QSFer Andrea Speed has a new superhero/supervillain book out:
Kaede Hiyashi is sick and tired of living in the shadow of his father, supervillain Doctor Terror. Brilliant but crazy, Doctor Terror sends his son to Corwyn, California, for reasons Kaede can’t imagine. Sent to accompany and protect him is Ash, a genetically modified supersoldier raised and trained by an infamous death cult.
Corwyn is lousy with superheroes, led by the obnoxious Dark Justice. Kaede finds himself dancing around Dark Justice as he digs into his father’s mysterious business and teaches his socially awkward—but physically lethal—bodyguard to acclimate to “normal” life. Can these two wacky supervillains figure out what Doctor Terror wants them to do, solve the riddle of the villain known as Black Hand, and keep Dark Justice from raining on their bloody parade? The course of love—and world domination—never did run smooth.
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Excerpt
NOT FOR the first time, Kaede wondered what would happen if he decided to burn everything down. Just set it all on fire.
He wouldn’t—Fleur De Lis was a great restaurant, his favorite in Paris—but sometimes he wondered what his father’s limit was. Would he find a way to bail him out of everything? It wasn’t a boundaries thing; he wasn’t a child craving them. He was just curious if there was a line he couldn’t cross. Maybe when your dad was a supervillain, you just got used to the evil after a while.
Even though he was currently attending university under a fake identity, his father still made sure enough people knew he had some kind of connection that he was always treated like a VIP. Kaede found it awkward and tiresome, although he knew he shouldn’t complain about superior service. But the elitism of it all did bother him.
Currently, he was the only lone diner in the VIP section. There were two couples, one older and one younger, although they were a study in contrasts. The older couple looked like longtime-married folks out for an anniversary dinner, while the younger couple was a guy with slicked-back hair and a thousand-dollar suit, and a fancy, coiffured woman whom Kaede was willing to bet was a working girl. A high-class one, to be sure, but still a hooker. What kind of douchebag was that guy? Was he living out some kind of Pretty Woman fantasy? He was probably a stockbroker or something like that. Kaede hated him on principle.
Otherwise the VIP section was empty. They had faint piano music and two waiters all to themselves. The rest of the place—the noisier, more crowded part of the restaurant—was separated by a doorway that most people probably didn’t know existed. You entered and exited through a private door so you never had to associate with the riffraff. Kaede wondered if his dad liked this, and that’s why he insisted on him getting the same treatment.
Kaede’s soup arrived, and he shared polite smiles with the waiter, who was handsome enough, if on the short side. Was he gay? Kaede might have been the son of a supervillain, but he had no gaydar at all, and his father had never invented a thing that could do that for him. Or had he? Kaede should ask, if he ever saw his father in person again.
He might not. Kaede sporadically saw his father… and with little warning. It had been that way his entire life. Because so many people wanted to kill his dad or blackmail him into working for them, Kaede had been a target from day one. So his father kept him moving, with new lives on new continents with new names and new guardians, most of whom were professional nannies. His father hadn’t raised him in any respect, and Kaede had no idea who his mother was. Every time he asked, he got a different name. Since his father worked so much with cloning, he did wonder if he was his dad’s clone and not actually a son, in spite of their different names. He knew there were rumors, but he also knew better than to expect any real answers from his brilliant but certifiably crazy father.
He tucked into his soup, which was decent enough, but he found himself craving the excellent hot-and-sour soup he’d found at his favorite Chinese place downtown. It was probably home to more than a few health-code violations, but the soup was fantastic, abundant with tofu and mushrooms. Even though he was enjoying this fancier concoction, he knew he’d probably stop after dinner to get a bowl of the cheaper hot and sour. Although his father often insisted that the more expensive the better as far as food and booze were concerned, that simply wasn’t true. Well, at least not all the time.
Kaede was finally trying his wine, which he’d been letting breathe, when he heard the distant sound of breaking glass.
Author Bio
Andrea Speed was born looking for trouble in some hot month without an R in it. While succeeding in finding Trouble, she has also been found by its twin brother, Clean Up, and is now on the run, wanted for the murder of a mop and a really cute, innocent bucket that was only one day away from retirement. (I was framed, I tell you – framed!)
In her spare time, she arms lemurs in preparation for the upcoming war against the Mole Men.
Viva la revolution!