Vampires, witches, werewolves, ghost, and zombies are all popular as characters in today's fiction. Not just as villains, the sparkly vampires of Twilight are romantic leads. But enough about Twilight. Today I wanted to talk about an unusual paranormal bad guy that I had the good fortune to review this month. The book was titled A Mystery / Suspense Collection Anthology: Sweet, but the paranormal villain that I want to talk about was a villain from a story by Gerald Costlow titled The Call.
I am not going to give a great story away by telling you too many details of the plot. Let me just say that the "the call" was not from a human, nor did it originate from a particularly malevolent being. Those two facts are part of what make this particular villain interesting and unique. This is a villain who cannot move, and whose only power is the abillity to...well...call out to those who can hear. Yet, the power of the call strikes fear into the locals. It causes grown men to stay home and lock their doors.
The call began so long ago that nobody remembers when or knows why it started. If there is evil, that evil is rooted in the very human need to recover past joy. The call conjures to the mind of a victim those happy dreams of the past. In dreams of goodness the hero is pulled toward madness and death. Costlow has managed to turn good and evil on their ear with "The Call." I loved the story, particularly the ending. I loved the way his minister fell victim to the call and a mountain witch fought to save him from dreaming to death. Most of all, I loved his villain. He was a paranormal bad guy to remember.
1 comment:
I'm glad my choice of villains worked for you in the story. When a writer sits down and plots out a story and hands out roles, one of the hardest things to do is create a villian that is motivated by more than just greed or lust. It's easy to create a villain that readers hate, but if you can get the reader to sympathize even as the hero struggles, the story works.
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