March 30, 2012

Even Villains Fall in Love: A Guest Post by Liana Brooks


What are you afraid of?
Penguin
Haven't we all heard that question before? What are you afraid of? What scares you? Fear ingrained bone deep in our culture. So much so that we've taken fear and given it an avatar in the form of the
Villain. The horrible, scary mad man (or woman) who defies all the rules of society and does the Bad Things.

I admit, I'm partial to Villains. For one thing, they tend to be smarter than the superheroes. Villains are almost all geniuses while superheroes tend to be average people who are now special because of radioactive spider bites or alien mysticism.

Villains have more in common with the average person too. They work hard, they're the underdog, they will never be special because they can't wear the nifty spandex suit and strike a pose.
Look at The Penguin in the Batman series. If he'd just been born pretty he would have been a dapper gentleman who enjoyed life and never resorted to crime to get attention. Instead he was deformed,
shunned, an abandoned... what a shame. 

My very favorite villain comes from the Batman series: Poison Ivy. 

Not only is she a redhead (as a lifelong brunette I'm slightly envious), but she's an ecologist too! She cares about the plants! Granted, she has a slightly eco-terrorist bent to her, but if you overlook that minor flaw she's really just an Earth Mamma. 
Poison Ivy
I always hoped she'd become a hero eventually, do something nice with all her brains and power, but I don't think the comic writers ever took her in that direction.
When I wrote EVEN VILLAINS FALL IN LOVE the one thing I knew was that the superheroes couldn't always be the good guys. It works in comics, but in reality everyone makes mistakes eventually. Superheroes can be overzealous. Sometimes they can be too stubborn for their own good (see Spiderman's origins if you don't believe me).
And, even villains fall in love.
So, what would happen is a super villain fell in love with a superhero? What would happen if the superheroes made a mistake? What would happen if the only person who could fix the problem was the
villain? That's where the story gets good, when you have to ask yourself: What makes a person a hero anyway?

Can a villain be a hero?

You'll just have to read and find out.




If you believe the rumors you know that Doctor Charm, the wickedly sexy super villain, retired in shame seven years ago after his last fight with the superhero Zephyr Girl. The fact that the charming Evan Smith - father of four and husband of the too-beautiful-to-be-real Tabitha - bears a resemblance to the defeated Doctor is pure coincidence. And, please, ignore the minions.

Everything is perfect in the Smith household until Tabitha announces her return to work as a superhero. Evan was hoping to keep her distracted until after he rigged the 2012 presidential election, but – genius that he is – Evan has a backup plan. In his basement lab Evan has a machine whose sole purpose is keeping Tabitha hungry for him.

But children and labs don’t mix. The machine is broken, and Tabitha storms out, claiming she no longer knows him. World domination takes a back seat to meeting his daughters’ demands to get Mommy back right now. This time his genius isn’t going to be enough – he’s going to need both his evil alter-ego and the blooming super abilities of his children to save his wife. But even his most charming self might not be enough to save their marriage.


3 comments:

  1. This sounds really amazing and like something I absolutely need to read.

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    Replies
    1. I hope you like it when you get a chance to read!

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  2. Hey Kathy! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment!

    I'm thrilled to bring your attention to this author then! It seems like a great book that I too would love to read! :)

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