Dark Tour Laurie London & Erin Kellison talk Villains

Villains—Love ‘em or hate ‘em?

Hi, everyone, Laurie London here. Welcome to #DarkTour, where Erin Kellison and I are out talking about our e-novellas and giving away a lot of stuff. [Erin says, Yeah Baby!]

Today is about villains...one of my favorite characters to write. *rubs hands together gleefully*

A few months ago, I watched an interesting news story about how a reality tv show is made. The producers actually “cast” players and make sure they have a few difficult individuals because they’ll stir up the pot. Yes, they actually referred to them as villains. Reality show producers are capitalizing on what readers have known for years. Villains and antagonists drive the story. Without danger, dilemma, conflict and problems, the story is boring—we’ll put down the book or we’ll change the channel.

The Sweetblood world has some pretty nasty villains—Darkbloods who crave human blood, especially that of a sweetblood. They sell Sweet, a rare blood type that’s extremely addictive to vampires, on the black market. Embraced By Blood, coming out later this month, has two villains: a cold-blooded assassin who wears a disgusting piece of jewelry, and an unassuming killer who dresses like a soccer mom because it makes people trust her...well, that is until she goes 80’s glam at the Night of Wilding party.

In the e-novella Hidden By Blood, Former Army Ranger Finn McKentry is a sweetblood human. 

For weeks, he’s held captive in a tiny room where his blood is drawn every few days for purposes he doesn’t understand. To make matters worse, the villain isn’t even big or burly. An ex-soldier like Finn should easily be able to take him down.

With his neatly trimmed dark hair and country-club clothes, he seemed laughably out of place in this hell-hole. At no more than five-foot-seven, the guy was almost feminine in stature, with narrow shoulders and small hands. Finn could easily picture a gust of wind buffeting him on a city sidewalk. His back would be hunched against the rain; he’d have a newspaper in one hand and the collar of his GQ wool trench coat clutched tightly in the other. 

 

But as Finn had learned all too well, fancy clothes and a Fifth Avenue haircut couldn’t hide the monster underneath.

Brenna Stewart, a woman he once loved, is the only person who can save him. But she harbors secrets of her own.  To help Finn, she must confront her fears, even if it means she will lose him forever.

Oh, how I love me a good villain! Because without one, Finn and Brenna never would’ve found each other again. And speaking of villains, Erin’s wraiths still give me nightmares!

Hi everyone! Erin here. I love bad guys. They’re fun to read and even more fun to write. My Shadow world has its fair share—demons, dark fae, wraiths… and coming up in September’s Shadowman, a delicious devil in the form of girl-next-door Rose Anne Petty, not to mention a twisted take on Fate, and a gate to Hell that will rattle your brain. Yeah, I love bad guys. And as long as I’m confessing, some (most) of my heroes and heroines aren’t all good either, although they do try.

Take Eleanor Russo, for example. She’s a woman in two parts—her flesh and blood self, and her disembodied, dark shadow. Ellie is a good person, rational and moral, maybe a little shy. Her shadow is nothing like her—she acts on impulse, on the most basic, primal drives. Which means she doesn’t care about rules or privacy or even manners. She is driven by what she wants. There is no tomorrow for her, only right NOW.  If she wants sex, she’ll seduce. And if she thinks someone needs to die, she’s very capable of murder. Just try her.

The guard had said to stay in the car, so of course, Ellie’s shadow crawled right through the windshield, shifting effortlessly through the glass, then stood in front of all and sundry. She stretched, long and sexy, in the misty low-hanging fog. Her breasts lifted as her dark body arched, her rear on display. At least her legs were crossed, making a neat triangle at her pubis. 

This kind of behavior was exactly why Ellie had come. Her shadow was determined to undermine her life. Why make everything so hard? These people might be able to help them.

“Down on the ground!” the guard shouted, leveling his weapon at her shadow.

“What position?” her shadow asked.

Since Ellie and her shadow are separate, Ellie’s higher reason cannot control her other half.  Ellie is painfully aware of how unusual her situation is. What’s a girl to do when the bad guy is, well… yourself?

Dr. Cameron Kalamos, the scientist charged with helping her, is torn as well. He likes both Ellie and her shadow. Combined, they make one hell of a woman. Separate, he has a little trouble controlling his passions, too. And ultimately he has to decide what to do with them both.

To read Finn and Brenna’s story, check out Hidden By Blood here (it’ll be free for a limited time at most e-tailers):

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00513MQNK/ref=s9_simh_gw_p351_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=0733RRAG8G2P5AA8FBXD&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938811&pf_rd_i=507846

B&N

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Hidden-by-Blood/Laurie-London/e/9781459205932/?itm=3&USRI=hidden+by+blood

You can find Shadow Touch here:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Touch-ebook/dp/B004NEW59S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306214552&sr=8-1

B&N: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Shadow-Touch/Erin-Kellison/e/9781420123951/?itm=1&USRI=erin+kellison

You can follow Erin and Laurie here:

www.ErinKellison.com

www.facebook.com/ErinKellison

www.twitter.com/ekellison

www.LaurieLondonBooks.com

www.facebook.com/LaurieLondonAuthor

www.twitter.com/LaurieBLondon

One lucky commenter will receive a bunch of cool stuff: Bonded by Blood (book 1 in Laurie’s Sweetblood series), Shadow Bound (book 1 in Erin’s Shadow series) and a bonus book, First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones. We’ll also add bookmarks and romance trading cards from both series.

To be entered, tell us in the comments who your favorite fictional villain is (book/tv/movie) and why. Both of us will be popping in throughout the day. Good luck!