Former writers group buddy (before he escaped to the land of 10,000 lakes) and all around nice guy, David Schwartz, released his first book earlier in the month.

“Superpowers: A Novel” (David J. Schwartz)

I remember when I first heard him describe the book in group one night. Five college friends wake up one morning to discover they each have a superpower. Superheroes in a world without a supervillain. The story follows them through the discovery of and adjustment to their newfound abilities and explores the consequences of their actions.

I didn’t have access to comic books growing up but in the last year I’ve really started getting caught up on graphic novels. I’m far from a comic book expert but I don’t see this isn’t just a rehashing of every other superhero story. There are some surprising twists and turns throughout the story, particularly at the end.

I haven’t been the most voracious of novel readers lately but I found myself looking forward to the end of the day so I could sit down and read more of it. I finished it up late last night and the ending left me both sad and satisfied. It was a fun, entertaining read, well-worth the price of admission.

[Crossposted from stonetable.org. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

My copy of Steampunk, the anthology of Steampunk short storiesedited by Ann & Jeff Vandermeer arrived today. I've mentioned it before, but Thursday is the last day you can order it directly from Ann & Jeff complete with personalized Zepplins!

The table of contents is impressive: jaylake, Michael Chablon, Ted Chiang, Michael Moorcock, Neal Stephenson, and Paul Di Filippo are just some of the contributors. Fifteen stories, plus an introduction to the roots of Steampunk for just $12. Go buy a copy or two. You'll thank me later.

Personally, I've been interested in the steampunk theme for a while. The story I wrote for PARSEC was inspired by it. I am not well-read enough in the field for my liking so I am especially pleased to have a copy of the anthology in my eager little hands.

Tired, but happy.

Stopped off at a Barnes and Noble before seeing Iron Man tonight. Not only did we find copies of Weird Tales and Apex Digest (both difficult to find in stores, in my experience) but we saw the Steampunk anthology edited by Jeff & Ann Vandermeer, which was released today, in the wild.

No writing done today, but I’m down to the last scene rewrite for my Sword and Sorceress submission. I expect that to be ready by the end of the weekend.

[Crossposted from stonetable.org. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]