Where has the subtlety gone? Where is the creativity? Why are villains so cut-and-dry nowadays? I’m not asking for more layers than a wedding cake here, but even a one-dimensional villain could use a second side. Like the evil villain who wants world domination but loves his cat (or something)? I like that villain, because part of me thinks “Hey, I want to rule the world” or “Hey, I like cats” or both. But if a villain is simply “I’m evil because I’m crazy and like to blow sh*t up” then part of me wonders “uh, why?”. I don’t particularly care for the villain who is doing it because he has to. I want the villain who is doing it because he wants to.

There is a difference. I’ll give you three examples of villains I like and villains I don’t like.

Like

The Mayor (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 3): the Mayor is my favorite villain. He was crazy, smart, driven, ambitious, had morals (he was completely and thoroughly annoyed when people didn’t use manners) and looked at Faith as a daughter figure, even if part of him was using her to kill/distract Buffy. You knew that he was a bad guy who wanted to (*spoiler alert*) Ascend to demonhood, but he worked for over one hundred years to get to that point. In the meantime, he proved that he was more than just a jerk, when he tells the tale of his long-dead wife cursing his immortality while she withered away with age (of course, his pleasant rejoinder soon afterwards made you giggle because hell, he was insane) or his careful cultivation of the town (again, he wanted everyone there to be his food when he Ascended, but at least he was a little more polite about it that simply trying to garner some sympathy votes or something worse). He was, and forever shall be, the greatest villain Joss Whedon ever created.

Susan Shackleford (Monster Hunter International, Monster Hunter Vendetta, etc… by Larry Corriea): this may seem odd, but a master vampire (think Dracula but Southern, and not some wuss vampire like Mister Sparkly Pants) who has the brains, ambition and subtlety to accomplish her goals is someone that you want to read about and mourn the day when she finally gets staked. While she primarily wants to reunite her family, she also knows that it is not entirely possible and uses the hero of the novel, Owen Pitt, to her advantage without showing all her cards. Of course she loses (sorta), but she has everything going for her that makes a villain fun and enjoyable (as much as a villain can be enjoyable). Sure, she’s not the primary villain in any of the first three books of the series, but she’s there, and you simply  know that she is the most dangerous game around.

Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness (The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher): Mab is, to me, the best villain anyone can come up with. She is cold, heartless, remorseless, driven, smart, cunning, devious, slightly insane and one not to double-cross. It makes her interactions with Harry Dresden that much more interesting as you watch her try to collect on her debt from the young wizard (he owes her his servitude as the Winter Court’s Knight, eventually) as she both strives to force him to pay his debt as well as help him to stay alive. My issues with the most recent book in the Dresden Files series aside, Mab is simply too awesome of a villain to not mention. She has both the seduction and murderous intent to make even the most puritan of men (and women, I don’t think she discriminates) quail for and because of her. Even the hero of the series fears her intent, and constantly thinks he can outsmart her. It’s why I don’;t enjoy him as a hero, but love Mab as a villain.

Don’t Like

Loki (The Avengers): Look, I understand that a good villain needs to have goals. But when you’re simply black and white evil, you lose some of the oddness that goes into your character. Loki was insane, simple as that. But he also wanted to rule the world. But he was insane. And…. yeah, that’s it. He randomly lets people live to assist him while killing many others, exhibits a certain degree of cunning to rid The Avengers of certain elements, but goes about his final battle in a completely opposite way that was his nature. Loki, from what I remember of Norse mythology, was a cunning trickster who also happened to be the bringer of Ragnarok. He was not the brute force guy of the group (that would have been Odin and Thor), yet he constantly seems to be trying to out-brute the biggest brutes of them all in the movie. Bad form on his part, and made him a completely pathetic villain you felt sorry for (and not much more).

Glory (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 5): It seems that with Joss Whedon, it’s either a major hit or a major miss in the villain category. Glory was a goddess, pretty much a symbol for the end times that was going on in season 5. With the arrival of Dawn (Buffy’s “sister) suddenly in the story arc, Glory was there to harvest Dawn and bring about the end of the world. But Glory was crazy, too crazy for any sort of subtlety and cleverness. Instead, she relied on her craziness and her brute strength which, while interesting, made her a rather dull villain. The more I watched this villainess run around, the less I liked her and respected her. It was a dull, one-sided affair.

Darth Vader (Star Wars – Episode Three: Revenge of the Sith): Yes, he looked like a badass. He spoke as though his voice was coming from the bottom of Hell.  His breathing sent chills down your spine. And his utter lack of compassion made him more fearful. Now, I’m not talking about the original series Vader, who looked, acted, appeared and basically made the entire series enjoyable. I’m talking about the Christian Hayden whiny, pathetic, “Ooh look at me I’m an emo villain!” Vader from the last movie of the new series. He was a joke. He wanted to save Amidala, help Palpatine control the galaxy and be a Jedi still, despite that everything he did went against the very code he swore to protect and uphold. Yeah, part of that was the fault of Obi-Wan Kenobi, but Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader made every single wrong choice he could. He did not have any presence on the screen, he could not invoke any pity or sympathy for his plight(s), and nobody really gave two cents worth of a rat’s ass for his “development”. Seriously, did anybody else think “he’s alive!” when he broke free of the straps on the gurney bed? I had a complete Frankenstein moment that almost made me giggle.

So yeah, I like me a good villain, Unfortunately, they are few and far between these days.

Thought so. Yes, I was working on Wraithkin and Failsafe. I’m also working on Heroes & Rogues, which needs to be done in about two weeks. Oops.

I keep linking to both Amanda Green‘s and Sarah Hoyt‘s blogs because of their views and opinions about the Big Six publishing houses who are currently under investigation by the DOJ here in the US for price collusion (which, for those of you who don’t know, is also called “agency pricing” and a “monopoly”, which violates all sorts of laws). I agree with them (mostly), and find their stuff to be very useful, both creatively and professionally. Plus, I really am a fan of both authors. Amanda has an excellent series about shape shifters  that is very entertaining and everyone should go and give the first book a shot. Ignore the cover art.

Besides, isn’t it against the rules to judge a book by its cover?

Anyway, the reason I bring them up today is that I just replied to an article Sarah wrote about a non-fiction writer who is afraid that the Big Six publishing houses falling will end non-fiction writing. Sarah laid it out fairly well why the author is worrying about locking the corral well after the horses have escaped (my analogy… you like?) and then I proceed to, well, just about lose it — in a good way.

You see, a lot of non-fiction writers accuse fiction writers (me!) of pulling crap from air. Granted, a lot of our ideas might seem like they’re coming from thin air but the brain (so far as I know) is not a densely packaged organ filled with air (no blonde jokes people). But I know that I research like crazy (historian, remember?) for anything that might be looked at by my readers (I still get crap from my Beta readers about putting a safety on a Glock in my first draft of Corruptor, for example). I mean, I know a lot of the computer stuff in Corruptor was… off. But it had to be “off” in a reasonable way to explain technological advances in 20+ years while making it readable and understandable to the now. It needed research, and lots of it.

Now, I’ve accused fantasy authors of pulling crap out of their butts before (I still do, actually, for which I’m mildly apologetic about), but this fiction v. nonfiction thing is different. This is an entirely different argument (besides, we all know that there is no practical way for any fantasy author to make magic work other than being a “gift from the gods”… ) about how much effort and energy goes into researching. Fiction authors research just as much (if not more) than nonfiction, but we fiction writers don’t need to cite our sources. Building the Appendix is probably the actual hardest part of writing a nonfiction book because you have to remember where what is cited. We don’t have to do this, and I think it makes them jealous. In retaliation, they strike back and accuse us of being “hacks”.

Hacks get paid? I can be a hack.

I can be a well-paid hack, too.

Now back to writing my “pulled from air” crap. I got bills to pay.

Never believe what a politician says as a general principle, but especially when they are trying to win an election.
It takes a brave man to have a startling revelation, it takes a braver man to have one that may lose him an election, not gain him one.

I doubt truer words have ever been uttered.

Why didn’t the president come out last year with this proclamation? Or do it right after he was elected? Or… I don’t know, while not in an election year? I get the why he did it now, but I just wish he’d been brave enough to do this when his job wasn’t on the line.

My own stance on gay marriage has been the same for as long as I can remember: I don’t care who/what/where you get married to, just don’t try to run my life.

Sadly, neither major party understands this.

If “getting lit” means getting wasted (i.e., trashed), why do we assume that downing so much alcohol that our breath can light an open flame from thirty paces is the epitome of a good time? I mean, if I’ve drunk enough that my drunken antics go from being entertaining to the entertainment (for that inevitable face-melting flame that will invariably arrive), wouldn’t “getting lit” be the exact opposite of what I want to do for fun?

Hey, speaking of, if it’s called Final Fantasy, why are there fourteen games in the series? I always wondered…

…and now my playlist decided on Apocalyptica’s version of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters”. Yeah, even my computer is being melancholy.

Yes, ooh shiny moment. Anyhow…

I’m not sure about my summer convention schedule at the moment, mainly because I have a few deadlines looming (10! Motherfreakin’ 10!!! What the hell was I on when I agreed to all these?!?!!?) and I’m beginning to think I might be a little late on a few of them. The main ones need to be finished by June 1, but fortunately those are three short stories that I am (more or less) about finished with. The scary ones that are looking to screw up my con schedule are The Green Jewel, The Midnight Crew, Failsafe and Wraithkin (Failsafe and Wraithkin both need to be in the hands of someone other than myself by the end of summer and holy crap I am so behind). Then I really need to finish Orchimedes, start Wraithguard, convince Corruptor’s publisher to pick up Obliterator, get with one of my coauthors about our collab project (still untitled but pretty much being written as I speak), finish Of Sloth and Woe… dear God, this is getting crazy.

I need a drink just from reading all that.

On the plus side… uh, yeah. I got nothing.

Here’s a picture of my cat.

Not sure if this is my cat or if I am his human.

Though I’ll forgive Charlie Sheen for the advice. He really did have good intentions.

Writing is both a joyful escape from reality and a big, nasty chore that sometimes you really don’t want to do. It combines that wonderful, freeing “I’m a writer!” feeling with the crushing realization of “Crap, now people want more books and I’m tapped out at the moment.” Which is a good thing, people.

Really.

Well, the people wanting more books part at least. Being tapped out sucks.

I digress.

So… self-motivation is needed, but you’re all out of ideas. What do you do?

Me? I crank up the music, drink lots of soda, snort massive amounts of coke from a hooker’s ass and get to work (editor’s note: what the hell is he doing today? Coke? Hooker’s? How big was that royalty check, anyways?) on the latest project.

This was all in jest, naturally. I can’t afford a hooker.

Reblogged from Shiny Book Review:

 LAWYERS IN HELL is the first installment of the “Heroes in Hell” shared world anthology series, co-created by Janet and Chris Morris, in twenty-five years.  And as such, it’s both welcome and relevant, as there are plenty of new authors and characters who have yet to experience Hell and all its forms.

The best stories here are the “framing” stories by Chris and/or Janet Morris, which are, respectively, the introductory “Interview with the Devil” (credited to both), “Tribe of Hell” (credited to Janet) and “Erra and the Seven” (credited to Chris). 

Read more… 945 more words

I'm in this book, so the usual disclaimers about an "unbiased" opinion are in place. However, Barb pretty much nails how I felt about the book, so no harm, no foul, I believe.

Reblogged from Shiny Book Review:

Part of the fun when reading about the convention scene in fiction is finding “them” in your own memories (and, curiously enough, your own experiences) and giggling in recognition. Kate Paulk does this and more in her blood-sucking, werewolf prowling, con-going hoot of a tale, ConVent.

“Jim”, as our hero in this novel calls himself (having outgrown his original name many, many years ago) has just arrived at a science fiction/fantasy convention when he smells a familiar scent: his old “friend” Sean, who also happens to be a werewolf.

Read more… 601 more words

Just a quick mention of a book review I did this morning. Go have some fun with it (I know I did).

So… books received this week from various publishers:

• False Covenant by Ari Marmell (Pyr Books)
• Hunter and Fox by Philippa Ballantine (Pyr Books)
• Never Burn a Witch by M. R. Sellars (EMA Mysteries)

Pretty good, but we can do better. I’m trying to get other publishers to send SBR more books (since I’m getting more reviewers) but right now we’re still small. That’s cool, though, because I like reading.

I really enjoyed False Covenant (the sequel to Thief’s Covenant, which I really liked) and I have hopes for the other two. I’ll have those reviews up in a week or two (depending on how busy Keeneland is the next two weeks).

Also, welcome new followers. I don’t have a lot to share at this time, but feel free to wander around and find stuff you might like. May I recommend some of the free snippets?