Guest Post & Giveaway: Karina Cooper - ALL THINGS WICKED

Hi Everyone. Please help me welcome Karina Cooper to the blog today! She is here to promote her new novel, All Things Wicked. Today Karina is going to talk about the antagonists in her novel.

Bad to the Bone

Or, I Used to Be an Antagonist and All I Got Was This Bloody T-Shirt

First of all, thank you so much for having me here! I don’t get to talk about my antagonists much, so it’s refreshing to look at things from their point of view.

They say–those ubiquitous they who say so many things­–that everyone has a story to tell. No matter what authors are writing, what genre or grade, there is a fundamental core to every story that remains the same. I’m not sure if this is true or not, but I do recognize a trend in my own work. I write about people who don’t quite match what we picture when we think “good” and “bad”.

I like to play with the concept of antagonist versus protagonist. Good versus evil, black and white, and all those other sticky metaphors for “that one’s good and that one’s a total bastard”. For me, what should be a cut-and-dry issue–witches are evil, religion is bad, killers are morally bankrupt–becomes a gray area fraught with, “And yet...”

In All Things Wicked, the hero was once an antagonist–a man who has done terrible things for what we can only hope are good reasons. Caleb Leigh is fighting not just the coven of witches who were up to no good, but also the Order of witch hunters who’d have hunted them down. He’s working against his sister, who wants to help him–and ultimately place herself in danger to do it. He’s fighting the woman who becomes his heroine, who wants to see him burn for his betrayals.

That’s a lot of antagonism.

But he’s not the antagonist. The true antagonists of All Things Wicked aren’t all that clear-cut, either. On the one had, there are the witches who belong to the Coven of the Unbinding. These guys are bad news. Killers, kidnappers, magic-users who will stop at nothing to get what they want–whatever it is they want. They must be the defining “bad guys” of the book, aren’t they?

Only then there’s the Holy Order of St. Dominic. But surely they aren’t antagonists? Of course, they hunt and kill witches, but after everything Caleb’s done, you can’t blame them, right? As the overwatchers of the city of New Seattle, it’s their duty to protect it from the very same powers that destroyed it the first time, so a little overzealousness can be forgiven, don’t you think? Then there’s the closed trials and executions, the classified experiments and laboratories, the tyrannical... grasp on...

Okay, so the Order’s looking a little shady, isn’t it?

But what about the new Mission Director, Parker Adams? She’s only doing her job as she hunts Juliet Carpenter down. Is she an antagonist? Maybe?

So who, really, are the antagonists of All Things Wicked? The Coven? The Order? The Director?

Is there anyone who isn’t out to get us?

What’s your favorite type of antagonist? Do you like them cut and dry, bad is bad is bad, or do you like them more complicated? Who is your favorite antagonist of all time?

All Things Wicked
by Karina Cooper
Release Date: January 31, 2012
Series: Dark Mission, Book 3

Juliet Carpenter was always protected from the darker side of the witching world. But the massacre below Seattle, the one that claimed her sister’s life, opened her eyes to the true nature of those around her--especially Caleb Leigh. Juliet can’t believe that she slept with the man who killed her sister and now has just one thing on her mind: revenge. But old habits die hard and when it becomes clear that she can’t trust her Coven either, she’s left on the run with a man she hates more than anything.

Caleb isn’t proud of the things he’s done to survive, but nothing hurts him more than the pain he caused Juliet. Unable to reveal the truth about her sister’s death, and with both the Coven and the Mission hard on their heels, he must get Juliet to trust him long enough to save their lives. Because it’s not just the two of them who are in danger: if Juliet won’t let go of her rage enough to tap into her powers, everything they love--each other, their families, this whole miserable world--will be lost.

Author Bio – Karina Cooper

San Francisco provided me with a home only until the wanderlust struck. I was raised all over the U.S. like some kind of tiny blonde gypsy, and marinating in the melting pot of so many cultures may be the source of this wild imagination. No matter where I was or what I thought I wanted to be when I grew up—actress to artist, web designer, fashionista or author—I was always creative.

As far as careers go, daydreaming for a living kicks so much ass.

http://www.karinacooper.com/

http://www.karinacooper.com/blog/

http://www.facebook.com/romanceauthor

http://www.twitter.com/karinacooper

http://www.teatimeiniquity.org/

Giveaway:

Karina will be giving away a $25 Amazon gift card to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour. The more comments you leave the better your chances of winning.

 

To Enter:

Answer Karina's questions from the post and include your email address.

Be sure to visit the other blogs on this tour. Click on the tour button below for a list of participating blogs.