Quick—what’s the best superpower for a villain? Energy blasts? Super-strength? Mind-control?
How about the power of fairytales?
It may sound weird, but fairytales are the power source of DC supervillain Queen of Fables, and they make her such a crazy strong threat that it usually takes the entire Justice League to stop her.
So how does that work, exactly? Continue reading Why the Queen of Fables is the most Underrated DC Supervillain
The Florida Keys are awesome.
There’s a reason I chose it as Dave and Val’s vacation destination when I wrote Kill Them All. And I’m happy to report that my trip went a lot better than theirs did and wasn’t interrupted by rocket launchers and complex, supervillain-related plots. 😉
In all seriousness, I had the perfect honeymoon. It was wonderfully relaxing and filled with beautiful sights and excellent food. Coming back to reality this past week has been tough. Continue reading Back from Vacation with Photos and Mini Book Reviews
So… I’m getting married later this month.
I know, right? It’s incredibly exciting yet stressful. I’m super ready to marry this man, but wedding planning is such an ordeal, you guys. It’s given me a deep and unyielding sympathy for every character in a superhero franchise whose wedding ceremony was crashed by marauding supervillains.
That poor couple spent months searching for a venue, finding an officiant and a caterer, choosing colors, arranging centerpieces, ordering favors–and I’ll stop now, otherwise this post will become a 500-word checklist of all the things you need to do to plan a wedding.
And then some costumed jerk comes and ruins everything. You’re never going to get those months of your life back!
It still feels like summer here in Florida, but I adore autumn. So when I came across the Autumn Tag over at Perfectly Tolerable, I knew I had to jump on that bandwagon, even if I’m a bit late.
Rules: Answer the questions, link back to the creator, and tag other people.
1. Hot Chocolate – what is your comfort book?When I’ve had a bad day and find myself in need of a comfort read, I usually turn to fanfiction instead of books. I don’t know what it is about some fics that’s so soothing and comforting–exactly like a cup of hot chocolate. I love crossovers especially, and nothing’s better than an epically long story that’s actually completed. And boy, oh boy, have I read a lot of Harry Potter fanfiction in my time. Continue reading Autumn Tag – Are you Ready for Sweater Weather?
I’m lucky enough to have two incredible sisters (one of whom also writes books that you should read), so I’m naturally interested in depictions of sisters in media.
And is it just me, or are a lot of superheroes only children? Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Iron Man… The list goes on. And I feel like “Hero with a Treacherous Brother who wants to Murder him for the Throne” deserves its own category.
But you can find some great depictions of sisters in superhero media if you know where to look. On the big screen, my recent favorites are Gamora and Nebula. Continue reading Sisterhood and Superheroes
Steampunk is a weird, niche little genre, when you think about it. Merriam-Webster defines it as “science fiction dealing with 19th-century societies dominated by historical or imagined steam-powered technology.”
That’s pretty darn specific. It’s not like the post-apocalyptic subgenre restricts its stories to the 23rd century, or space opera specifies the power source that spaceships have to use.
The boundaries of steampunk seem pretty restrictive at first glance, so it’s not surprising many authors bend and break the rules. Steampunk has branched out and evolved as creators and fans innovate, which brings me to the strength of the genre:
Steampunk goes well with anything. Continue reading Why Steampunk is the Little Black Dress of Speculative Fiction
I re-watched the first season of Batman: The Animated Series recently for the first time since I was in my tweens. (And boy, does that make me feel old.) I loved this show when I was a kid, but I don’t think I was really old enough to appreciate how brilliant it was. As an adult who’s interested in superheroes and storytelling, I got a lot more out of it. Not only did it entertain the heck out of me, but it gave me a lot to think about writing-wise.
Here are five thoughts I had after finishing the first season. Continue reading 5 Writing Lessons I Learned from Re-watching Batman: The Animated Series
No new book stuff this week, because I spent the Fourth of July holiday in the Great Smoky Mountains. My phone had terrible service there, and the hotel WiFi was super slow, so I was forced to take a break from the internet.
It was nice. 🙂
I went hiking to cascades and waterfalls… Continue reading Vacation in the Mountains
Fight Crime! (A Love Story) is over. Looking back, the first post is dated June 28, 2016, which feels like forever ago. Now that it’s finished, I find myself with a gap in my blog schedule and no idea what to fill it with. So help me out, super readers, especially those of you who signed up to get these posts by email. What do you want to read on this blog? I’ve thrown out some ideas I’ve been considering below, but if you have another request, feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to hear what you think.
It’s Thanksgiving here in the USA, and this year, I’m thankful for Wonder Woman.
I know, I know. The movie has been out for a while now. You’re aware of how awesome it is. Everyone’s been talking about it, and you’ve seen it multiple times. You get it; it’s good.
But it could have been so awful, you guys.
Just look at the leaked Joss Whedon script or that terrible unaired TV pilot for examples of the horribleness that could have been. She could have been objectified, damseled, or relegated to a love interest in her own movie. Or we could have gotten the opposite extreme: a hyper-aggressive straw feminist and “strong female character” in the most shallow sense of the term.
Before the movie came out, my hopes were simple: I just didn’t want it to suck. Continue reading Why I’m Thankful for Wonder Woman
