QSFer Alex Silver has a new M/X superhero romance book out: Rising Storm.
I’ve got a secret. Two, actually. I’m not that powerful. My best friend Gerald, though, he’s got enough superpowers to fill the role of two heroes. His abilities are so strong, he can even make everyone believe I’m destined to be more than a sidekick. My other secret? I love him.
My crush is getting harder to hide now that we’re headed off to superhero university together. With Gerald as my roommate, it’s only a matter of time before he figures out how I feel. And from there, our other secrets will inevitably unravel, too. Including what truly happened the night we stumbled on a League of Villains meeting.
I never counted on the League ruining my plans to enjoy the university experience with my bestie. Or the nemesis who haunts my nightmares turning his telepathy on the city I grew up expecting to protect with my powers. One thing’s for sure, superhero school isn’t for the faint of heart.
Super U: Rising Storm is an M/X superhero slow-burn best friends to lovers romance. It is part of a multi-author shared universe following the university adventures of superheroes in training. Gerald is a trans man who commands the wind and electricity. Ignatius is his non-binary and autistic best friend, who controls electric sparks. Read now to watch them turn their spark into a storm.
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Excerpt
“Are you sure about this?” I already know Gerald is going to talk me around. He’s my best friend, and I’d follow him to way more dangerous places than my pop’s basement villain lair.
“Yeah, come on, your pop has everything we need in his lab.” Gerald hops up from where we’re studying in my family’s dining room. His unattended pencil rolls away, clattering to the floor.
“Which we aren’t allowed to use without permission,” I remind him. I stand to retrieve the pencil—not because I’m going along with Ger’s schemes. Nope. Not at all.
“We have to turn in our science fair project proposal by tomorrow, Ig.” Gerald intercepts me before I get to the pencil. He turns me toward the basement by the shoulders. Our folks are all outside on the patio talking and enjoying the evening, so it’s not like they’re going to conveniently stop us. I glance longingly in their direction, anyway. I dislike breaking rules, but I hate disappointing Gerald even more.
“Well, yeah. But I thought we agreed on making an electric circuit?” I wiggle my fingers to remind him of my sparks.
“That was before I knew we could make a cannon, Ignatius. A freaking cannon, for potatoes.” He squeezes his grip on my shoulders tighter and talks too close to my face. I’d hate that sort of manhandling from anyone else, but with Ger, I don’t mind as much. I still can’t meet his gaze and the visceral sensation of his eyes boring into me as he pleads makes me squirm.
“Isn’t that dangerous?” I ask, partly to distract myself from my discomfort. Gerald seems to notice, as he backs off on the intense face-to-face.
“It’s perfectly safe if we follow the plans.” He turns toward his goal, and I fall into step beside him even as I continue to argue.
“That you found online?” I’m still skeptical.
Gerald waves away my concerns. “Look, there are hundreds of videos online of teens making these things. Kids younger than us. It’s safe, Ig. I promise.”
“Is it very loud?” I rub at my ears, preemptively blocking out the imagined noise.
“Not very.” Gerald shrugs. He opens the basement door and flicks on the lights. “We can test it out before the fair, to be sure it won’t bother you.”
“Where?”
“I know a spot. Don’t you worry.”
Famous last words. It might have changed everything for us, if I told Gerald no that day. I’m not good at denying my best friend anything, though. Most of the time, I don’t even want to. Gerald knew I’d go along with his plans before he even asked. I always do. He is already down the stairs and halfway to the hidden catch that unlocks the door to Foxy’s lair.
“Okay, I guess we can borrow the lab to see if Pop has what we need.” I relent as the door slides open to reveal a technomancer’s dream work space. That’s my pop, nobody’s hero. He calls himself a freelancer, but most people say that’s just a nicer name for unaffiliated supervillains. Either way, his lab has some impressive toys, and it’s always fun when he lets Gerald and me borrow them.
A few weeks later, our potato cannon is ready for testing. True to his word, Ger finds a secluded overgrown lot near an abandoned industrial building that backs onto some woods and a park for our experiment.
Our science teacher is making us film the cannon in action and then calculate the force and velocity of our projectiles to present alongside the video clip. So we can use it for our science fair entry, but we can’t actually bring an imitation weapon to school. The verdict from our teacher disappointed Gerald, but I figure doing this with just the two of us rather than in the crowded schoolyard makes more sense.
I stand back to record everything on my phone, noise-canceling headphones firmly over my ears to block out the sounds of the cannon firing. Gerald sets everything else up for the experiment. Armed with our science project, several cans of aerosols so we can compare their efficacy as combustion fuel, and a five kilo bag of potatoes, we get to work.
The first shot falls short. Not very impressive. So Gerald loads the next potato down the barrel. He increases the amount of fuel he sprays into the combustion chamber, and launches the next potato right into the side of the empty building. It lands with a wet splat. The third shot shatters an old window and flies right inside… only to be chased back outside by Vespula.
Gerald drops the potato cannon and we both flatten ourselves onto our bellies in the tall grass at her unexpected appearance. I recognize her yellow and black banded super suit from footage of Balantin defending the city. Vespula is a nasty-tempered villain, like the wasp she takes her name from. Her power is flight, and she wields poisoned darts treated with a mild paralytic agent.
She likes to say her sting is worse than her bite. Whatever that means. We’re in trouble when she spots us. And then more villains pour out of the building through the door and we’re really screwed. I recognize most of them, and to a supe, they are part of Toronto’s League of Villains. As I scan the building, some intrepid henchperson has tagged the wall near the door with their telltale double fangs logo in neon green spray paint.
“We should go,” I hiss at Gerald. He doesn’t seem to hear me.
Author Bio
Alex Silver (he/them) grew up mostly in Northern Maine and is currently living in Canada with a spouse, two kids, and two birds. Alex is a trans guy who started writing fiction as a child and never stopped.
| Author Website | https://alexsilverauthor.wordpress.com/ |
| Author Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/groups/alexsalc |