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For this Roundtable Discussion we ask, Which villains of speculative fiction are your favorites and why?

Below are some of our answers. We’d love to hear yours, too.

Joni Sensel

I’m not sure I have a good answer for this. I’m not someone who “loves to hate” a bad guy, and I really dislike books with one-dimensional villains who seem to be bad for the sake of power or riches alone. I like complex and sympathetic antagonists, like Dustfinger in Inkheart, who of course turns out not to be so bad. One of my own books has a villain I was surprised to realize I mostly agree with, even if the characters don’t. And I tend to like books with death, time, or other natural forces as an antagonist.

Linda Joy Singleton

Like Joni my first thought was Dustfinger in Inkheart because he’s a charming, loveable villain. I’ve been trying to think of other memorable villains.
* There’s Voldemort, of course, who is evil incarnate, although his childhood adds an interesting look at his choices for evil, theorizing that evil is a choice not a genetic personality flaw.
* In Phillip Pullman’s GOLDEN COMPASS, the villains are multi-dimensional with good and bad traits: the heroine’s own parents. I never really decided which one I disliked or liked.
* A unique villain appears in Sarah Beth Durst’s INTO THE WILD — a small piece of green leaves called The Wild, which escapes into Massachusetts and and devours buildings and land, turning everything (and everyone!) into fairytales. This gives a whole new meaning to the slogan “Go Green.”
* Looking at my own books, I think one of my favorite villains is Galena the wicked mermaid in SEA SWITCH (midgrade by Llewellyn). Galena magically turns Cassie into a mermaid to escape underwater crimes and to gain her heart’s desire — human feet so she can go shoe shopping. Can’t resist an evil fashionita (g).

K. A. Holt

Let’s see…

As far as villains go, Mrs. Coulter from Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass creeped me out nearly as much as Cathy in East of Eden. Her insidious plotting, the Hansel and Gretel-style wooing of Lyra, and that superfreak monkey daemon all combined into a pretty frightening character. At least for me. I haven’t read all of the books in the His Dark Materials series yet, and I know that Mrs. Coulter could be considered a conflicted villain (or maybe a flawed hero? I haven’t read that far to know), but in The Golden Compass she really and truly gave me the willies.

Now, if we’re talking *favorite* villains, that’s much more difficult. The idea of a pulsing, quivering brain on a dais (IT in A Wrinkle in Time), is pretty darn gross and cool. And I have to say, I loved the attacking umbrellas in China Meiville’s Un Lun Dun (even though they were more props than villains unto themselves).

Monkeys, brains, umbrellas. I guess I’m a fan of non-traditional bad guys!

We’ll have more answers tomorrow…

REMINDER: POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD

Time for our second round of questions!

Symbolism is prevalent throughout most good stories.
An obvious example in this story is the mockingjay, a symbol of hope and courage by the people in the districts. Did anything else strike you as symbolic in this novel?

Joni Sensel:
Loads, including:
Snares — the setting of them, the idea of not seeing a trap until you’re already caught, the idea that setting one may be harder than you thought and might bite the setter, not just the prey
Fire and its parallels with love, passion, compassion, and other strong emotions — as simultaneously a warming, nurturing, rousing and painful/destructive force
Drugs and narcotics, including sleep and the related associations to turning away, ignoring, numbing, forgetting, and going passive… as well as our human need for these things at times
The world’s division into the other twelve districts and a central capital — we have deep-seated cultural and religious associations with this number as a “natural” and “perfect” division (because of the number of hours in a day). This is connected with the importance of time in the story, the games, and our lives, and also with District 13 and all the associations we have with that number, including the fact that it does not appear on a clock and is therefore “beyond time”

Jo Whittemore:
I think the characters themselves were very symbolic, even the minor ones.
Darius, one of the Peacekeepers for District 12, who represented Kat’s old, comfortable way of life. When he was turned into an Avox for interfering with the government, it was a symbol of the drastic hobbling of the district itself. The same can be said for Gale, really.
Cinna, Kat’s personal tailor and close friend, who represented the unspoken discontent and dissent among the Capitol citizens and later turned Kat into the mockingjay that meant so much to the people.
Finnick, one of Kat’s unlikely allies in the Quell, who represented strength and fortitude when Kat couldn’t find it in herself or Peeta.
Johanna, a competitor in the Quell, who until the very end represented the uncertainty of the Games with her good/bad actions and callous nature.
And of course, the dark and evil that is President Snow who represented, well…all things dark and evil.

Second Question
What did you enjoy about the novel that hasn’t yet been mentioned?

K.A. Holt:

REMINDER: POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD

It seems fitting to start off with something that plays such a huge part in both books. So, here’s the first question posed to our authors:

When writing series and sequels, it’s important to maintain continuity but avoid repetition. What are your thoughts about Kat and Peeta’s re-entrance to the arena (and their experience there) compared to the previous adventure?

K.A. Holt:
I was initially very disappointed that Kat and Peeta were going back to the arena. I remember thinking that I wanted a *sequel* to the Hunger Games, not a rehashing of it. However, as the Games proceeded, I was caught up in the story and the potential for rebellion and I enjoyed it very much. That said, I do wonder if Collins could have achieved the same messages if she would have tried something different. Maybe Prim and Gale could have been chosen for the Games, in order to punish Kat (and we wouldn’t need the contrivance of the Quarter Quell). Maybe there could have been a switcheroo with mentors, where a Careers district mentor was forced to “mentor” District 12, and Kat and Peeta were forced to “mentor” different districts. This would let us see the Games, behind-the-scenes. And it would give lots of opportunity for duel-purposed strategies and questionable silver parachutes. Too complicated? Probably. I just wanted something a bit different – something to show bolder attempts from Kat and the Capitol to thwart each other.

Joni Sensel:
Personally, I thought the whole Quarter Quell thing was pretty contrived, not just repetitious, and if I were to believe it, an even more egregious example of how President Snow and/or the administration in the book’s world was too stupid to have held onto power even this long (although at least the resulting events demonstrated the failure of their philosophy of control). But I put that reaction aside and certainly enjoyed the story regardless, and I thought Collins did a good job of making the events and emotions that followed different from what happened in the first book. The differences in the game setup the second time around, and the differing relationships with the other players, made the game itself seem very different, so that was also great.

Linda Joy Singleton:
When I first read the part about going back into the arena, I was shocked. I never saw this coming and didn’t want to go through that blood-bath again. It did feel contrived, like just repeating what worked the first time. But it was handled well and the arena was very interesting with the clock design. There were plenty of surprises and the people I cared about most survived. I liked the resourcefulness of Kat and the relationship with Peeta. The ending was partly what I suspected in how Kat connected with others, but a surprise, too. It left me wanting more…definitely a cliff hanger.

P.J. Hoover:
I have to admit I was shocked that Suzanne Collins chose to send Katniss and Peeta back into the arena. My thoughts at the time were, “really?” That said, I trusted the author and, of course, read on. And I have to say Ms. Collins did a great job of glancing over the parts that would have seemed redundant (much of the preparations) and of making the playing field much different. The games felt like more of a bonding experience, and the question was never who was going to die but more how the author would choose to end the novel. And I have to say, I was completely pleased with the ending.

Second question:
Given that this series deals with survival, there will obviously be bloodshed and casualties. How did your view of the violence in this novel compare to the previous one?

Parker Peevyhouse:
I was originally reluctant to pick up the first book in the series because I don’t do well with lots of violence. However, I think in both Catching Fire and The Hunger Games, Collins does well to avoid graphic descriptions and include just enough information for us to understand the horror of violence without being overwhelmed by it. That said, I’m apprehensive about the film treatment Hunger Games is undergoing–seeing someone get killed is much more disturbing than reading a vague description of it.

Jo Whittemore:
That’s funny, because physical violence doesn’t terrify me nearly as much as mental torture.
In fact, I loved the image Collins painted with the phrase:
“her throat slit open in a bright red smile.”
As far as mental torture, this book was so much creepier to me than the first. From the very beginning (where Kat realizes that if she makes one wrong step with the Capitol, all their lives are forfeit) to getting ready for the Quarter Quell (when she runs into her friend who’s now an Avox, and there’s nothing she can do for him) to the spinning clock in the arena (where will the terror come from next?) to specifically the jabberjays (hearing your family members cry out in torture and knowing it’s not them but wondering if it might be because it sounds SO real). If Collins ever went to work for the government, she could get any hardened criminal to spill his deepest, darkest secrets with her torture techniques!

Third and final question today (since this post is looong).
Thoughts on the Gale/Kat/Peeta love triangle?

P.J. Hoover:
A couple thoughts here. Gale seems the more desirable choice, as he portrays “the bad boy”. Peeta is just too nice. I’m not sure how many teen girls will pick the nice guy over the “bad boy.” That said, Gale is not given much screen time. I found myself wanting him on screen much more (and I’m sure this is because I want Katniss to choose him because he is the “bad boy”). I really hope in book three we get to see more of Gale. It’s set up for this to be the case.

Parker Peevyhouse:
I have to say it–I was so bored by the love triangle this time around. In fact, I didn’t really like the story until the games started. I wouldn’t have minded skipping all the set-up–all of Katniss’s anxiety about her two loves and her indecision about whether to run away with either/both of them. But I still feel invested in Katniss’s future with either Peeta or Gale, and I think the only way she can really choose between them is for one of them to die. Probably Peeta will sacrifice his life for Katniss, and Katniss and Gale will be the reluctant new leaders of the Districts.

Sound off, readers! Even if you disagree, we’d love to hear from you!

Author events at bookstores are fickle things, as we all know. The only ones really well attended seem to be launch parties where the author provides most of the audience or signings for bestsellers who no longer need the visibility or sales. Yet most of us hope and persist and accept invitations when they’re offered.

We don’t want to tell booksellers their business, and any indie staff reading can probably stop here. But there are lots of young events and community relations managers out there, and in the spirit of promoting mutual success, we’d like to offer these suggestions — based on our experiences with booksellers who have really done it right — for how booksellers can help make a speculative fiction author’s signing something right out of a fantasy:

1. Look into the future… at least far enough to have the author’s books on hand in time for the event. This seems obvious, but it must not be. We can only carry so many in our cars without looking egotistical. N.B.: When we arrive and have no books to sell to our adoring relatives fans, it gives away the fact that you don’t normally stock them, either.
2. Remove the cones of silence between the person who schedules the event and the person who will be in the store when we get there. This is often not the same person, and it’s very difficult to give the presentation or panel discussion we’ve spent time creating on your request when there is no mic, no wall to show slides on, no chairs for a panel discussion, and nowhere for an audience to stand, let alone sit. And we understand you’re busy, it’s awfully nice if the staff member we’ve met drops by now and then, introduces us if there’s an audience, or is still in the store when it’s time to say good-bye.
3. Resist deus ex machina thinking and don’t schedule our event during dinner time, the president’s visit, or an announced alien landing. It’s probably tempting to think we will outshine the competition to draw people into the store, but most of us don’t have that many relatives fans. We’ll just be sitting in a dead store with you, and it’s not reassuring to hear, “Yeah, the store is always dead about now.”
4. Let us create the fantasy settings; stick us somewhere ugly up front. Please stop creating your lovely event spaces in the far back corner of the store, down a hall, behind the tallest shelves, and/or outside past the dumpster. (Joni had an event once that required going outside through a back door and down a hall. The only person who found her was looking for the restroom.) It doesn’t matter how nice that space might be, and nobody listens to the announcements you make on the PA about it. If you can’t put us near the cash register or the front door, put us at a card table on the sidewalk out front. Literally. (Some of Joni’s best events have been on sidewalks.) Linda Joy adds that a bookstore that recently did things right placed her and two other authors right up front at large tables that had even been decorated for them. Whoo!
5. Let your galaxy know. You probably know a few folks we don’t, and we don’t expect you to do all the promotion, but attendance tends to be better when bookstores send info to their contact lists and put up signs before the day of the event (not just that morning). If you can possibly manage it, consider offering a 10% discount on our books during the signing. That helps make the opportunity more special for those teetering. We’ll remind them that kids’ books make great gifts, too. Consider making a central display of our books both before and after the event both to help promote and for easier sales to those interested but unable to attend.
6. Remember that unlike some of our characters, we are fairly friendly humans, and it’s okay to:

* Ask how to pronounce our names.
* Ask how many copies we might expect to sell. Unless we’re brand new at this, we’re generally pretty realistic. We know it’s a hassle when orders are overly optimistic, and we hate returns, too.
* Offer us a cup of water from the employee drinking fountain, if you can’t spring for a bottle of water or a drink from the store’s coffee stand. It’s disruptive to run to the drinking fountain in mid-event.
* Ask your staff to treat authors with respect. We don’t get paid for booksignings and often travel a long way for an event or spend money on supplies. A little kindness goes a long way, and if you treat us all like bestsellers, we’re more likely to have a best-selling event together.

Last but not least, thanks for the invitations! We love you and the hard work you do, and it tickles us to think that you’ve thought of us at all. We have fun meeting and talking to you, even if nobody else comes. But isn’t it even more fun if they do?