GUEST POST: Kevin M. Villegas (author of The Sunwright Chronicles)

Good morning, all! It's time for another stop along the The Virtual Book Tour Cafe's literary route, this time featuring Kevin M. Villegas, who has stopped by to promote his latest work, The Sunwright Chronicles - Empire at War:

Crisis engulfs the Empire of Kirmar. Barbarians from the east have poured through the borders of the Empire and threaten to capture the imperial capital. In addition to the invasion mysterious agents flood the Empire seeking to destabilize the already weakened state. To make matters worse Paris along with his wife Suadela have mysteriously vanished leaving their children Tobias, Calia and Pershing to face the current crisis alone. Luckily for the Empire of Kirmar the Sunwright children are more than ready for the challenge that faces them.
But will the united strength of the Sunwright children be enough to save the Empire of Kirmar? As the barbarians continue to push their advantage love and romance blooms in the most unlikely places. A sleeping giant in the Elven nation of Garion is wakened by the immediate danger facing Kirmar, will the Elves support Kirmar as they have done many times before? In the south the Empire of Imaldris formerly a part of the Empire of Kirmar is facing its own troubles. A weak Emperor has allowed the nation of Nazzir a long time enemy of the Empire to grow in power. Even in these dark times there is always hope. A struggling Empire which has stood for nine hundred years is forced to come together to face the greatest crisis it has ever seen.

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The concept of evil is the essence of the Villain
When writing it is important to have a clear understanding of what evil is and represents. The common view of evil leads one to believe that the ugly, fat king has to be evil. He is not handsome and charismatic right? Only a handsome and charismatic king could be the hero. When it comes to women the unattractive, homely woman must be the evil witch! It’s not possible that the beautiful princess could be evil, she is after all beautiful.

My concept of evil flies against the traditional views I have already stated. To me evil is on the outside beautiful and seductive. In fact evil has to be even more attractive and seductive than good, how else would evil gain its followers? At its very core evil is of course ugly, perverse, and disgusting. By the time a character reaches these depths of evil their viewpoints are scarred and corrupted, they are already an agent of Evil. Their beauty and seductive qualities will attract followers and spread the curse of Evil. No one wants to follow an ugly, charisma lacking fool. On the other hand people will follow a handsome charismatic man to the ends of the earth, only to learn in the end they had been fooled by the main weapons of true evil.

In The Sunwright Chronicles Empire at War, character alignments are not black and white. I like to blur the lines between good and evil. I use the concept I outlined in the paragraph above to guide me when I write a Villain.  In my novel one can never be sure who might be a hidden villain and that’s the way I like it. 

          --Kevin M. Villegas

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About Kevin:

Kevin M. Villegas enjoys studying ancient and medieval history. Political intrigue and court scandals have always fascinated him. He has been influenced by writers such as J.R.R Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, and Stephen King. You can see the influence of his studies in his on-going series The Sunwright Chronicles.

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Thanks so much to Kevin for stopping by. If you'd like to follow his virtual journey in support of The Sunwright Chronicles, check out his schedule on the Calendar of Events page at The Virtual Book Tour Cafe.
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