Today, I’m excited to introduce my friend and fellow author Charles F. French. Charles is an English professor turned author, who is preparing to launch his debut horror novel Maledicus: The Investigative Paranormal Society Book I. As you can imagine, the theme of evil features heavily throughout the novel, and that’s exactly what he’s here to discuss. Over to Charles.
The existence and nature of evil and the human response to it are central themes in my horror novel Maledicus: The Investigative Paranormal Society Book I. This idea is one with which I have been concerned much of my life. From the first Gothic novels I read as a youngster, including Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, through the myriad of reading I have done during the course of my life, including works of classical literature such as William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Hamlet as well as the contemporary thrillers of John Connelly and Tana French, and the numerous novels of the master Stephen King, evil has been present in a wide variety of forms.
I am deeply concerned not only with the nature and existence of evil, both human and supernatural but also with people’s response to it when confronted by evil. Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Unfortunately, it does not take much effort to search human history for occurrences of monstrous evil in the form of too many genocides. The history of the 20th and 21st centuries is replete with these inhumane situations, and too often, the world turned its collective gaze away from these horrors, often until it was almost too late to do anything about them.
Ordinary people, as well as nations and larger collectives of persons, are also confronted with evil in their existences. When a person witnesses a terrible event, he or she must decide either to do nothing and leave the responsibility of action to others, or they chose to act directly at the potential risk of their safety or lives. They must decide either—“I don’t want to get involved,” or “I must do something.”
This moral and ethical dilemma is what the three older men who form the basis of The Investigative Paranormal Society face.
In my novel, I posit evil existing in two forms. First, human evil manifests as a man who was a sadistic psychopath—a torturer, spy, pimp, and murderer—who lived during the realm of Caligula in ancient Rome. Supernatural evil also is real in my book. In death, this man, who goes by the name of Maledicus, is seduced by a mysterious being into becoming a demon. As a new form of existence, Maledicus is able to manifest on Earth and target people for his victims. He causes mayhem, including murder, suicide, insanity, and disease.
While investigating what they believe to be a ghostly haunting, the three men who are the Investigative Paranormal Society—Roosevelt, Sam, and Jeremy—soon realize that this malicious thing that is threatening a five year old girl in their town, is far worse and more dangerous than any ghost.
They must choose either to abandon their investigation and this child or to choose to battle this demon at the risk of their sanities, their lives, and their souls. These men, along with the help of several friends, choose the path of responsibility as they confront the terrible demon Maledicus.
I hope that, in my novel, I deal effectively and thoroughly with this issue of evil and the human response to it. Only the readers can truly make that judgement.
Thanks so much for sharing Maledicus with us, Charles! If you’d like to read Maledicus, it’s now available on Amazon. You can also learn more about Charles and his work by visiting his website at https://charlesfrenchonwordsreadingandwriting.wordpress.com. And be sure to come back to this site on Friday, when I’ll be sharing my review of Maledicus!
Kate M. Colby 