Maggie James's Blog, page 21

Do You Prefer Novels With A Happy Ending?

By Maggie James
How do you define a happy ending?
'Happy Endings' by Jon Rance ''I won't read a book with an unhappy ending,' a friend once told me.

'So how do you define a happy ending?' I asked.

'Well,' she replied, 'I guess it's a broader issue than everyone living happily ever after, like in a romance novel. For me, in order to have a happy ending, good has to triumph over evil.' 

This got me thinking. Is it really necessary for every novel to serve up a morally nutritious dessert at the end of the fictional feast? Must good always emerge the victor? Real life, as we're all painfully aware, isn't like that. So why should we expect fiction to paint an unrealistic picture of the world we live in?

It doesn't always, of course. Plenty of novels don't end happily, and I'll be looking at a few examples. Let's examine first why many people - my friend is by no means in a minority - choose books with happy endings.
A place for unhappy endings
'The Fault in Our Stars' - John Green Genre is important here, of course. I'd bet that most romance readers prefer happy endings for their novels. After all, isn't that the point? Character A meets Character B, they're attracted, but obstacles abound along the path of true love. Eventually A and B conquer their issues, declare their love and live happily ever after. Death, unpleasant divorce statistics and marital disharmony would be unwelcome guests in the soft-edged and fluffy world of romantic fiction.

'I remember reading a romance book back when I was a teenager and it had the heroine dying at the end in childbirth and the hero being sad and never finding someone again. What the hell kinda ending is that!?' A comment made in response to me posing the question about happy endings in a Goodreads group. Hard not to see her point, really! In the same group, someone mentioned a romance in which the hero gets shot two chapters from the end, totally ruining the reading experience. For romance novels, a sterotypical 'happy ever after' ending is almost implicit.

Not always, of course. Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' is the obvious example of a doomed romance, but there are plenty more. Take 'The Fault in Our Stars', a novel by John Green. No happy endings here, not given the death of Augustus Waters from cancer. But then, with this novel, the reader is primed from the start to wonder whether a feel-good conclusion is in the stars. After all, the protagonists meet at a support group for cancer patients. And let's not forget many readers enjoy a good weepie. There's definitely a place for unhappy endings, even within the romance genre, provided they're done sensitively and don't come as a shock to the reader.
A world without hope, an unthinkable future
'1984' by George Orwell Let's stick with the issue of genre. If happy endings are the norm for romance novels. the opposite is often true for dystopian ones. Dystopian novels are, by their definition, about unhappiness, with the protagonist primed to fail in a world without hope. The point of such a novel is to portray a an unthinkable future, one that can serve as a warning .

In his dystopian epic 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', George Orwell allows us to glimpse the horrors of a totalitarian world. I've written in a previous blog post about how affected I was by reading the novel with the expectation that good would triumph and that Winston would eventually defeat Big Brother and the Party. I was a teenager at the time and the final chapter came as a huge shock to me, destroying my adolescent expectations for a different, less bleak, ending.

I've sometimes wondered what kind of novel it would have been had Orwell delivered the ending my teenage self expected. Personally, I found the long, boring passages about Ingsoc a chore to read. What if they had been replaced by Winston and Julia fighting the good fight and overthrowing the Party? In the hands of a master like Orwell, the reader would still have been assured of a great read. Would it have been a better novel? Impossible to say, of course.
Life isn't all roses and honey
'A Happy Ending' - Christian romance Reader requirements are important too, of course. In a world where there's hunger, poverty and cruelty, many people employ fiction as an escape mechanism. For a few short hours, they can forget the awfulness portrayed on the nightly news as they lose themselves in a happier world between the covers of a book.

Other readers may disagree. After all, real life isn't all roses and honey. Not everyone wants to read books that deliver a moral message, preferring to escape the pervading political correctness of our times with a book that doesn't attempt to sugar-coat life. Novels that reflect the myriad problems affecting our world can reach out to readers more authenically, because they enable them to identify more strongly with the plotline.

An unhappy ending also avoids clichés. We're almost conditoned to expect a neat, happy wrap-up at the conclusion of a novel, so when the author delivers something quite different, it can come as a refreshing change.
Unexpected endings can jar the reader
'Hannibal' by Thomas Harris Not always, though. Sometimes endings can jar the reader. I suspect this is often because they don't deliver what my friend requires - the triumph of good over bad. Perhaps that's why the end of Gillian Flynn's novel 'Gone Girl' (review here) has attracted so much criticism, with many readers hating it. Without wishing to give spoilers, Flynn doesn't provide a neat wrap-up in which the novel's resident psychopath meets a well-deserved comeuppance. Her finale is refreshing for that very reason, although I confess I also found it somewhat unsatisfying.

Let's look at another example. Take how Thomas Harris concludes 'Hannibal'. OK, so the final chapters of this book have been derided as being totally unrealistic - 'that would NEVER happen!' is a typical response - but like with 'Gone Girl', I suspect some of this is because the ending offends many people's sense of morality. Where is Lecter's punishment for his terrible crimes? What's more, not only does evil come out on top, the closing events portray the corruption of Clarice Starling, a former federal agent, someone supposed to defend right versus wrong. Lecter perverts whatever's decent in Clarice by leading her to share his cannibalistic depravity as well as making her his lover. End result - evil triumphs over good. Unacceptable to many people, I suspect; hence the criticism.
The fun that a good villain provides
Patricia Highsmith's Ripley novels For some readers, it's easy to set aside questions of good versus evil, of course. Many people adore a villain. There's something about the bad guys and girls of fiction that's oddly compelling. Take the popularity of Patricia Highsmith's series of Ripley novels. Tom Ripley is a psychopath who kills as and when it suits him, but he's also a charming and engaging individual. Polite, cultured, moving in a glamourous world of travel and luxury, he delights the reader with his total lack of a moral compass. When he fails to get his due desserts at the end of Highsmith's novels, we don't mind, because Ripley has entertained us so much along the way.

Perhaps that's why we also love Hannibal Lecter. He's a depraved cannibal, sure, but he's also intelligent, witty and cultured, a dichotomy that intrigues us and draws us in, as we endeavour to understand what drives such a man. We're revolted by the idea of him eating Krendler's brain, but also filled with admiration for his brilliant mind and ruthless cunning. Ah, the contradictions of human nature! Aren't they fascinating?
Do you prefer a happy ending?
Let's hear from you! What do you require in order to be satisfied with a novel's ending? If you're a romance reader, do you need A and B to live happily ever after, or are lots of tears and a death or two OK? If you're into dystopia, do you believe a happy ending runs contrary to what the genre should deliver?

Are there any novels that ended in a totally different way to what you'd expected, and if so, were you pleased or disgruntled? Do you read to escape real life, or are you somebody who prefers novels to deliver a social commentary in line with the world's issues? Leave a reply and let me know!
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Book Review: 'Bandits' by Elmore Leonard

Guest post by Michael Nutt
Following his excellent review of 'The Two Faces of January', I'm delighted to welcome back Michael Nutt as a guest blogger. Today's post will be a review by him of Elmore Leonard's 1987 novel 'Bandits'. The floor's all yours. Michael...
Snappy dialogue and interesting characters
Cover of paperback version Written during a period when Elmore Leonard was turning out some of his very best crime fiction, 'Bandits' (1987) is written with the author's customary ease and economy, full of his snappy dialogue, a cast of interesting characters, and a plot that picks up pace along the way.

The story begins with a corpse, in a place where death is everyday business. We are in a mortuary in New Orleans and two men are working on a road traffic victim. The scene is set with some rapid fire dialogue between the two men as they work on the body. Or rather while one man works on it, while the other watches evasively.

The evasive one is Jack Delaney, just turned forty, a one-time fashion model who ended up doing time in Angola penitentiary for burglary, and now working for his brother-in-law Leo Mullen who got him an early release through the rehabilitation programme by offering him a job as assistant in his funeral director's business.

It is clear from the start that Jack has not put his criminal past completely behind him. First there is the body that has appeared that day on the mortuary slab, and which Jack recognises as an acquaintance from his wild years. Then there is the revelation that he has been socialising with red-headed Helene, another character from his criminal past.
A scathing comment on US foreign policy
The leper colony at Carville Soon Jack is on his way to the leper colony in Carville in the company of a nun, Sister Lucy, only the body they are going to collect in the hearse is not a dead one. And Sister Lucy, in her Calvin Klein jeans and heels, appears very well-attired for a woman of the cloth.

This is a slow-burner by Leonard's standards and the story takes a while to ignite. The plot has a conventional, linear structure - very different to the author's usual cross-cutting chapters that leap between characters and locations before bringing all the strands together.

Written in the late 1980s, Leonard draws on the wars of Central America of the late 20th century - the conflicts in Nicaragua, Honduras - as a background to the contemporary story, introducing themes of responsibility and morality that have been lacking in Jack's life. There is more than a touch of bitterness in the way Leonard remarks on the USA's involvement in those dirty little wars in Central America. He does not spare his American readers the uncomfortable truths of US foreign policy and how it supported the most vicious and inhuman parties in those struggles. Leonard is angry, very angry, as he writes of the atrocities the US financed in Nicaragua in the name of anti-Communism.
An unlikely wild bunch
Nicaraguan contra militia The bad guys are often the most interesting characters in Leonard's crime novels and he keeps us waiting to meet the villain of this story. Bertie - Colonel Dagoberto Godoy Diaz - is an officer who served the deposed Nicaraguan dictator Somoza and he has a personal interest in the girl that Jack and Lucy have taken out of Carville. He is on their case, while visiting the States to raise funds for his army of contras still fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Lucy's father, a wealthy oil tycoon, could be just the man to help him.

It is almost a third of the way into the story before we meet Colonel Diaz and we are left in no doubt about what Jack and Lucy are up against. The Colonel has the CIA and some smooth operators working on his side and Jack is going to need help from some people from his criminal past, so he calls on a couple of bandits: ex-cop Roy Hicks, whom Jack knew in Angola, and old lag Tom Cullen, recently released from a 27 year stretch into the care of a nursing home. This unlikely wild bunch have a chance of redemption, of using their criminal skills for the force of good against evil. But with their criminal backgrounds, will they stay as the good guys or succumb to the temptation of more than two million dollars?
Take a trip in Jack's hearse
New Orleans - tourist quarter I love this novel's New Orleans setting, the familiar street names and locales. I love the anecdotes that Leonard drops in to fill out the main characters' back-stories, each one a short story in itself. I love the way that Leonard will follow a plot thread and character for a while before leaving it and moving off in an entirely different direction. I love how this leaves the story open to so many possibilities, not just with the bandits' quest to steal the Colonel's funds but also in their relationships with each other.

The story builds to its climax, with some twists and turns along the way, raising our anticipation like watching a car bomb primed to go off. It ends as it begins, with a live body being transported in a hearse. But we have come a long way in between, and so too have his characters. 'Bandits' is not up there with Leonard's best novels, but it is a thoroughly good read. Take a trip in Jack's hearse: it is a journey worth taking.
More about Elmore Leonard
Novelist Elmore Leonard Thank you, Michael, for another great book review!

A few facts about the novelist Elmore Leonard. Born in New Orleans in 1925, his family moved to Detroit in 1934, where he spent much of his life. His earliest novels, published in the 1950s, were Westerns. He went on to pen several crime and thriller novels, the best known of which include 'Get Shorty' and 'Rum Punch'. Many of these, including 'Bandits', have been made into films and adapted for television.

During his lifetime, Leonard was awarded various prestigious literary prizes, including the Grand Master Edgar Award in 1992 from the Mystery Writers of America, and the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Award for outstanding achievement in American literature in 2008.

Elmore Leonard died in 2013, aged 87. His official website can be found at www.elmoreleonard.com.
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A Day in the Life of a Novelist

By Maggie James
Keeping my creative juices flowing...
Where it all happens - my office 'I'd love to write a novel,' many people have told me. 'How exactly do you go about it, though?' Good question! Through this blog, I'll attempt to provide an answer. I'll be covering in later posts the details of how I plot, write, edit and publish my books, but today I'll concentrate on how a typical day shapes up for me.

Despite the fact I'm a night owl, I write better in the mornings. I don't pretend to understand why, given that I'm far more energetic in the evenings, but hey ho! That's the way it is for me, and I've learned to adapt, forcing myself out of bed at what seems to me an unnaturally early hour. During the summer months, I'm up at six a.m., so I can be at my desk by 7.30 a.m., showered, dressed and ready for work, the same as if I were back in my former employment. Actually, that's an hour earlier than my old start time. The work is a lot more fun, too!

So how do I structure my time? Well, I split my day into two parts. I work until I'm ready for lunch, and then from three until five or six p.m. As I'm more creative in the mornings, that's when I focus on my writing. If I'm crafting a novel, I aim to do at least 2,000 words per session. Plotting stage? Then I'll I draft a pre-set number of scenes or a whole chapter. If I'm revising, I usually edit a chapter a day. I set targets and dates for almost all areas of my writing. I find this motivates me as well as keeping me accountable and on track. My targets and deadlines are never too rigid, though - I'd hate to shackle myself to a tightly defined schedule. Staying flexible is good and allows the creative juices to flow! Tweet and pin, rinse and repeat...
Social media - important for marketing So once I've had lunch, what then? Well, in the afternoons, I work on my marketing, as well as any sundry tasks I need to do. I'm active on social media such as Twitter and Google+, and to a smaller extent Facebook and Pinterest. I'm using Facebook less these days; in common with many people, I'm finding its algorithms increasingly user-unfriendly. Pinterest is fun, and I'll make greater use of it to showcase my novels' locations once I expand them outside Bristol. Number five will be set wholly or partly in Cambodia, so I'll be pinning lots of photos of that beautiful country in the future. It's somewhere I've already been, and the travelholic in me plans to return!

Marketing isn't restricted to using social media, of course. For example, if I'm planning a Kindle promotion for any of my novels, I need to spend time contacting the major free and discounted book websites and newsletters. And there are always things I need to do besides marketing, such as maintaining this blog. I aim to update it regularly, so I use my afternoon time to prepare my posts, as well as ensuring my website content is up to date.
How a glass of Merlot keeps me on track...
Writing is also a business I'm very aware that, although writing novels is great fun,  I'm also running a business.  That's why I spend almost as much time marketing my books as I do writing them. I keep on track with what needs doing and when by using task management software (yes, I can be geeky, I admit it!). I also have bi-weekly review sessions, in which I check how my writing career is going. I'll look at my sales figures, blog statistics, my to-do list - anything that needs my attention.

Curiously enough, these sessions often take place in local cafes and bars on a Friday afternoon over a glass or two of red wine. Not a bad way to wind down the working week! Unless I'm participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month - a mad but fun competition in which entrants aim to write a 50,000 word novel during November), I usually give myself the weekend off.
Future blog posts about the writing process
More to come about the writing process! Well, that's a typical writing day for me! As I mentioned, I'll post more about the writing process in the future, starting with how I plot a novel. I'm always being asked where I get my inspiration from! Subsequent posts will also examine the writing process itself, and how I go from zero to a hundred-thousand-plus word novel in about three months. In addition, I'll talk about what follows the first draft - the revision and editing process. I'm atypical amongst writers in enjoying that part! I love polishing my rough first draft, tweaking it until I'm satisfied it's as good as I can get it. I'll blog more in the future about how I do this, along with what's involved in publishing a novel in both Kindle and paperback formats.
There's no right or wrong way of working
Every novelist treats the process differently, of course, and the above is simply what works for me at present. There are many writers who are happy with Word or who write their novels longhand. Furthermore, not everyone likes to organise themselves to the extent I do; many people prefer a more relaxed approach. We novelists call it being a 'pantser' (someone who writes by the seat of their pants!) whereas I'm definitely a planner. Horses for courses, as they say. Either way, we achieve the same result - the delight of writing a novel!

I hope that this blog post has given you an insight into the daily life of a writer. If you're a novelist yourself, leave me a comment about how you do things. I'm always open to learning new tricks!
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Author Interview - Michael Smart

By Maggie James
Novels set in a tropical Caribbean paradise
Novelist Michael Smart In today's post, I'm delighted to welcome to my blog novelist Michael Smart, author of the 'Bequia Mysteries' series of novels. Michael is a native New Yorker and an experienced blue water sailor and airplane pilot, two passions shared by the protagonists in his novels.

The Bequia Mysteries are set in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a tropical archipelago in the eastern Caribbean where Michael lived and sailed for many years. He draws on these experiences to create intimate and lively portraits of the islands and people in these compelling stories of mystery, adventure and romance.

Find out more about Michael and his books at www.bequiamysteries.com. He's also on Google+, Pinterest and Goodreads.

OK, let's get going with the interview! I hope you enjoy it.
The Bequia series of mysteries
The intriguing cover of Dead Reckoning Tell us about the Bequia mysteries. When will Deadeye and Deadlight be published?

The stories are about mystery and danger spiced with a bit of romance set in the exotic islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, involving three central protagonists who share my passion for ocean  sailing and flying, and who navigate complex relationships while attempting to solve the central dilemma and of course, stay alive. The stories involve themes of redemption, life changing choices and love.

Deadeye is available now for preorder at Smashwords, Apple Ibooks, Barnes and Noble and Kobo, and I’m offering a free copy of Dead Reckoning with every Deadeye preorder. Deadeye  will be released for sale on August 5th at most ebook retailers including Amazon. Deadlight will be rolled out in a similar manner toward the end of the year, probably for Christmas, available for preorder probably by early November.  

Location, location, location...
Marigot Bay, St Lucia Will you set future Bequia novels in different islands in the archipelago, or will you stick with the more well known ones?

The action in the novels takes place on many different Grenadine islands. For example, we get to see much more of Union Island and Petit St. Vincent in Deadeye, and much more of St. Vincent in Deadlight. In Dead Reckoning some of the action takes place on St. Lucia and Antigua, and in both Dead Reckoning and Deadeye the action moves for a short time to the U.S.  Other locales including Europe, Africa and Asia will pop up later in the series.

The culinary delights of the Caribbean
Red snapper fish Will readers of the Bequia mysteries get a taste of the Caribbean by reading them? Do they feature the rich culinary delights of the region, such as coconuts, mangoes, plaintains, dumplings?

Most definitely.  Eating is a normal activity in the daily lives of my characters, and the Caribbean’s fabulous cuisine is a feature of that. Yes, my readers will encounter coconuts, mangoes, plantains, dumplings and much more.

In fact, I provide pictures of all the foods mentioned in the novels on the Bequia Mysteries website and on my Pinterest site, including links to recipes. So these are two great sites for my readers to visit to see the food,  and maybe even try their hand at cooking them. Bon appétit.

New York, New York...
Another intriguing cover! Deadeye In your novel ‘Deadeye’, Jolene’s chase ends in New York City. As a native New Yorker, will you feature your home city in any future novels, whether it’s the Bequia series or something different?

Certainly. New York is a fantastic city to set stories in. And as a native New Yorker I can use neighbourhoods, boroughs and suburbs you don’t normally see in films and TV shows set in New York that readers may be less familiar with.  I’m excited by that notion. 

You’re also a science fiction writer. Will we see any novels from you in that genre in the near future, or are you concentrating on the Bequia series for now?

I actually have a science fiction title close to being published, and I'm making notes on a second. And I’m halfway through a fourth title in the Bequia Mysteries. Of course the release is going to require a shift in marketing and promotion geared to a different audience, and I haven’t begun focussing on that yet. 
Boats, trains and planes, minus the trains
Staysail schooner Your website highlights the boats and planes featured in the Bequia mysteries. How many of these have you sailed/piloted yourself? Which boats/planes would you love to take for a sail/flight in the Caribbean?

I’ve flown all the aircraft featured in Dead Reckoning and Deadeye except the Hercules C130 and the Gulfstream jet. I don’t hold a type rating for either of those aircraft.  As a charter and delivery captain, and a yacht broker, I’ve sailed almost every type of sailing vessel; sloops, ketches, yawls, schooners, from 8 meters to 30 meters. My favourite of course is a Herreshoff  designed staysail schooner, which is what Wherever is. Similarly with the weapons featured in the novels  I do not have my characters use a weapon I haven’t fired myself to familiarize myself with its weight, its feel, its mechanisms and other characteristics. Exceptions include the Heckler and Koch MP5 and M25 rifle in Dead Reckoning. But my son-in-law is a Captain in the U. S. Marine Corps and I’ve interviewed soldiers possessing knowledge of both weapons.
The inspiration behind it all
Cover of Deadlight - I love it! What got you into writing novels? Have you always written fiction, or is it a more recent venture for you?

I started writing fiction at age thirteen.  What got me started was reading. Even at that age I was an avid reader, and I was fascinated by the power of human imagination and the ability to tell a story. In fact the science fiction novel is from a story I began writing in my teens. About a year ago I pulled it out of an old file I’ve kept of my early writing and I laugh at how amateurish and unsophisticated the writing was, but the story and characters and themes were all there. It just needed to be rewritten.

Who and what inspires you? Who are your favourite authors?

I draw inspiration from everyday things, people watching, a news story, particularly Caribbean news which I follow, films and television shows, novels, and of course my own experiences. My writing style and influences are drawn from the hard-boiled pioneers I cut my teeth on reading. Authors like Raymond Chandler, Dashiel Hammett, John D. MacDonald, Leslie Charteris with the great Simon Templar Saint series,  John Creasey’s The Toff, and Dick Francis among many others. And of course the scifi greats like Clarke, Wells, Bradbury, Heinlein, Asimov to name just a few.  Contemporary favourites, though sadly some are no longer with us, include Robert B. Parker, Clive Cussler, and the great Patrick O’Brian.
If the juices are flowing, I keep going
Wallilabou Falls, St Vincent Talk us through a typical writing day. How long does one of your novels take to come to fruition?

A typical writing day for me begins around one or two in the afternoon, depending on when I awake and get out of bed. I’m usually writing until three or four in the morning. Many times I pull all-nighters. If the juices are flowing and my eyelids aren’t  drooping I’ll just keep going. If I get into bed with too many scenes,  action, dialogue, or story notes running around my brain I can’t sleep anyway. Rather than toss and turn I simply get up and continue writing. Usually the first thing I do is go through my email, check my social sites, browse any blogs which were shared and the ones I follow, make comments and respond to emails, check the day’s headlines, make notes on what I need to follow up on, including any marketing I need to do for that day, all over a cup or two of coffee. That usually takes about two hours. Then I shower and dress and get ready as though I’m going to the office, which I am.  I settle into a favourite nook, reopen my laptop and I’m there for the next ten to twelve hours with breaks for food or drink or to stretch my legs. 

The Bequia Mysteries are easier and quicker to come to fruition once I understand the plot because I’m now familiar with the characters and the locale. Although every once in a while one of them will throw me a surprise just to keep me on my toes. The science fiction novel  as I mentioned just required rewriting. The second science fiction novel I’m constructing now won’t be as quick, I think. And the non-Bequia Mysteries I’m constructing will be long labours of love, since they’ll involve all new characters and settings. 
Right on target...
English Harbour, Antigua Given the benefit of hindsight, is there anything you’d do differently concerning your writing journey?

No. Everything happened in the manner and time it was supposed to for me to get here. I could’ve decided to pursue serious writing and publishing earlier. But I wouldn’t have possessed the level of craft I do now, or had the life experiences that shape my writing. Changes in the publishing industry and the opportunity to publish outside the traditional route would not have existed. I believe my perspective and my writing is right on target now.

Thank you, Michael, for a great interview! It's been a pleasure.

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Book Review - 'Bad Deeds' by Robert Bidinotto

By Maggie James
Cover of Kindle edition Readers of my blog will remember that I interviewed bestselling novelist Robert Bidinotto a while ago. (Click here to read the interview). At the time, Robert's second novel in the Dylan Hunter thriller series was not far off publication. I'm delighted to say 'Bad Deeds' has now been published in both Kindle and paperback formats. I bought a copy, and enjoyed it so much I decided to post a review for this blog.

First, a synopsis of the plot. Read how Robert describes it on his website:

At his cabin in the Allegheny National Forest, Dylan Hunter and Annie Woods have taken a month off to heal the wounds—physical and emotional—from their ordeal at the hands of twisted psychopath Adrian Wulfe.

Annie, in particular, has been struggling with the aftershocks of witnessing the man she loves nearly die at her feet. She is frightened by the prospect that Dylan seems to seek or attract violent confrontations wherever he goes. She can’t accept the prospect of such a life with him. 

So, to build a future together, Dylan promises Annie that he’ll abandon his violent ways.

But ideological zealots and Washington’s political elites have conspired to terrorize and plunder the hard-working locals. These victims have no protector against the bad deeds of the powerful and privileged.

Except for one man. A man as ruthless and violent as they. A man committed to absolute justice.

Because Dylan Hunter cannot walk away—not even if it costs him the woman he loves . . .
A well-structured plot that avoids clichés
Novelist Robert Bidinotto Powerful stuff! 'Bad Deeds' is a fast-paced action thriller, packed with more twists than a pretzel, and far juicier. It's a Formula One race to the end, with a break in the middle to deliver some back story about Dylan's father; this slows the pace down nicely, allowing the reader to draw breath.

The book is well-structured, with the prologue and epilogue seamlessly balancing and complementing each other. The latter, as is to be expected, teases the reader with a hint of the next book in the Dylan Hunter vigilante justice series. Throughout the action, Robert Bidinotto takes care to develop his characters further, via Dylan's efforts to incorporate the woman he loves into his life and Annie's struggles to deal with the psychological scars inflicted on her in 'Hunter'.

On now to the themes of the novel. I found the portrayal of the environmental extremists refreshing in that they weren't depicted as the good guys. It would have been so easy (and clichéd) to have written the environmentalists as saintly champions of America's green spaces and the fracking companies as ruthless pillagers of Mother Earth, but the author doesn't go down that route. Quite the opposite, in fact.  I'm reluctant to say too much, as I don't want to give plot spoilers, but the book is an interesting read for its perspective on green issues, although there's so much more to the plot than that. Robert Bidinotto has conducted extensive research into this area, which is of keen interest to him; 'Bad Deeds' examines some of the complex ethical questions involved. The results may surprise you.

What about the romantic elements? Robert ensures they don't intrude on the action, but act instead as a counterpart to the fast pace of the rest of the book. I'm not a fan of romantic fiction, but Dylan and Annie's relationship is portrayed sensitively, without losing sight of the fact the novel is, first and foremost, an action thriller.
The bar has been raised to a great height
As a cat lover, I was delighted that Robert delivered on his promise to me when I interviewed him! His gorgeous black and white puss, Luna, does indeed play a pivotal role in the plot - without her, events would have transpired very differently! I hope we'll read more about Dylan's feline sidekick in future Hunter novels...

Robert Bidinotto says on his blog how concerned he was to produce a sequel to 'Hunter' that would live up to his fans' expectations. I'd say he has more than delivered the goods; the number of 5-star reviews the novel is racking up on Amazon.com indicates other readers agree with me. With 'Bad Deeds', Robert Bidinotto has raised the bar even higher for himself and I don't doubt he'll rise to the challenge with the third Dylan Hunter novel. Not much pressure, hey, Robert?!

I hope you have enjoyed this blog post! UK readers, click on the link to the left to purchase 'Bad Deeds' from Amazon. To find out more about Robert and his novels, go to www.bidinotto.com. He's an interesting guy!
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Creating A Fictional Serial Killer

Guest post by Tommy Lavalle
Welcome to author Tommy Lavalle!
Today I'd like to welcome author Tommy Lavalle to my blog as a guest poster. Many crime and other types of thrillers harbour a serial killer; for the reader, they make compelling characters. We're drawn in by their gruesome modus operandi as well as their warped way of viewing the world. But how do novelists write such absorbing characters? In this blog post, author Tommy Lavalle is going to share with us his process for creating an awesome fictional serial killer. Over to you, Tommy!
What's the attraction of serial killers?
Author Tommy Lavalle What is it about serial killers?  Arguably, it’s the sickest type of villain across all genres.  The madness, the rituals, how personal each kill is ... it is seriously screwed up!  Yet, put out a great book, TV show, or movie featuring a compelling serial killer; I (as many of you are) am hooked.

So getting past the morbid curiosity we, as fans, have for serial killers ... creating one is a challenge for writers.  So how do I and other writers create their own serial killer?  Well, I don’t have a good answer – but I thought I would share the process I am currently working through in creating one of my own.  For the next installment of my book series, I will be introducing a serial killer that has a history with one of my main two protagonists.  This is the first time I have attempted to write a character like this – I hope fiction readers will find it helpful to see how I am approaching this challenge. Maybe some experienced writers could share their advice in the comments section below!
The myth and the introduction
Buffalo Bill - The Silence of the Lambs Let’s start with the myth. I want the myth of the serial killer to be as intimidating as the character himself.  I want my readers and characters to know there is a shark in the water. I like to see the fear and paranoia spread before the serial killer actually does anything ... maybe even before he says his first word. So my first step in building my serial killer character is to plant the seeds of his legend by making innuendos and telling “camp fire” stories. This will unsettle my other characters and hopefully make the reader excited and a little uncomfortable with what might come.

Now the introduction. Just like any other situation in life – first impressions last. If I have done a good job of building up the myth, I sure don’t want his first appearance to disappoint. I outline and story map before I write. I am one of those writers that needs to know where I am going before I write myself into a corner and am trapped with no place to go but the delete button. During my story mapping, I can see I have several ways to write my serial killer’s first appearance. So I play with all those options.  I will write a couple of pages to see which I find most effective – which option really gives the right impact at that moment in the story. Having a few different options, I’ll have both my illustrator and editor read those pages and help sort out in which direction is the best to go. The collaboration in developing these key story/character moments is essential in my creative process in developing my ideas.
The motivation and the ritual
Anton Chigurh - No Country For Old Men The killer’s motivation  is important to me as a writer because, as a fan of these types of characters, l want to know why the guy is doing this – and I feel totally ripped-off  when  the answer is “just because” (oh man, do I hate that!)  The motivation is the best part – it’s where I can really get into the misguided complexity around my killer. My way of getting the reader inside the killer’s mind is through the protagonist. I create a personal relationship between the protagonist and the killer so a deeper connection between them can be formed. This connection is something, I as a writer, can really dig deep into and makes their adversarial relationship even more thrilling.  

If the motivation is the heart of the character, then the ritual is an exploration of the mind. To see a serial killer go to such lengths to create a setting and have specific kill methods really dives into the psychosis, the addiction, and the compulsion. I want to see the ritual fully executed. I want to see the moment of gratification followed by the self-loathing and urge to do it again.  I want to see what happens when everything is not perfect, and the killer is forced to adapt and change. I want to see the anger when the entire ritual is disrupted and the despair from not getting satiated.  Everything he does is to get to that sick and twisted moment, and it’s our job as writers to bring everyone along for that demented mental journey.  As of today I haven’t written my first kill scene - I have been brainstorming with my illustrator on what the scene will look like, what the method of the kill will be, and why this character needs to kill this way. I can honestly say, I am looking forward to a quiet night, when I have a few uninterrupted hours to dive deep into my killer’s mind and write that scene!
Win a copy of Thomas Lavalle's book!
Cover of Kindle edition Thanks for reading, and thanks to Maggie for having me as guest on her blog!   As a thank you to Maggie and all of you that have read my guest blog and  are interested in reading my book, I am offering 10 free copies to everyone visiting the blog! Just email me at therewillbeblood2013@gmail.com and I will send you a free ebook!

About Thomas Lavalle:

Thomas Lavalle is the writer of the paranormal suspense thriller “The Spirit and the Shadow”.

“I have been advised against announcing that I am a first-time author - that it is basically asking a reader to take a chance on my book even though I have no track record. I have no history in fiction writing, never won any awards, and never took a literature or writing class (outside of basic 101 level college courses). While not advised, it is the truth, and as honest as this bio is, so is my writing. My name is Thomas Lavalle. I am a first time writer. I also surf, read comics, and I'm a dedicated father and husband. If you're interested in paranormal suspense - take a chance and check out my book!”

About The Spirit and the Shadow:

In a world where vampires and humans coexist, Detectives Aiden Lawson and Robert Garrison are after a vampire wanted for murder. This accused vampire is also hunted by the murder victim's brother, an assassin gone rogue from his clandestine agency. What these men will learn is that this vampire has a secret - a secret that very powerful men and vampire alike will go to great lengths to acquire. The story follows the paths of these individuals as they uncover the truth. THE SPIRIT AND THE SHADOW is a mash-up of conspiracy and paranormal genres with suspense, vengeance, and BLOOD!

www.thespiritandtheshadow.com
http://www.facebook.com/thespiritandtheshadow
Subscribe to my newsletter and blog!
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Stockholm Syndrome in Fiction: An Examination of 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'

By Maggie James
Warning! Contains spoilers regarding the plot of 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'.
Cover of UK edition As I write this blog post, I've almost finished penning my fourth novel, which deals with the fascinating psychological phenomenon known as Stockholm syndrome. (More about what Stockholm syndrome entails later on). Originally, I decided to blog about this as part of my 'Five' series, in which I examine five examples of anything fictional. No problem, I thought; I'll find the requisite number of novels about Stockholm syndrome and blog about them, and how they resemble or contrast with my own novel.

Except it wasn't that easy. Mainstream fiction about Stockholm syndrome seems thin on the ground. Oh, I came up with lots of books professing to examine Stockholm syndrome. On closer examination, though, they all centred on BDSM themes, leaning towards the 'Fifty Shades of Gray' type of fiction. That's definitely NOT what my latest novel is about.

So much for my original idea! Then I remembered one of my favourite novels, a book that made a huge impact on me when I first read it. A novel of such stature that I don't need four others for this blog post. One with a strong theme of Stockholm syndrome. That novel is 'Nineteen Eighty-Four,' by George Orwell.
What is Stockholm syndrome?
The hostages with one of their captors Before we examine 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' in more detail, let me explain what Stockholm syndrome is. For most of us, the concept is a weird one. How can someone profess to love the person who has captured them, held them against their will, even threatened them with death?

The term originated after a bank robbery in Sweden in 1973, during which two robbers entered the Kreditbanken bank in Stockholm. A hostage situation ensued. For six days, the robbers held four people at gunpoint, locked in a bank vault, explosives strapped to their bodies, nooses around their necks. Bizarrely, upon their release, the hostages defended their captors; one set up a fund to cover their legal fees. Two of the women even became engaged to them. Thus the term "Stockholm syndrome" was coined.

Other notable victims of Stockholm syndrome include Patty Hearst, who was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army but ended up joining their cause, and Natascha Kampusch, who wept when her abductor, Wolfgang Priklopil, committed suicide.

So how does this strange psychological condition arise? Experts say at least three traits must be present:

1. A severely skewed power relationship between the individuals concerned. The captor decides what the hostage/prisoner can and cannot do.

2. The captor threatens the hostage/prisoner with physical harm or even death.

3. The hostage/prisoner holds a strong instinct for self-preservation. However, he believes he cannot escape and that survival is dependent upon the captor. Isolation from external points of contact enhances this viewpoint.

Most of us have never been in such a desperate situation as the Kreditbanken hostages. If we endeavour to imagine what they endured, Stockholm syndrome seems less weird. If the only way to survive is to ally oneself with one's captor, is it not understandable that such feelings might deepen into something akin to love?
Losing my fictional innocence...
George Orwell, courtesy of Wikipedia Let's turn now to 'Nineteen Eighty-Four.' I first read George Orwell's chilling novel in my teens, and since then I have been drawn back repeatedly to the book chosen by Time magazine as one of the best English-language novels published between 1923 and 2005. Orwell's story of life under a harsh totalitarian regime made a huge impression on me, partly because personal freedom is something I value greatly, but also because the novel's ending stripped away my fictional innocence. I remember approaching the second half wondering how Orwell was going to arrange the happy finale I was certain was coming. The one in which the Party is overthrown, democracy is restored, and Winston and Julia are free to carry on their relationship. As the number of words left for me to read grew ever fewer, I became increasingly perplexed. How, I asked myself, can all this be resolved when the book is running out of pages? Then I read the last chapter, a stunning conclusion to an outstanding novel, one which shattered every one of my naïve notions.
A chilling dystopian nightmare of a world
A life of constant surveillance 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' is a perfect example of a dystopian novel. Set in a world where individualism is persecuted and labelled as 'thoughtcrime', it paints a bleak portrait of life under a harsh political system known as Ingsoc. The novel is based in the United Kingdom, now renamed 'Airstrip One', part of the superstate Oceania. Orwell describes a world of perpetual war, with Oceania always fighting one of the other two superstates, called Eurasia and Eastasia.

Life is tough for the inhabitants of Airstrip One. The news is manipulated, citizens exist under constant surveillance, living conditions are squalid and there are shortages of basic necessities. Unless you're a member of the Inner Party, that is, the top 2% of the population who make up the ruling elite. For them, life is comfortable, prosperous, privileged. The rest of the country is split between the middle-class Outer Party members and the working-class 'proles', whom the Party largely ignores. At the very top of the system is Big Brother, around whom an immense personality cult has sprung up, even though it's unclear as to whether he actually exists.
No happy ending for this novel...
John Hurt as Winston Smith In this dystopian nightmare lives Winston Smith, an ageing Outer Party member, who works at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting recent history to reflect the current Party stance. Outwardly, Winston toes the Party line, but inwardly he hates the system and Big Brother, striving to make contact with The Brotherhood, a shadowy organisation dedicated to overthrowing the Party.

Along the way he embarks on a passionate affair with a woman called Julia. They meet clandestinely in a squalid rented room, before being discovered and arrested. Winston undergoes a brutal ordeal of torture and interrogation, during which he encounters the chilling O'Brien, a member of the Inner Party and an interrogator at the Ministry of Love. O'Brien leads Winston's mind through the three stages of rehabilitation necessary for a good Party member: learning, understanding and acceptance. Then Winston is released, a free man. He slides into alcoholism, but also displays the symptoms of Stockholm syndrome. Alone, downing gin at the Chestnut Tree Cafe, he's pleased he's achieved a victory over himself, ending his previous "stubborn, self-willed exile" from the love of Big Brother, a love he now returns.
An unequal balance of power
Winston Smith and O'Brien Let's look at how the relationship between Winston and O'Brien evinces the three key components of Stockholm syndrome. Firstly, the presence of a severely skewed power relationship. Tick number one. Winston Smith is a prisoner in the Ministry of Love, completely at O'Brien's mercy. Secondly, the threat of physical harm or death. O'Brien tortures Winston, including exposing him to his deepest, darkest fear - rats - in the dreaded Room 101. As for death, Winston's work at the Ministry of Truth has made him aware that Party opponents are routinely killed and written out of existence. Another tick here, then. Thirdly, Winston holds a strong instinct for self-preservation, evident in his love for Julia and his desire for a fairer world. Final tick.

Despite the fact he's his torturer, O'Brien positions himself as both a father figure and a friend to Winston. Even in the interrogation scenes, an intimacy flourishes between the two men, with O'Brien showing an uncanny ability to know what Winston is thinking. Even as he inflicts pain on his victim, he professes to be doing it for Winston's own good, to save and purify him.

The ground has been prepared, therefore, ready for the seeds of Stockholm syndrome to germinate. And that's exactly what happens. By the end of the novel, Winston's capitulation is complete. Evidenced by the incredible closing paragraph, as Winston stares at a poster of Big Brother:

"He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother."

Powerful stuff!
Stockholm syndrome and my fourth novel
Screenshot of my novel's planning section So how do I demonstrate Stockholm syndrome in the novel I'm currently writing? Again, let's look at the three key components (without giving plot spoilers!).

1. There exists an unequal power relationship between my protagonist, the emotionally immature Beth Sutton, and Dominic Perdue, the man who abducts her and holds her captive by locking her in the basement of his house.

2. He mistreats her, demanding absolute compliance with his wishes. Whilst he's not a torturer like O'Brien, he does lead Beth to believe he's a killer. She fears her life may be in danger if she doesn't fall in with his wishes.

3. Beth is young, with a strong sense of self-preservation, demonstrated by her desperation to be reunited with her mother. Isolated as she is, though, the effects of Stockholm syndrome gradually creep up on her...

I anticipate 'Training Room', as I've provisionally called my fourth novel, will be published in August or September this year. Sign up for my newsletter (see below) if you'd like me to tell you when it's available. It will be published in both ebook and paperback formats.
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Author Interview - K M Weiland

By Maggie James
Author K. M. Weiland I'm delighted to welcome author K.M. Weiland to my blog today! K.M. Weiland lives in make-believe worlds, talks to imaginary friends, and survives primarily on chocolate truffles and espresso. She is the IPPY Award-winning and internationally published author of the Amazon bestsellers Outlining Your Novel and Structuring Your Novel. She writes historical and speculative fiction from her home in western Nebraska and mentors authors on her award-winning website Helping Writers Become Authors.
Let's get going with the questions!
Chilling out So far, your books have covered a diverse range – medieval epic, epic fantasy, Western, with a future excursion into diesel punk. Is this a trend that’s set to continue, and if so, in what genres would you consider writing? Are there any you wouldn’t consider?

Oh, yes. I’m a Mexican jumping bean when it comes to genre—although all my stories seem to end up under the historical and speculative umbrellas. I have plans for a historical superhero story and lots more epic fantasy. I don’t see myself ever exploring straight-up mysteries or romance, but you never know!

From your website, I see that your future books are set for publication in 2018. Does your work typically take years to come to fruition? What’s the longest you’ve ever taken to produce a book, from first idea to publication? And the shortest?

I like to plan three years between novels, since this gives me time to let a story “rest” for a while, so I can come back to edit it with fresh eyes. It also allows me to provide beta readers, critique partners, and editors enough time to read at their leisure and get their thoughts back to me. To date, that schedule has held true for all of my books.
A bright future ahead
One of K M Weiland's helpful writing guides Many authors are deeply indebted to you for the help you give in your excellent blog ‘Helping Writers Become Authors’.  How do you split your time between writing and mentoring your fellow authors? Is there ever a conflict?

My non-fiction writing how-to does like to try to take over my fiction. But I’m firm about making sure the fiction is given its two hours every day. My fiction is why I do what I do, so I always try to keep that in mind. In general, I use mornings for social media, then divide my afternoons between my non-fiction and my fiction.

How do you see the future for self-publishing? Have you ever been tempted to seek a traditional publishing contract?

As a matter of fact, I have my first traditionally published (if you don’t count the Japanese and Korean versions of Outlining Your Novel and Structuring Your Novel) coming out later this summer: Jane Eyre: The Writer’s Digest Annotated Classic. But I’m actually very happy staying in self-publishing. It's been good to me, and I see nothing but a bright future for it. Another world we live in while we sleep
The stunning cover of 'Dreamlander' What was your inspiration for your epic fantasy ‘Dreamlander’? Do the sources for your ideas vary, or are there certain things that always produce ideas for your work?

The premise for Dreamlander was actually my brother’s idea. He came up with the concept of another world we live in while we sleep. Most of my ideas are born out of intense emotional experiences with other people’s art (books, movies, music), which are then juxtaposed with several other such experiences or ideas until they become full-fledged stories in their own right.

Which book, either fiction or non-fiction, has been the most challenging for you to write, and why?

Probably Dreamlander. All stories are challenging in their own way. But Dreamlander was not only my first foray into epic fantasy, it was also the first (and last) book I tried to write without an outline. I learned so much in writing it.

Leading on from that, which has been the most difficult character to write, and why?

Hmm, I’m going to with John Quinn, a character from a currently unpublished manuscript. He was always a bit of a cipher to me, and I had a hard time figuring him out until I started digging into his backstory and figuring out his motivations.
An unusual and intriguing idea for a series
Another great cover Is there anything in your writing journey so far you wish you’d done differently?

I wish I hadn’t bought an entire print run of my first book A Man Called Outlaw. I still have boxes sitting in my barn. POD is so much easier (and cheaper). But, really, I love my mistakes. I’ve learned from all of them.

So far, your books have mixed historical topics with fantasy themes. Do you ever see yourself journeying into the future instead of the past, to blend fantasy and science fiction and give it your own unique twist?

Not science fiction per se—not in the sense that it takes place in our universe—but I do have an idea for a mechanized fantasy series based heavily on World War II.

You recently produced an annotated guide to the classic novel ‘Jane Eyre’. Is this a one-off or would you like to do more annotated guides to other classics? Is so, which one in particular, and why?

It’s a one-off for me. But Writer’s Digest Books will be publishing an entire series of annotated classics, written by various other authors. Dracula, annotated by Mort Castle, will follow Jane Eyre.

Thank you, K M Weiland, for letting me interview you for my blog!

If you'd like to know more, click on the link to Ms Weiland's website in the first paragraph.
Subscribe to my blog and newsletter!
If you've enjoyed this blog post, why not subscribe via RSS feed, email or Networked Blogs? Simply click the links in my blog sidebar.

Also, why not sign up for my newsletter? It's an occasional communication to keep you informed about new novel releases. I respect your privacy and will never sell your details to any third parties. If you sign up for the newsletter before 30 June 2014, you also get the chance to win being a character in my fifth novel! Details here.

Five Famous Fictional Psychopaths

By Maggie James
Exploring the shadows of the mind...
Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates My readers already know I like to throw a psychopath or two into the mix when I write my novels. It's interesting that most of the respondents to my character competition have said that, if chosen, they want to be cast as one of the bad guys!

I think this taps into 'the shadows of the mind' theme of my own books, the dark side of our nature that many people harbour yet keep firmly in check. Normally decent, law-abiding citizens, we love to read about psychopaths, those dark, twisted individuals who transcend all boundaries to live life on their terms. Why else would crime, horror and thriller fiction be so popular? In this post, I've taken five of the most famous fictional psychopaths, and examined what makes them so memorable. 1 -Patrick Bateman - 'American Psycho'
Cover of UK edition ‘American Psycho’ is a novel by Bret Easton Ellis, telling the story of Patrick Bateman, wealthy Manhattan businessman and serial killer. The novel is narrated in the first person by Bateman, who charts his life for us, murders included. He frequents nightclubs with his colleagues, snorting cocaine and swapping fashion advice, whilst all the time engaged to marry socialite Evelyn Richards and dealing with his fractured family relationships.

After killing Paul Owen, one of his colleagues, Bateman takes over his victim's apartment, using it as a venue to conduct more murders. All the while, his grip over his urges lessens as the level of his sadism increases. Bateman indulges in rape, torture and mutilation, with a spot of cannibalism and necrophilia thrown in for good measure. To make matters more bizarre, he talks about the murders to his colleagues, who refuse to take him seriously, and then he begins experiencing hallucinations. The book examines whether Bateman is the victim of some psychotic delusion about being a serial killer, or whether what he’s describing in this stream-of-consciousness novel has really happened.
A shallow and superficial man
Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman Well, it's pretty clear Patrick Bateman displays many classic psychopathic characteristics! Shallow and largely concerned with material gain and superficial matters, he treats everything as a commodity, people included. Placing such distance between himself and his behaviour enables Bateman to excuse his actions, even ones as gross as cannibalism. Hence his remark after dining on a woman's flesh: ‘I just remind myself that this thing, this girl, this meat, is nothing.’ Women are definitely objectified throughout the novel, being reduced to the level of the ultimate consumable – meat.

Relationships mean nothing to Bateman. His friends all appear alike to him, to the extent that he often confuses one for another. His love life is equally meaningless. Engaged to the shallow Evelyn Richards, their relationship is characterised by mutual loathing, and it is made clear they only stay together for social reasons.

So why does Patrick Bateman kill? In true psychopathic style, he murders many of his victims because they make him feel inadequate, usually by having better taste than he does. This is a man to whom fashion, style, and social approval mean everything. As a serial killer, he slaughters indiscriminately, with no preferred type of victim and no consistent method of killing. Men, women, animals, even a child – nothing and nobody is off-limits for this man. Definitely one of the most chilling psychopaths we’ll be examining today!

I believe Patrick Bateman fascinates us so much because he taps into the unease many people feel about unchecked consumerism, typified by the obsession with celebrities, gossip and fashion. Is this where our love of such things will lead, to individuals so shallow and twisted that they murder indiscriminately, in a society that appears uncaring about their crimes? Food for thought...
2 - Hannibal Lecter - 'The Silence of the Lambs'
Cover of UK edition 'The Silence of the Lambs', written by Thomas Harris, is the sequel to his novel 'Red Dragon'. Both novels feature the cannibalistic serial killer Dr Hannibal Lecter. Who, having read the book, will ever eat fava beans again without this man invading their thoughts?!

Here's a summary of the plot. Jack Crawford, head of the FBI’s psychological profiling division, asks Clarice Starling, a young trainee, to present a questionnaire to the highly intelligent forensic psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Lecter is serving nine consecutive life sentences for a series of brutal murders.

Crawford's real intention, however, is to obtain Lecter's assistance in the hunt for a serial killer nicknamed ‘Buffalo Bill’, who skins his female victims after killing them. Lecter and Starling engage in a twisted game of traded information, in which he offers her cryptic clues about Buffalo Bill in return for details from her difficult childhood.
The character  that immortalised fava beans
Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter Lecter's psychological make-up is explored in greater detail in Thomas’s other books, which reveal he was traumatised as a child by witnessing the murder and cannibalism of his younger sister.

Thomas portrays Lecter as a cultured and sophisticated man, enjoying refined tastes in music and art, having served on the Baltimore Philharmonic Orchestra's board of directors. He is well educated, highly offended by bad manners in others, and speaks several languages. Not the type of character that immediately springs to mind when we think of serial killers, which helps to explain why he's so compelling. The man's an interesting juxtaposition of a violent serial killer along with a model of politeness and refinement, in stark contrast to the uncontrolled madness we often associate with sequential murderers. Although let's not forget the cannibalism - that's hardly refined behaviour!
3 - Annie Wilkes - 'Misery'
Cover of UK edition 'Misery' is one of Stephen King’s horror novels. The narrative focuses on Paul Sheldon, a writer who pens mass-market appeal romances featuring the heroine Misery Chastain. Sheldon is rescued from a car crash by former nurse Annie Wilkes, who takes him to her home and cares for him, assuring him she’s his number one fan. When she discovers, however, that he’s killed off Misery at the end of his latest book, she becomes enraged, forcing him to write a new novel modifying the story.

Sheldon discovers an old scrapbook of Annie’s, and learns from the newspaper clippings inside that she is a serial killer, who has murdered her own father, her college roommate, and several patients at the hospitals where she worked. Wilkes ends up holding Sheldon captive, treating him brutally. In one memorable chapter, she chops off one of his feet with an axe when he attempts to escape, then cauterises the wound with a blowtorch. Sounds like the actions of a psychopath to me!
The ultimate control freak
Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes Annie Wilkes masks her warped nature behind an initially engaging front. The novel portrays her as paranoid, and suggests she may also have bipolar disorder, hidden behind her cheery facade. In the novel, she clearly suffers from depression as well as issues with self-harm, over-eating and an obsession with romance novels. In the way she controls Sheldon, she displays all the characteristics of the ultimate control freak, desperate to wield power over her latest victim. In meeting Annie Wilkes, Paul Sheldon encounters misery of the greatest depth, before finally reclaiming his life and his writing at the end of the novel. It's a good job not all authors require such an impetus to discover their muse!

Why does Annie Wilkes hold such enduring appeal? It may be partly because we're unused to the notion of female serial killers, especially ones who outwardly appear as homely and ordinary as she does. The contrast between this dumpy, dowdy, middle-aged woman, a former nurse, and her horrific crimes, is enormous.
4 - Tom Ripley - 'The Talented Mr Ripley'
Cover of UK edition 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' is one of Patricia Highsmith’s novels, written in 1955, and her first one to introduce the character of Tom Ripley, who appears in four other books by her. Ripley is a young confidence trickster living in New York, who is asked by a local shipping magnate to persuade his son, Dickie Greenleaf, to return from Italy to join the family business. Once in Italy, Tom becomes almost obsessed with Dickie and his wealthy lifestyle, which eventually grates on the man, as well as annoying his girlfriend Marge. Sensing that he is about to be cut loose by his new friends, Ripley murders Dickie and assumes his identity, living off his victim's trust fund. He manages to evade the suspicions of Dickie’s friends and father, as well as the Italian police, with everyone believing Dickie must have committed suicide. Tom's machinations end in a curious mix of triumph and paranoia, as he inherits Dickie’s fortune via a will he forged, but our charming psychopath is left with the uncertainty of never knowing if and when he’ll eventually get found out.

In subsequent novels, Ripley involves himself in several more murders, often coming close to being caught or killed, but always escaping detection.
A man devoid of conscience
Matt Damon as Tom Ripley Highsmith introduces some background material that may partly explain Ripley’s psychology. Orphaned at age five, he was raised by his aunt, a cold, stingy woman who mocked him, leading him to attempt to run away as a teenager.

Highsmith's portrayal of Ripley is as a suave, agreeable and utterly amoral con artist, capable of great charm. In many ways, he resembles our friend Hannibal Lecter. Like Lecter, Ripley enjoys the finer things in life, spending time painting or studying languages. Also, like the good psychiatrist, he comes across as polite and cultured, disliking people who lack such qualities. He's also devoid of conscience, admitting in a later novel that guilt has never troubled him, although he claims to detest murder unless it is necessary.

Ripley's character engages us, drawing the reader into the metafictional con that he perpetuates on us. This is a man who's cultured, charming and quick thinking, living the good life as he cheats and murders his way around Europe. A lifestyle that pulls us into the novel with its seductive appeal - no wonder both the book and its film version have proved so popular!
5 - Cathy Trask - 'East of Eden'
Cover of UK edition An amazingly powerful book that, for me, recovered quickly from its sluggish beginning to become enthralling. Based on pre- and postlapsarian themes, the novel follows the relationship between Adam and Cathy Trask as Steinbeck's parallel to the Biblical Adam and Eve, along with the tension between their sons, Caleb and Aron.

The novel seems to me to be primarily about love, as well as examining the effects of its absence. Cathy Trask, who we're concentrating on here, is unable to love anyone, even herself, and her coldness destroys her husband and her son Aron.

Cathy, later known as Kate, bears many of the hallmarks of a psychopath. A twisted character, this, one capable of recommending that her husband toss their new-born twins into a well. Some critics have commented that her character lacks credibility, but I'd guess this reflects more the social attitudes towards women at the time of the book's publication. She's amoral and psychopathic, something that may well have offended 1950s sensibilities about women's roles. She is, after all, no domestic goddess or even a good wife or mother. With respect to the Biblical themes of good and evil, Steinbeck moves beyond representing Cathy as Eve, tempted by the serpent in the Garden of Eden; Cathy is the serpent as well as Eve. He emphasises this by portraying Cathy in snake-like terms; for example, when she swallows, her tongue flicks around her lips.
A malformed soul, without human eyes
Jo Van Fleet as Cathy Trask In the book, Steinbeck describes Cathy as having a malformed soul, being cold and, in true psychopathic style, incapable of caring for anyone. Her misdeeds start with false accusations of rape and proceed to her setting fire to her family's home, killing both her parents. After being rescued by Adam when badly injured and subsequently marrying him, she gives birth to twin boys, before shooting her husband in the shoulder to escape the monotony of motherhood and married life. She ends up working as a prostitute in a local brothel, renaming herself Kate, eventually inheriting the business after murdering the owner.

Steinbeck portrays Cathy as a delicate blonde whose beauty fools most of the people she encounters, her true nature being evident in her eyes, which he describes as cold and emotionless. Samuel Hamilton, a minor character in the novel, says that “the eyes of Cathy had no message, no communication…they were not human eyes”.

Why does Cathy Trask entrance the reader so much? There's the fact that, like Annie Wilkes, she offers the novelty value of being a female psychopath. She's ordinary, too, although not to the same drab extent as Annie Wilkes. No, she's more the kind of psychopath we’re likely to meet in real life, rather than being an out-and-out con artist like Tom Ripley or a rarefied socialite like Patrick Bateman. Neither is she driven by the same dark forces that urge Hannibal Lecter to kill. Instead, she's a woman who goes about her daily life as we all do, but unlike the rest of us, she kills whoever stands in her way, having been born soulless, evil from birth.
Who's your favourite fictional psychopath?
Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance In this blog post, I've only been able to examine a tiny proportion of the vast array of fictional psychopaths that novelists have brought us throughout the years. Google 'famous fictional psychopaths' and you'll get over a million results! I chose these five characters because they cover both male and female, young and old, rich and poor, ones created through circumstance (Hannibal Lecter) and those born evil, such as Cathy Trask.

What sociopathic characters have been memorable for you? Perhaps Jack Torrance from Stephen King's 'The Shining'? Frederick Clegg from John Fowles's 'The Collector? Or is Amy Dunne from Gillian Flynn's 'Gone Girl' more your style? (Read my book review here). Leave a comment and let me know!
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Book Review: 'The Two Faces of January'

Guest post by Michael Nutt
Today's blog post is a guest offering by Michael Nutt, who has very kindly reviewed Patricia Highsmith's novel 'The Two Face of January' for me. The novel has recently been made into a movie starring Viggo Mortensen, Oscar Isaac and Kirsten Dunst. Take it away, Michael! A rather curious title...
Cover of UK edition Patricia Highsmith was the finest exponent of the psychological thriller. Her most famous works - 'Strangers on a Train' and the Tom Ripley cycle of novels - are some of the most enjoyable reads of my life. And now I must add the recently filmed 'The Two Faces of January', her ninth novel, first published in 1964, as one that I can thoroughly recommend.

The rather curious title refers to the connection between the month of January, in which the story unfolds, and the Roman god Janus, in whose honour the Romans named the month. Janus is usually depicted as having two faces, as he looks both to the future and to the past. To the ancient Romans, Janus was the god of beginnings and transitions, and thereby associated with gates, doors, and passageways, as well as endings and time. You can find these themes appearing throughout the novel.

The story begins with a passenger ship slipping through the Corinth Canal at night. On board are an American couple - Chester MacFarland and his young wife Colette - taking a vacation in Europe and arriving now in Greece. The opening descriptions are of a passage from one world to another, a transition between countries, but also an image that evokes birth, a new beginning. We soon learn that the man is a shyster on the run from the American authorities, trying to escape his past.
Locked in an unspoken pact of murder
Oscar Isaac (Rydal Keener) They are observed by a slack young American, Rydal Keener, who is struck by Chester's resemblance to his recently deceased father (whose funeral he chose to miss), while Colette reminds Rydal a little of his cousin Agnes, his first, ill-fated love from some ten years ago. Rydal is using an inheritance to fund a couple of years away in Europe writing poetry and avoiding a planned career in law back in the States. He amuses himself by playing games of chance, and starts to include the American couple, so uncannily reminiscent of those people from his past, in his latest scheme even if he is unsure quite what it might be yet.

Rydal is a particularly Janus-like character, looking both to the past and to the future. He carries the psychological scars of his relationship with his late father and his cousin Agnes, and this unfinished business in his past keeps drifting into the present and casting a fog over his future. Unwittingly, Chester and Colette drift onto his radar. By chapter three their worlds have collided - or dovetailed, it would be more accurate to say, as Chester and Colette find themselves locked in an unspoken pact with Rydal over an incidental murder.
A tale of two Ripleys
Viggo Mortensen (Chester MacFarland) It is typical of Highsmith that these are deeply flawed characters, psychotic anti-heroes whose appearance of normality hides psychopathic personalities and murderous tendencies. As in her 'Talented Mr Ripley', she describes a world of European exoticism, as her characters tour the sun-drenched Mediterranean; the novel was published a year after its American author had permanently relocated to Europe.

Highsmith keeps the reader guessing about the games these three con artists might be playing. It is a tale of two Ripleys, as Chester and Rydal manoeuvre warily around each other, with a devious woman thrown into the mix for good measure. Gradually, insidiously, Chester becomes increasingly dependent on Rydal as the trio go on the run to Crete, while taking in a spot of tourism along the way as they travel the island. And all the while Colette seems to be taking a seductive interest in Rydal... You know that things can only go badly for these people, and it is not long before the body count rises and events take on their own crooked logic.

Highsmith is always adept at pulling off a surprise, taking the story in an entirely different direction from where you thought it was heading. Like a card sharp flicking an ace from the palm of her hand, she throws in a key scene set in the deserted Temple of Knossos that causes the narrative to lurch into a crazy, unexpected turn, tying the two male characters to each other in a mutually destructive relationship. Rydal now plays a dangerous game with Chester, who finds himself unable to free himself from the deadly grasp the other has on him.
Dark but humorous stuff
Patricia Highsmith (1966) This is dark but humorous stuff. You suspend any feelings of disbelief and go along with these miscreants for the ride, which takes us across Europe. Rydal works out his latent hatred and resentment of his father on Chester, who has assumed the role of his substitute father. It is a poisonous relationship reminiscent of that between Guy and Bruno in Highsmith's 'Strangers on a Train', except here both parties are as cracked as each other. Who will come out on top? The drink-addled con artist or the hate-filled chancer? And what sort of game is Rydal playing by the time the players get to Paris?

Each chapter leaves you eager for the next and every time I picked up the story again I was excited to be reacquainting myself with these rather nasty people. Highsmith conjures a strange yet satisfying ending that tidies up some unfinished business, completing a transition of sorts. I look forward to reading more of her novels someday soon.
Thank you, Michael!
Thanks to Michael for a very thorough and informative book review.

UK readers, buy 'The Two Faces of January' here

Simply click the Amazon link to the left.

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