Monday, September 03, 2012

Can Bad Boys Be Good? Guest blog and giveaway with Kathy Kulig



Thanks so much for having me as a guest today. Thanks to the readers too. They rock!

Can bad boys, I mean really bad boys, be redeemed and become heroes? That question will be answered, at least for demon Dante Akanto, in my new release from Ellora’s Cave Damned and Defiant. Readers love the Alpha male and many times there’s a tortured side that makes these Alpha guys lean toward a dark side. I asked a few friends to come up with a few movies where the bad guy was redeemed. Redemption stories can be very powerful stories and creates lots of conflict in a romance novel.

One on my favorite movies I think is a great example of bad boy redeemed is Pitch Black with Vin Diesel as Riddick. He plays a dangerous criminal marooned on a sun-scorched planet with deadly creatures that come out when the sun goes down. He’s their savior as the survivors struggle to fight for their lives. Another movie is Return of the Jedi. Darth Vader has been the evil villain throughout the series, and in this movie, he becomes a father trying to save his son. Other characters and/or movies: Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean, The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, Tim Robbins in Shawshank Redemption, Megamind and Marko Ramius in Hunt For Red October. In National Treasure 2, Book of Secrets, the bad archeologist sacrifices himself to save others, even the Terminator performs an act of heroism in one of the remakes.

When I planned the three-book story arc for Demon in Exile I knew Dante Akanto wasn’t the worst of the bad guys, Gwyllain, the demoness and ruler of Anartia was the ultimate evil villain. But I planned to have Dante as a continuing antagonist throughout the series until I got reader mail. Readers wanted to see Dante find love. Readers cared about him, the bad guy.

They sympathized with him because of HOW he became a demon. Over a hundred and fifty years ago, he was dying, betrayed and murdered (almost) by his ex-wife. Demons from an alternative world rescued him and gave him immortal life but for a price. He had to do the demoness’s bidding. He retained his human side which is shown during various crises.

Then in book one, Desert of the Damned, Dante does one heroic deed and readers get a glimpse of this human side. I believe it was this point readers found hope that he could be redeemed. What ordeals does he have to go through to get there? What choices? And at what cost? That’s the rollercoaster ride Dante is faced in book three. Demon and mortal in one Alpha body struggling on two war fronts— an alternative dimension and Earth. Check out Damned and Defiant to see if love and courage can conquer the demon.



Damned and Defiant
Book 3 of Demon in Exile
Kathy Kulig

Genre: Paranormal Erotic Romance
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave Publishing

ISBN: 9781419940804
Word Count: Approximately 70,000 words


Book Description:

Mortal women surrender to Dante’s seductions. He is a Drone, an immortal who feeds off their lifeforce energy—the chi that keeps his kind alive. When his dimension is on the edge of destruction, Dante must seek the help of one special woman.

Haley Moore is a Sha Warrior—a mortal with excess lifeforce energy. She has always had a strong attraction to Dante and when they meet again he thinks luck is on his side because his quota of chi energy would be obtained after one scorching scene with this mortal. But the problem is that he is overwhelmingly attracted to her and once with this woman won’t be enough.

Haley tries to draw out the man buried deep within the demon. Their fierce, undeniable passion unravels his plans and threatens her life. Can Dante bear to abandon her when he leaves Earth forever? Dante will have to choose whether to return to his world or to give up his immortality and share his future with Haley.

About the Author:

Kathy Kulig is the award-winning author of sexy paranormal and contemporary romances. She has published over a dozen novels and novellas and her work has appeared in eBook, print and anthology. Kathy is a science geek by day and writer of erotic fiction at night. Her interest in mythology, quantum physics and the supernatural, and also her extensive background in science, provide inexhaustible material for new projects in the paranormal realms. Besides her career in writing, she’s a cytotechnologist and has worked as a research scientist, medical technologist, dive master and stringer for a newspaper. When she’s not writing or dreaming up her next steamy story, she enjoys traveling, relaxing by the beach with a book, mountain biking, movies and dinners out. She resides in eastern Pennsylvania with her husband and lives in a 100-year-old Victorian home which has a garage built of rejected tombstones. 

Visit her at 







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15 comments:

Debby said...

Great post. I have read and enjoyed your books in the past. I see I missed a few. Must go looking.
debby236 at gmail dot com

Unknown said...

Very interesting. I love the fact she lives in a 100 year old Victorian home with a garage made out of rejected tombstones! Erie!
Thanks for the post!

Kathy Kulig said...

Thanks for stopping by debby and ibjenn. Thank you debby for reading my books and glad you've enjoyed them.
Ibj. The house keeps us busy and it is cool about the garage. We live near an old cemetery so I guess they used the materials that were available at the time. :)

Lisa said...

Your books sound great, another great author to add to my list! Thanks for the giveaway!

Catherine Lee said...

I see that you live in Eastern PA. I am a librarian who lived and worked for a few years in central PA...in little DuBois. My hubby couldn't wait to move back South again...to the warm weather and beaches. DuBois was COLD!
@capefearlibn
catherinelee100 at gmail dot com

Vanessa N. said...

Great post. Definitely adding it to my wishlist. Thanks for the giveaway.

mythic021@gmail.com

Mannouchka said...

Thanks Roxanne for having Kathy your blog has a very nice color.Kathy I love the cover of you book do you paint them this one is very mmmm
and thanks you for this excerpt.Very nice picture of you I liked what you wear around the neck is it hand made.
I wish you all a wonderful week
My email is Mannouchkalegendre@gmail.com
Cheers

JeanMP said...

This book sounds great.Love the cover.
Your house sounds fascinating, you don't have any ghost sitings do you?
skpetal at hotmail dot com

JeanMP said...

Look forward to reading this book, love the cover. It must be really fascinating living in a 100 year old house, do you have any ghost sitings?
skpetal at hotmail dot com

Kathy Kulig said...

Hi Lisa. Thanks and you're welcome. :)

Hello Catherine, Yes, winters can be very cold in PA w/lots of snow. I miss Florida on those days.

Hi Vanessa, glad you stopped by. Thanks and you're welcome too.

Kathy Kulig said...

Mannouchka, thanks for all the kind words. The cover designer is Kendra Egert for this book. EC does the covers. The photo was taken in Mexico this year and the necklace was bought there (my birthday present :) It's fire opal.

Jean, thanks. The house has a lot of charm. You'd think there'd be ghosts. Haven't seen any yet. LOL

Cathy M said...

Hi Kathy,

I just got through reading the first two books in this series, so the timing is perfect to get caught up with Haley's story.


caity_mack at yahoo dot com

Kathy Kulig said...

Congratulations to Jean MP for winning a free eBook download from my backlist, excluding anthologies and my new release. I'll email you separately and you can tell me which book you would like.
Thank you again, Roxanne for having me as a guest. And thanks everyone for visiting!

Fedora said...

I do love the sounds of a redemption thing, and there are some great stories where you see a bad character get turned around :) Thanks for the peek, Kathy!

f dot chen at comcast dot net

books4me said...

Great post...I do believe that some really bad boys can be good boys...they just have to really want it!