Antagonists (i.e. my favourite baddies)
By Matt Wesolowski
I was lucky as a child; we had a couple of good theatre companies in mid 1980s Newcastle that did some excellent children's shows.
One of which is The
Bruvvers Theatre Company - still going today and it was through them that I
found my love of 'the baddies' or, I suppose as an adult...and a writer, I
should refer to as 'antagonists'. (Baddies sounds better, mind!)
My dad used to take me to loads of these shows at Northern
Stage, Newcastle (back then, the Newcastle Playhouse and Gulbenkien Studio). I
remember at about 7 or 8 years old, being much more impressed and able to
empathise with the sword-wielding 'baddy' dressed in black, being booed by the audience.
It used to upset me that the baddy was eventually thwarted by a simpering 'goodie' who always
won in the end. Says a lot about me as a kid, to be fair!
One of my finest memories back then was being given one of
the baddies' swords to hold as I was the only one cheering for him in the
audience (I guess there was less health and safety fears about letting an 8
year old hold a metal replica sword back in the 80s)...whoever that actor was,
he pretty much made my life, that day!
It's
no surprise that this adoration of the antagonist bled into my reading, my
writing and my TV habits (it still does). For me, there's nothing better than a
good baddie, so I'm going to list a few of my hopefully not-too-obvious
favourite baddies (sorry...antagonists)
of literature and screen.
1. Blaine the Mono (The Dark Tower Saga - Stephen King)
Articulate, charming and with a love of riddles. He can
travel at over 900 mph and create a sonic boom. This guy is a train. A bright pink monorail. He's also
a maniac, hell bent on murder and suicide. What on earth is there not to like
about Blaine?
Potential Tinder profile, right? (Or is a train's dating app
called 'Tender'?)
2. Francie Brady (The
Butcher Boy - Patrick McCabe)
Protagonist or antagonist? This book was the first I
remember that made me question this. Francie is the product of a broken,
abusive home, looked down on by the small town in which he lives, committed to
an 'industrial school' run by priests with dubious urges and eventually kills
his next door neighbour with a bolt gun. What's so heartbreaking about Francie
is the extent to which you can empathise or at least sympathise with him. That
lies in the skill of the author. One of my all time favourite books,
3. John Doe - Se7en
John Doe hates the world, he despises the people in it; the
very act of a stranger starting a conversation with him in public makes him
want to vomit. In fact, he does vomit and then 'can't stop laughing'. There's
something about that I can empathise with. His MO is so damn clever that however
twisted and evil the man is, you simply cannot help admiring him. Plus, it's
Kevin Spacey at his very best.
4. The Sheriff of Nottingham (Robin Hood Prince of Thieves)
Talking of actors at their best - this is a sublime
performance from the late Alan Rickman who steals the show with his
devil-worshipping sadist, the Sherriff of Nottingham. Forget Serverus Snape;
dressed in black, handy with a sword and a penchant for cutting out hearts with
a spoon, this character was one of my favourites growing up and I was always a
bit gutted when goody two-shoes Costner stuck him with a sword, invoking some
of the best dying-breath dribble that has graced the silver screen.
No one remembers any of Robin Hood's lines, but Rickman
coined the immortal phrase from this film regarding heart-cutting out and
spoons: 'It's blunt you
twit, it'll hurt more!'
About Matt Wesolowski
Matt
Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English
tutor and leads Cuckoo Young Writers creative writing workshops for young
people in association with New Writing North. Matt started his writing career
in horror and his short horror fiction has been published in Ethereal Tales magazine,
Midnight Movie Creature Feature anthology, 22 More Quick Shivers anthology
and many more. His debut novella The Black Land, a horror set on the
Northumberland coast, was published in 2013 and a new novella set in the
forests of Sweden will be available shortly. Matt was a winner of the Pitch
Perfect competition at Bloody Scotland Crime Writing
Festival in 2015. He is currently working on his second crime novel Ashes,
which involves black metal and Icelandic sorcery.
Find Matt on his Facebook page and follow him on Twitter - @ConcreteKraken
About Six Stories
Six Stories
By Matt Wesolowski
Published by Orenda Books (Paperback - 15 March 2017)
ISBN: 978-1910633625
By Matt Wesolowski
Published by Orenda Books (Paperback - 15 March 2017)
ISBN: 978-1910633625
Publisher's description
1997. Scarclaw Fell. The body of teenager Tom Jeffries is found at an outward bound centre. Verdict? Misadventure. But not everyone is convinced. And the truth of what happened in the beautiful but eerie fell is locked in the memories of the tight-knit group of friends who took that fateful trip, and the flimsy testimony of those living nearby.
2017. Enter elusive investigative journalist Scott King, whose podcast examinations of complicated cases have rivalled the success of Serial, with his concealed identity making him a cult internet figure.
2017. Enter elusive investigative journalist Scott King, whose podcast examinations of complicated cases have rivalled the success of Serial, with his concealed identity making him a cult internet figure.
My verdict: Six Stories is an eerie spine-tingling read. It's unpredictable and chilling and kept me guessing all the way through. I don't scare easily, but certainly found this book unsettling.
Click here to read my full review.
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