Caroline Taylor is very good at pretending.
Welcome to one of the July 22nd stops on the blog tour for Finding Persephone by P.J. Braley with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the res tof the tour for spotlights, reviews, author guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.
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Author Guest Post
Almost Heroes
Sending your manuscript to an editor can feel like putting it into a shredder…you never know how much of it will be left when you get it back. The Fire Slayers was not the first novel I wrote, but it was the first one I seriously wanted to see published. Among all the plotlines involving aliens, humans, love, betrayal, etc., was the subtext about a non-human species saving the planet. Yes, I know that is an (almost!) over-used literary trope, but in this case, it reflected some of my views about conservation. I wanted to get them out there so they might become part of someone else’s conversation. So, with this hope in my heart, I found an excellent editor and, with crossed fingers, sent it to her.
And I waited.
About a month later, I found her email and, with my heart in my throat, began reading. To my relief, her comments were encouraging and helpful, “add a little more world-building,” “this scene is redundant,” and there were lots of proofreading comments. Then she said something that has stayed with me ever since.
“It’s hard to make a reader care about a villain. Congratulations.”
It took a few minutes for me to understand which character she was referring to because, in my mind, Venzel wasn’t a villain. Or was he? The Venzel I thought was writing was a kind of anti-hero, self-serving and relentless, but he does the right thing at the end of the story. He was too self-centered to be considered a classic hero, but most readers appreciated that Venzel was caught in an ethical gray area and gave him credit for his attempts to walk up the slippery slope to the high ground.
And maybe that is what the editor meant; that Venzel’s character arc takes him from being a bad guy who does an occasional good deed to developing into an anti-hero a reader can identify with and applaud. In the aliens’ backstory, they were given the directive to survive at any cost. This leaves little wiggle room for mercy. So, any seemingly unredeemable human protagonist who steps out of that alien mindset to reclaim his humanity before it is too late meets the literary criteria as an anti-hero.
In my new book, Finding Persephone, Grant seems to personify Shakespeare’s “plain dealing villain” without negotiation or compassion. Regrettably, there is no moral high ground for an assassin. Or is there? Far from being a one-dimensional character, Grant is plagued by the physical and emotional pain of his unforgettable past. When we meet him, he believes the only way to get beyond this pain is to focus on his assignment – to protect the colony’s secrets by any means necessary. Despite this elevated position, Grant is alone in a society of brothers who can neither love nor trust him. When he meets Caroline, he is confronted by the realization of all he has sacrificed and, to become worthy of her, begins to slowly reclaim whatever humanity remains within him.
Unlike Venzel’s role as an anti-hero, I have written Grant as an anti-villain. This is a character who has had the position of villain thrust upon him but finding a cause, a person, or some glorious hill to die on overcomes his instincts for self-preservation to achieve this one saving grace regardless of what else is destroyed.
One of the differences between the two roles is the cost the character is willing to pay to accomplish their ends. Without giving it much thought, the anti-hero will uncharacteristically go against his/her own best interest to nobly “save the day.” On the other hand, the anti-villain’s claim to such nobility results from an inner struggle to deny everything s/he believes in to act regardless of the cost to him/her or anyone else.
Will this evidence of nobility be enough to redeem Grant in the eyes of readers, or will they still believe he is a villain when the story ends? Or would they consider that, regardless of everything he has done, perhaps Grant’s final gesture of selfless conviction was the fundamental reason he was created?
And, if that were possible, it would seem that by accomplishing the one true task he was created for, he would be…dare I say it? Almost a hero.
About the Book
Finding Persephone
by P.J. Braley
Published 7 June 2022
Liminal Books
Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Page Count: 399
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
Caroline Taylor is very good at pretending.
The polished surface of her life appears perfect until the morning a smitten grad student brings the cracks in her illusions into sharp focus. No longer willing to live a lie, Caroline’s journey of transformation sets her on a collision course with Dr. Grant Gates. Blinded by his quiet power, good looks, and impressive credentials, Caroline fails to see that Grant is also very good at pretending.
Created from flesh and fire, Grant has a past he would like to forget, an assignment he cannot reveal, and a forbidden obsession with his newest client whose beautiful eyes miss nothing. As the enforcer of an underground brotherhood, he must protect their secrets at any cost, but Grant is determined that Caroline will not become his latest victim. Striking a devil’s bargain to keep the woman he has been searching for safe from his brothers’ plans, Grant struggles to hide who–and what–he is until he becomes her only hope of escape…but will he let her go?
There’s not a chance in Hell.
A contemporary retelling of the Greek myth of Hades and Persephone, Finding Persephone is a compelling tale of an alien assassin’s search for absolution and the human woman who becomes the catalyst and heart of his redemption.
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Excerpt
Why was she different?
He, more than anyone else in the colony, knew how a single curious mind could affect the colony’s safety.
Taking the nearest employees’ exit to the catwalks, Grant scanned the building to make sure no one was around to see him. He grabbed the black metal railing with both hands. Even as he fought the urge to kill her, he found himself calculating the different ways he could lure her into one of the empty rooms where he could sedate her and devour her at his leisure.
The image of the gold ring on her left hand flitted through his mind. A woman with a job and family couldn’t just disappear. Well, she could, but inquiries would be made. A quick risk assessment put killing her out of immediate consideration. Nevertheless, he had to do something. In the facility for less than an hour and she suspected—out loud—that certain areas were designed to elicit a specific response. Allowing that level of awareness to continue unmonitored was more than dangerous; it was reckless.
What else would she notice in the days, weeks, and months ahead? And why now, when they were so close…
Working with a non-negotiable deadline, Grant knew he could not allow anything—or anyone—to delay or distract his brothers from achieving their objective on time. His hands tightened and twisted on the rail. He tried to imagine them on her neck but instead saw the way her eyes lit up when she smiled. His hands slowly relaxed.
She would see nothing.
For reasons he did not fully understand, Dr. Grant Gates decided to let Mrs. Caroline Taylor live a little longer.
About the Author
Deciding that copyediting other writers’ manuscripts was not enough, PJ decided to do something about it. Purchasing a new laptop because new beginnings require new tools, she began transitioning from copy editor to author. Her debut novel, The Fire Slayers, blended science fiction with love, friendship, and horror. Her newest book, Finding Persephone, takes all those genres a step further when an alien assassin charged with keeping the secrets of their underground brotherhood at all costs risks everything when he falls in love.
When PJ isn’t writing novels about aliens saving the planet, you can find her sitting on the sun deck with her husband, Jim, and their rescue corgi, Nymeria. She will be the one with a book in one hand and a glass of sangria in the other.
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Giveaway Alert!
P.J. Braley will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B&N gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveawayDisclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Thanks for hosting!
Good morning! I want to thank you for presenting Finding Persephone on your beautiful website. I hope your readers enjoy the excerpt and my post about Heroes and Villains. I would love to hear from them regarding their favorite villains.
I think this is going to be a wonderful day!
Thank you again, PJ
This sounds intriguing.
Sue G. – Thank you! It was a very intriguing book to write; the only way I could see to release Grant from his destiny as the villain was for him to become so vulnerable that he alters his only reason for existence. Love changes everything, you know, even hell.
Do you read a lot of science fiction, or do you prefer romance novels?
I liked the excerpt.
Thank you, Rita. The best thing (I think) about this excerpt is that it gives the reader a glimpse of Grant’s internal struggle after he meets Caroline. Up to this point, Grant has had no difficulty “neutralizing” any danger to the colony. Everything changes for Grant as soon as he decides to “let Mrs. Caroline Taylor live a little longer.”
Do you read a lot of science fiction?
Happy Friday! There was no option to reply to your reply on my comment from the other day, so I wanted to take this opportunity to respond to your query, currently my favorite sci-fi author is James S.A. Corey the pen name for the author duo that wrote The Expanse series which I absolutely love. Thank you for sharing your guest posts and book details during this tour, I have enjoyed reading about you and your work and I am looking forward to reading your story. Have a great weekend!
Bea, I know that some blogs are set up differently from others, so I regret any difficulty you had in responding to my question. James S. A. Corey’s stories are incredible. I’ve never tried to write a story about outer space and cannot fathom the limitless world-building options. Still, I imagine it would be fun and may try my hand at it sometime.
I am so happy you have enjoyed these short essays and excerpts; it has been my pleasure to share them, and I would like to know how you liked Finding Persephone.
Thank you again; good luck with the giveaways, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend as well.