I am so excited to have Minnette Meador in a guest post here on Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews.
Minnett is currrently touring to promote her new book Belle Stalker.
Thanks so much Goddess Fish for connecting us on this blog tour!
Please take it away Minette!
TEQUELIN: PSYCHOLOGY OF A PSYCO
Closing her eyes, Belle pulled the smooth garment over her head. It fell down her body in a soft caress and clung against her like a second layer of skin. The tiny straps holding it didn’t seem like they could take the weight.
Hanson grabbed her arm and made her turn around. “Nice. You are a lovely creature. Now I’m going to tell you a couple of things you need to listen to real hard.”
Belle felt her head nodding, but it didn’t seem to belong to her.
“The master don’t take no guff. Meaning, you do exactly what he says. He’s got himself a wicked temper. I’ve seen…” But her voice broke, her eyes narrowed and it took her a moment to continue. “Just take my word for it, honey. He’s got certain—tastes, as it were. You’ll find out all about that. Here—” Hanson dug something out of her housecoat and put it in Belle’s hand. The two blue pills looked stark against her pale palm. “You take those now. It’ll be better if you do.”
THE BELLE STALKER – CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
TODAY’S PRIZE: eCopy of THE BELLE STALKER
(Don’t forget: If you send your name and address to Minnette, she will send you a stack of signed swag. Just drop her a note at: mmeador@minnettemeador.com )
For some reason I like to make my villains bad… I mean really bad. No use having a antagonist all sweet and fluffy now is there? They tend to be psychotic and anti-social (to say the least). I blame this on my love of serial killer stories and the men and women who have to find and stop them.
Jared Lee Loughner. Because of that I think I’m prone to writing villains that are not only villains, but monsters. In Starsight it is a powerful god who was tortured for centuries before he went mad. In The Centurion & The Queen, an insane brother who abuses his younger sister. The Edge of Honor brought us a true serial killer in the guise of a Roman officer who tortures his victims for days before he kills them and has grand megalomaniac visions of ruling Rome. My villains are nothing, if not colorful.
Tequelin from THE BELLE STALKER is no exception. Without giving too much away he wasn’t always evil; living with humans for 2000 years has driven him insane. He is powerful, persuasive, handsome, a sadist, sexy, compelling, an anti-social, and very, very dangerous, as Cranston finds out the hard way. He cut out the tongue of his man servant so he wouldn’t have to listen to him scream (and his balls to make him docile). He has tortured and killed many women for pleasure over the ages, and kills the only other being like him on earth. He hates humans with a passion, yet finds himself overwhelmingly attracted to Belle Stark and despises himself and her for it. At one time, however, he was kind and full of grace. Though he was a soldier he loathed killing. After hundreds and hundreds of years away from his kind, that all started to change.
Writing about sociopaths has been very interesting. Even they are the hero of their own story and sometimes I’ve had to get inside their heads to understand that. Not always the easiest thing to do and I often have to take a shower afterwards! For me it’s important to have an antagonist that is really worth fighting in the long run especially in historicals and thrillers. Tequelin may be a psychopathic maniac, but he is still fascinating to watch.
So what kinds of villain do you like in stories? Do you like the really evil ones or the ones who have some saving grace? Do you cheer when the hero/heroine finally get him or feel a little sad when he is gone? I promise you, if you like truly evil no good monsters, you’ll love Tequelin. You’ll also love what happens to him in the end. Minnette
