The Last Free Men - by Jack Everett & David Coles
We want to hear about the bad guys, bad gals and villains in your book. Even if you don't have a murderer, thief or other "bad guy" there should be some negative force.
Who causes friction in the story?
Iavolina. She is the wife of the Commandant of Fort Throp, a real fort close to Hadrian's Wall which, almost two thousand years ago separated Scotland from Britain. Iavolina is a spoiled Roman girl who, we can surmise married her ageing husband Septimus as a way to family money. Unfortunately, she had not reckoned with life on Rome's North West frontier; she took lovers and since her latest seemed too good to miss, she left the provincial little marching fort. After causing a great deal of mayhem - all of which furthered the story - she makes a totally undeserved fete.
Do you prefer bad guys or bad gals?
No preference
How do you use your bad guys?
To add conflict to the story, to add another thread, to give an alternative viewpoint.
Do you enjoy writing the bad guys or do you find it difficult?
Yes, we enjoy it.
Whether you enjoy writing them or hate writing them, we'd like to know why you feel that way?
Creating an evil character or even a merely bad individual is a challenge because the narrative still has to be enjoyable as well as gripping the reader and making her want to continue When it comes out right, the effort is really worthwhile.
Who is your favorite bad guy in any of your books? Which bad guy and which book are they in?
Our favourite bad guy is called Calupsis; he is the leader of what is left of King Arthur's Knights after chivalry has been entirely forgotten. He is pretty horrible. Calupsis appears in the young adult's fantasy novel Merlin's Kin, available as an eBook from Mobipocket.com. (A few paperbacks are still available … email us from our websites.)
Who is your favorite fictional bad guy -- that's not in your books?
Undoubtedly this is the anti-hero Cugel in Jack Vance's “Dying Earth” fantasy books: “the Eyes of the Overworld” and “Cugel's Saga”.
Is there anything else about your bad guys that we need to know? Feel free to share
As good guys are not wholly good, so bad guys are never all bad. However, it's difficult to find anything of a redeeming nature in either of our books that we mention above; both are made bad by their own self-serving nature. It's worth noting that only some of our bad guys end up with their just deserts.
Please provide your website link.
http://www.davidBColes.co.uk
http://www.JackLEverett.me.uk
What is the link to buy your book?
http://www.virtualtales.com/StoryProducts~tn~Last+Free+Men.html
Thank you for telling us about your bad guys. We love to meet the "evil ones".
