Synopses & Reviews
Twenty-two of today's most talented writers (and comics fans) unite in andlt;iandgt;Who Can Save Us Now?,andlt;/iandgt; an anthology featuring brand-new superheroes equipped for the threats and challenges of the twenty-first century -- with a few supervillains thrown in for good measure. Edited and with contributions by Owen King andlt;iandgt;(We're All in This Together)andlt;/iandgt; and John McNally andlt;iandgt;(America's Report Card), Who Can Save Us Now?andlt;/iandgt; enriches the superhero canon immeasurably. andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt; With mutations stranger than the X-Men and with even more baggage than the Hulk, this next generation of superheroes is a far cry from your run-of-the-mill caped crusader. From the image-conscious and not-very-mysterious masked meathead who swoops in and sweeps the tough girl reporter off her feet; to the Meerkat, who overcomes his species' cute and cuddly image to become the resident hero in a small Midwestern city; to the Silverfish, "the creepy superhero," who fights crime while maintaining the slipperiest of identities; to Manna Man, who manipulates the minds of televangelists to serve his own righteous mission, these protectors (and in some cases antagonizers) of the innocent and the virtuous will delight literary enthusiasts and comic fans alike. andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt; With stunning illustrations by artist Chris Burnham, andlt;iandgt;Who Can Save Us Now?andlt;/iandgt; offers a vibrant, funny, and truly unusual array of characters and their stories.
Synopsis
Edited and with contributions by Owen King (We're All in This Together) and John McNally (America's Report Card this anthology enriches the superhero canon immeasurably. Twenty-two of today's most talented writers (and comics fans) unite in Who Can Save Us Now?, an anthology featuring brand-new superheroes equipped for the threats and challenges of the twenty-first century -- with a few supervillains thrown in for good measure. With mutations stranger than the X-Men and with even more baggage than the Hulk, this next generation of superheroes is a far cry from your run-of-the-mill caped crusader.
From the image-conscious and not-very-mysterious masked meathead who swoops in and sweeps the tough girl reporter off her feet; to the Meerkat, who overcomes his species' cute and cuddly image to become the resident hero in a small Midwestern city; to the Silverfish, the creepy superhero, who fights crime while maintaining the slipperiest of identities; to Manna Man, who manipulates the minds of televangelists to serve his own righteous mission, these protectors (and in some cases antagonizers) of the innocent and the virtuous will delight literary enthusiasts and comic fans alike.
With stunning illustrations by artist Chris Burnham, Who Can Save Us Now? offers a vibrant, funny, and truly unusual array of characters and their stories.
Synopsis
Jennifer Weiner, J. Robert Lennon, Tom Bissell, Kelly Braffet, and more of today's most talented and original writers unite to fight the forces of evil in this vibrant, imaginative anthology of tales about modern-day superheroes. Illustrated.
About the Author
Owen King is the author of We're All in This Together: A Novella and Stories. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The Bellingham Review, The Boston Globe, One Story, Paste Magazine, and Subtropics, among other publications. He lives in New York with his wife, the novelist Kelly Braffet. In researching the events described in "The Meerkat" he benefited from the kind assistance of Maile Chapman, and the scholarship of Peter Golub, Russian translator and expert in the history of Soviet Nuclear Defense Robots. Thank you, both. As to the matter of his favorite superhero, King writes that after agonizing deliberations, he has settled on Captain Marvel, because "no matter what the situation, it can almost always be improved by simply shouting 'SHAZAM!'" John McNally is the author of two novels, The Book of Ralph and America's Report Card, and a short story collection, Troublemakers. His next book, Ghosts of Chicago, a collection of short stories, will be published this fall. A native of Chicago, he lives with his wife, Amy, in North Carolina, where he is associate professor of English at Wake Forest University. The first word he ever spoke was "Batman," who has remained, in his darker incarnations, his favorite superhero. John's first creative work, a play written in the fourth grade, featured an overweight superhero who gets stuck inside a phone booth while changing into his costume. He is happy to return to the genre, albeit thirty-four years later.
Table of Contents
Introduction
THE MOST UNLIKELY BEGINNINGS
Girl Reporter
Stephanie Harrell
The Oversoul
Graham Joyce
Nate Pinckney-Alderson, Superhero
Elizabeth Crane
The Horses Are Loose
Cary Holladay
The Quick Stop 5®
Sam Weller
THE BEAST WITHIN
Remains of the Night
John McNally
The Pentecostal Home for Flying Children
Will Clarke
The Meerkat
Owen King
A SHADOWY FIGURE
When the Heroes Came to Town
Michael Czyzniejewski
The Thirteenth Egg
Scott Snyder
In Cretaceous Seas
Jim Shepard
Roe #5
Richard Dooling
The Snipper
Noria Jablonski
BEHIND THE MASK
Man Oh Man -- It's Manna Man
George Singleton
My Interview with the Avenger
Tom Bissell
The Rememberer
J. Robert Lennon
The Sisters of St. Misery
Lauren Grodstein
Mr. Big Deal
Sean Doolittle
SUPER ORDINARY
The Somewhat Super
David Yoo
Bad Karma Girl Wins at Bingo
Kelly Braffet
League of Justice (Philadelphia Division)
Jennifer Weiner
The Lives of Ordinary Superheroes
David Haynes
Acknowledgments