Superheroes, Anyone?

Digital Preorders Now Available! Our third volume of short stories is coming your way March 28, and you can preorder your digital edition now and save some cash. Purchase a digital edition today, and we'll email you your copy of this incredible collection on release day! Some pursue heroism, others are thrust into it.

Superheroes. They live among us, some hidden in plain sight, others as well-known celebrities. All carry a burden and a purpose: to destroy the evils of this world and keep the common man safe from harm. 

But evil is a strong thread that refuses to be cut. How much sacrifice will be demanded to destroy that which seeks to destroy us, and are there enough heroes to do the job? 

Experience a collection of short stories brimming with the struggles of heroism and the dark side of villainy, where real-world content merges with Christian fiction to produce a unique storytelling atmosphere.

Includes:

The Bald Man by Timothy G. Huguenin

The Last Call by Kristin L. Norman

sinEater by D.A. Williams

Hierro by Jen Finelli

Living Proof by Michelle Levigne

Airfoil: Hotspots by Steve Rzasa

Someone Is Aiming For You by JD Cowan

Without Blemish: A Philosophy of Preaching by Nathan James Norman

The Trojan Initiative by Clayton Webb

Fly Like A Bird by Rosemary E. Johnson

Chronostream’s Father by Adam David Collings

PREORDER!!!

Taste the Book: GROWING UP NEIGHBORLEE

April release from Uncial Press.

Thanks to that we've-got-a-secret smile from Angela, I decided I needed to practice my kinda-sorta flying, to show her what I could do next time we met up. I found a sheltered spot at the far end of the field where the older kids played baseball and soccer, in the thick clump of trees enclosed by the fence encircling the orphanage grounds. My practicing consisted of rising up as high as I could get before I got scared and then hanging there until the ground started to look a little fuzzy before I came back down. At five years old, twenty feet off the ground was the equivalent of Mount Everest. I had just worked up the nerve to try some sideways shifting when Kurt walked into the little clearing where I was practicing, and looked up at me. Fortunately, I was wearing shorts, rather than a skirt. Skirts were for church and school.

"You hum really loud." He was grinning at me.

"No I'm not." I was rather indignant, because I knew enough to keep quiet while I was practicing, so the bullies and bigger kids who might make fun of me wouldn't see me.

"Yeah, you do, but it's not the kind of humming that people can hear."

"That's stupid. How can you hear it if people can't hear it?" I came down a little faster than I intended and my knees wobbled when I hit. Kurt caught hold of me, and a funny buzzing sensation kind of shocked me where his hand touched my bare arm.

"Like that." He grinned wider, gray eyes sparkling, and rubbed the hand that had touched me on the front of his t-shirt. "It's okay, I hum too."

"Are you laughing at me?" I had already run into the two chief bullies who reigned during my time at NCH. They had overheard Miss Abby talking with another houseparent, so delighted with my reading ability, and came running to inflict their new nickname on me: Lanie Brainy.

"Nope. We're superheroes."

"Huh?"

That was my introduction to the amazing world of comic books and superheroes and mutants and super powers and saving the world.

Off the Bookshelf: STORM FRONT, by Jim Butcher

Thanks to Patrick Carr for recommending the Dresden  Files series during a workshop he taught last year at Realm Makers. Harry Dresden, private investigator and wizard, is a fascinating character you can't help rooting for -- and wincing along with -- as he deals with magical problems and bureaucracy of all kinds, and hopeful allies who might be helpful, might be a royal pain and a liability.

When the story starts, Harry needs work fast, because he's behind on some bills, starting with the rent. Then there's the constant lack of respect. People think when he advertises as wizard in the phone book that he does party tricks. Far from it. Fortunately, one police detective believes in his ability and values his talent. She's got problems of her own, starting with police superiors who don't quite respect her job of investigating the weird and dark and dangerous. Magical things. Harry's specialty. Unfortunately, Harry has some problems with other wizards that kind of tie his hands and effectively enforce a gag order on him. When he has to refuse to help and refuse to explain why he can't help, he damages a valuable friendship.

Then there's the rogue wizard using magic to kill people. The problem is that Harry is already under suspicion for being a rogue and a danger himself, and simply trying to figure out how this wizard is killing people could push him over the line, and result in a termination order. Then there's the reporter for the local newspaper devoted to the dark and magical and inexplicable, who could turn into a romantic interest, if she and Harry don't get killed at the start of a date he forgot they had.

Lots of twists and turns and I'm hooked after the first book! I'm interested enough to look into the TV series based on the books. Not sure if they're available on DVD, if I can borrow them from the library, or if I can find them on iTunes, but well worth ... ahem ... investigating. Check out STORM FRONT, and don't blame me if you get hooked immediately