublesome thoughts."

Readers of Welfonder’s books agree that it is the Scottish men - and their "untamed" nature that make her romances unputdownable.

On an online chatroom, one, known as "Keltictemptress34", writes: "Scottish men are so passionate and uncontrollable. Just the thought of trying to tame one makes me feel weak at the knees." ‘