Hello, and if you’re reading this far then you must have liked the books! My blogs have been up for over a year, and I have finally gotten around to a comments page. (For earlier comments, look around–they’re attached to everything.) So if you have comments/questions about the books, this is the place.
A comment of my own: one of the best ways to thank writers for a great experience is to express your enthusiasm on the sales-site where you discovered their stories. In my case this means Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble (BN.com). Even if the review is nothing more than “Great book!” and a star-rating, the reader ratings have an effect on search rankings when buyers are surfing the titles of different genres and categories. In other words, good ratings mean increased sales. Think of it as tipping the piano-man on the way out.
-Marion G. Harmon
I have two words for you:
WRITE FASTER.
I just finished both WTC books (I’ll be giving you glowing reviews on Amazon directly) and absolutely adored them. I love your universe, your characters, and your style. I snagged Wearing the Cape on a whim, and boy am I glad I did! It’s always an iffy proposition trying unknown authors (and new genres), but I will gleefully purchase anything that has your name on it from this point forward.
Cheers!
Thank you. I will, indeed, endeavor to write faster.
Okay, I just got Wearing the Cape yesterday. I am about halfway through. I have one big question to start off with:
How could you not find a publisher for this book? It is a solid story, tightly written, with a great premise. You have done an amazing job in creating a full environment, from Hope’s family, to the Bees (VERY nice touch), to a range of experiences moving the story along.
You flesh out the rest of the Sentinels very well, just enough without making them a distraction to the thrust of the story. Your philosophical musings are very interesting, particularly the time-travel ideas, and I liked the disagreement Hope has with Atlas about the Brotherhood-Boys fight. You go in-depth on the tropes of your story, examining details like costumes, patrols, and team-ups, that add depth to the story, and do not distract. Your various characters are likable, without being mushy. And while I am male, I am married, and grew up with two sisters, and I think you write very well from Hope’s POV. I would be intrigued by a woman’s perspective on your story, and may ask my wife to read the book when I am done.
I am curious about a few things. First, are you a fan of Andrew Greeley’s novels? Father Nolan sounded a bit like Bishop Blackie. Second, are you familiar with Paragons from Green Ronin Publishing? It is a setting “toolkit” for the Mutants and Masterminds RPG, with a similar basic premise to your Event, and they discuss “origin chasers” in the book. I do see you are a GURPS player, so I wondered if you had seen that supplement.
I am not going to tell you this book is perfect, by any means, but it is a great read. It reminds me a bit of Mercedes Lackey’s first Valdemar book, Arrows of the Queen, which was also a great read, even though it seemed to be trying to tell a whole lot of stories instead of just one, resulting in some side stories coming out of the blue to take over the main storyline. I enjoyed it, and thought it was quite good, with a few caveats. I think the same here, except I think you are far more focused, keeping the storyline tight on your first person narrator.
I did note one detail that threw me: Hope’s cancer. You reference it as a cover story, but the first part of Hope’s narration only mentions that she got sick. It just struck me as an odd place to drop the Big C, revealing the nature of her sickness. Overall, a minor misstep.
Thank you for your efforts. I have been reading a lot of superhero prose fiction, and yours is up there with the best I have read so far. Devil’s Cape by Rob Rogers was probably my favorite, for his characterization, dialog, and pacing. Soon I Will Be Invincible was very good, but very…deconstructionist. I also got tired of Grossman’s playing with archetypes. You do, also, but I think more effectively, and with an eye to telling your story, in your way, with characters that may reflect archetypes, but remain original. I kept feeling like Grossman actually wanted to be telling a Superman-Batman-Wonder Woman story. In my mind, Elliot S. Maggin’s Superman novels set a hell of a standard, but many worthy writers have followed suite. You are one of those writers. Thank you for sharing your story with us. I look forward to continuing the journey with you.
Glad to hear you’re enjoying it–hope the end lives up to the rest for you!
To answer your questions:
Publishing is a business, so agents and publishers look for what they believe will sell. Superhero fiction is a very new and narrow genre and I am an unknown author. ‘Nuff said.
Congratulations! You are the first reader who has mentioned Blackie Ryan. Father Nolan is a complete steal–I prefer to call it an “homage.” More seriously, the Punk is one of my favorite characters; when the plot called for a priest I just couldn’t resist paying tribute to Greeley’s genius.
I am familiar with Paragons. I don’t know when it was published, but my brother called it to my attention while I was in the throes of creating the post-Event world and I even own a copy. I’d already picked up the theme of origin chasers from a DC comic (Bulleteer) that came out a few years ago, and decided it was a necessary consequence of any superhero world where powers arise from “accidents.” Probably my biggest departure from Paragons is simply that I have never tried to explain the Event–not even to myself on paper. And I never will.
Lastly, I’m very flattered by the company you put me in; I hope my writing continues to meet your expectations.
-George
I just finished the book. You do not disappoint!
I will type up a review for Amazon.com. Now, I just have to find the money for Villains, Inc.
Cool–I look forward to reading it and hope Villains Inc. continues the trend.
George, just finished Bite Me, and as I expected, I enjoyed it very much. Do you want/need/accept unsolicited editing comments? I found a couple of words mispelled, and would be happy to tell you about them if you do. Very minor things really, in a truly fun read. I am looking forward to whatever you release next.
S,
Kevin
Absolutely–until I format the paperback edition I can make minor changes easily.
George, Amazon review posted. I hope my review sparks interest. I truly enjoyed the book, and my review reflects this fact. The two spelling errors I noted in the text are:
location 3277 (near the end) it mentions going from hanger to hanger, but airplanes are stored inside Hangars. Location 3027 when discussing wine MC talks of “nose and pallet”, but I think he means nose and palate. I hope these help, and aren’t too nitpicky!
Best,
Kevin
Not at all. When something like this happens I check the spellings in my master file, correct as needed, and sooner or later the change is formatted and uploaded to Amazon. Meanwhile I’m relieved–these are small enough most won’t notice.
Marvelous writing, to summarize all my reactions so far.
Keep up the good work.
I would like to know if ‘Bite Me’ will be available in paper format as well, in the near future.
This as I don’t own, nor will purchase, an e-reader.
Bite Me should be available in paperback by the end of October. I’m glad you’re enjoying my stories so far.
Hey Mark,
I have really enjoyed reading WTC, Villian Inc and Bite Me. When do you plan to publish another? and what happened to “Casper the Unfriendly Ghost”?
“Casper” will certainly play a part in the next Bite Me book–the reason I included him. I’m currently working on Young Sentinels, the third Wearing the Cape story.
I’ve read WTC, Villains Inc. , and just finished Bite Me. All three are awesome, and I eagerly await future stories. One thing I would like to share is this. I’ve always been good at creative writing myself, but could never seem to sit down and write, or come up with an idea that I could possibly put into a feature length novel. I too also play the pen and paper RPG’s (most recently the awesome new Marvel system). To shorten this up, I decided to create my own world for my group, and it was your books that inspired me. At first I was going to just use your world for the setting, but one morning I was dozing in bed, and Bam! Bam! Bam!…. idea after idea after idea popped into my head. So I researched the aspects I needed to for realism, and wrote the beginning of the story. It’s definitely mine, and quite different from your world, but it was your wonderful work that inspired me. I’m still writing it, putting it together. Everyone that’s read it so far has loved it, and my group is really looking forward to playing in it. But I would like to thank you for showing me a new type of superhero story, and I really look forward to reading what you come up with next.
-Dan
Thank you! I’m sure your new campaign will be a great success–and perhaps you’ll be able to write out your adventures. The superhero genre needs more creative stories.
Mr. Harmon,
First I want to say, great work on Wearing the Cape and Villains, Inc. Loved ‘em both. Have yet to find time in my schedule for more. I’m a huge fan of super-fellow prose–which is rather sparse in availability and typically of questionable quality–and sated my fix for it primarily by playing and roleplaying in City of Heroes (rest in peace, little game that could!). Your books filled a void for me, and are part of what inspired me to start writing my own.
I’m working on a little ditty called “Malevolence” in my spare time, and have gotten about 3/4s through a complete rewrite after finishing a draft. I expect it to come in just shy of 75k words, so it’d be a novella by anyone’s standards. I’ve also started laying the groundwork for a sequel as ideas come to me. Anyway, the story of “Malevolence” centers around a recently-paroled supervillain returning to the world of capes and tights, and finding that he may be irrelevant. When he discovers that while he was incarcerated, his creations were put to use by another supervillain to aid in their plot to take over the world, he isn’t happy–to say the least. And so he take his mission of revenge out to not only the colorful, arrogant heroes of the world he lives in, but his brethren villains as well.
I would be keen to send you the final draft when it’s done, edited, and polished, for your thoughts as a fellow writer of super-person fiction whose work I admire and respect.
Best of luck with all your other projects and have a great holiday season!
Regards,
Alexander
Congratulations on finishing a full manuscript! Great ideas are everywhere–actually finishing is a major achievement. I appreciate the offer of a pre-publication draft. However, between my own research and writing, I have so little reading time that my to-read list has already grown to epic size (there are even new releases in much-loved series I have yet to get to). Occasionally, as today, I spot something I can’t ignore, but mostly I’m just trying to keep my head down and soldier on. That said, if you still wish to send me a copy I will be happy to put it in my to-read stack. I hope Malevolence is only the first of many.
M.G.Harmon
Hello again! I’d love to send you a copy of the first novella in the series. I can toss you a PDF in the very near future, but just need to know where to send it! Thanks again!
mgharmon@embarqmail.com. Again, no idea when I can read or comment on it. If you’ll take a suggestion, I recommend checking out writer-sharing sites such as Youwriteon.com as a means of getting honest and wide-ranging critiques on your work. I put all three of my current-published stories (the first 7,000 words of each, anyway) through that site, and comments I received helped Big Time.
Hi George! Thanks again for the reply. I only *just* got notified about it again. I’ll send you a copy in the next few days, and will certainly check out the site you recommended.
Thanks for letting me send you the PDF. Any formatting issues and typos you may find in what I sent are resolved, and the eBook is live @ https://tinyurl.com/afetn6a Thanks for your support, and please let me know what you think when you do get a chance to read it!
I just have one little request. I love the covers for the books, but it would be nice to see a picture of Hope without the mask and wig. Hope instead of Astra. Maybe Shelly, too. Odd, I know, but it would be nice to see her as herself. The stories are fabulous, by the way.
Funny you should ask. Since my cover artist charges a pretty penny (worth it!) for her work, I don’t foresee any non-cover character sketches coming any time soon. However, here’s this; I always had a picture of Hope in my mind, and then I saw her on TV the other day–it was an interview with AnnaSophia Robb. Not the same, yet the same, if you know what I mean.
For Shelly I’ve got nothing besides “freckled redhead.” Sorry.
All three books out so far have been a treat to read. Wearing the cape was an Amazon recommendation and sitting on the back burner of my list until I discovered it was set in Oak Park / Chicago. Some of my fondest memories of gaming are from playing a hero set in Oak Park so I had to read it. I am so glad I did. Thanks for writing them!
Glad you enjoyed them, and I look forward to reading your Amazon reviews!
I am continuing to love these books – I’ve read the first two WTC books twice now, read “Omega Night” in fifteen minutes, and now I’m enjoying “Bite Me.” Also – when I purchased “Bite Me” for my Kindle, it was $7.99! I think that’s great that your books are now getting more “standard” pricing, because it implies a certain amount of marketability.
Now, this makes me wonder – and forgive me if this is a prying question – has self publishing allowed you to quit your “day job” and write full time? Or to perhaps frame the question in a less personal way, do you feel that writers who self-publish have the potential to do so with enough success that they can become full time writers?
Also – the “Capeverse” is awesome! Have you ever toyed with the idea of allowing other folks to contribute to the setting, a la “Wild Cards”?
I’m happy that my stories have made it to your Reread List. I am, in fact, making more money on my books now than I am on my extremely part-time day job and I am trying to transition into a “professional” writing career. As to doing multi-author anthologies a la Wild Cards or Ring of Fire, I would love to–but that will have to wait until I have an agent and publisher who can handle the legal details. As an aside, I suspect that the first sign that the Wearing the Cape books have truly arrived will be the appearance of fanfic. (Not sure I’m looking forward to that–it depends on the content.)
Sir, I consider that fanfic remark a proper CHALLENGE. Honor demands I produce such!
I’d do the same if I weren’t so caught up in writing the sequel to my own superhero fic. Conflict of interest, ya know?
Read the four stories on Kindle, really like them. Astera and Artemis characters feel real to me(good job),their world too.
From your style I thought you were female(suprising). Looking forward to the next.
Been wondering what all the people look like,I’m kinda used to manga and other graphic novels. Maby somebody can get it done. Reading “Bite me” I didn’t get the referances to Baron Samedi or the Lucy or Mina type girls. I hope the next one comes out soon.
Glad you enjoyed the books. Baron Samedi is a loa (look him up on Wikipedia). Lucy and Mina were characters in Brahm Stoker’s Dracula novel. Lucy was blonde, Mina dark-haired.
First of all, let me congratulate you on a well-described, fairly realistic word, plotlines that make sense, likeable and human characters and a fresh viewpoint into how the public at large would really respond to the appearance of superpowers. Some or all of the above are often missing from superhero fiction (in comics or otherwise) and they are the primary reasons I started reading your series. I found out about Wearing the Cape in the internet while doing an active search for some superhero fiction to read in fantastic.fiction.co.uk and have been a fan ever since.
Now, something I wanted to ask for some time that struck me as odd. Astra can lift 9-10 tons before having to put real effort, right? Yet we see her having serious problems “pushing against the air” when getting close to the speed of sound. Now, a human in freefall has a terminal velocity of up to 200 mph in low altitude, where his own weight is fully countered by aerodynamic drag. Said drag increasing at the square of velocity, if that 200-pound man was pushed by 100 times the force -by Astra’s own strength for example- they should go at 10 times the velocity, or 2000 mph (Mach 3). So why is Astra so much slower than she should be given her strength, especially since she’s got much less drag than a 200-pound man? Ditto for the felt acceleration in, say, Omega Night. A single extra g of acceleration for one minute gives a speed of Mach 2 so if she was pulling enough gs to risk blacking out…
I realize I’m talking physics applied to a world with superpowers but it should be noted the real-life skydiving speed record (albeit at really high altitudes) is 1.25 Mach for a perfectly normal guy merely falling and that fighter jets that outfly Atlas-types in your books have thrust/weight ratios of maybe 2:1 while Astra would have nearly 200:1…
There are several reasons why Astra’s lifting capacity might not translate into flight speed at a 1/1 ratio; one might be the difference between simply lifting something (a single action) and lifting the same object over and over and over and over and over etc. However, the truth is that I based Astra’s flight speed and lifting capacity on the levels appropriate for a 2,000 point Archetype template using the most recent edition of GURPS Supers–a game system which treats strength and flight as two completely separate powers. So you’re right: if you treat Astra’s lifting strength and her flight as two sides of the same power, the ability to exert force, they don’t add up.
Glad you enjoyed Omega Night enough to break it down–that one was fun to write.
Thanks for the quick reply – and yes, I enjoyed Omega Night immensely after I put my inner physicist under a temporary sensory deprivation spell.
Regarding Astra’s powers, from what I’m reading in general she doesn’t really have superstrength in the same way Rush doesn’t really have superspeed. If she were truly superstrong, she’d be at least as fast as Rush outside Hypertime – imagine someone that can throw punches, turn around and take steps as fast as they can blink since the weight of their own bodies would be irrelevant compared to their strength and their largest moves would be as fast as their smallest. If an advanced typist can type 600 letters per minute, an individual with real superstrength and the same dexterity could punch you 10 times per second.
PS:
That Archetype is underoptimized. I accidentally leveled Belfast in a 850-point GURPS game a few years ago. “Uncontrollable” and nuke-level powers are a bad combo.