Book picks similar to
Big In Japan by Casey Glanders
superheroes
urban-fantasy
gailsone
japan
We Could Be Heroes
Harmon Cooper - 2019
But Sam Meeko can, and this is the story about how he discovered his utterly strange power (hint: through police brutality), the people he met immediately after (hint: three beautiful women), and the kick ass team they formed once they realized there was a vampire outbreak descending upon their city. When the cops don’t know what the hell is going on, and the real Centralian superhero teams can’t be bothered, saving the day falls to this ragtag bunch of half-powered superhero hopefuls. Assuming, of course, that they can get their acts together. (Warning: language and adult situations, action and mayhem, GameLit and harem elements.)
SCI Stories: Book 1 - Tainted Victory
Stuart Grosse - 2019
An authoritarian regime, the SCI controls everything to do with superhumans. Those supers who don't register with the SCI are excluded from society. Most become criminals, having no other choice. This is the story of heroes and villains living under the SCI. ----------------------------------------------------- The setting is a world of superheroes and sci-fi, and the main character is not a hero. He is a villain, with mental abilities. He is a bad man who does bad things. If you are looking for a golden age superhero story, you've come to the wrong place. If you're looking for a tale where the bad guy wins, keep reading. Rated R: Definite language, sex, and all the horrible things that can happen in the world. If you have triggers, consider this your warning.
The Cards
Stephen Leather - 2017
He soon realises that there is more to the cards than meets the eye and that his own future is looking very bleak indeed. The Cards is a fast-paced supernatural story of 10,000 words. Jack Nightingale appears in the full-length novels Nightfall, Midnight, Nightmare, Nightshade, Lastnight, San Francisco Night and New York Night. He also appears in several short stories including Blood Bath, Cursed, Still Bleeding, Tracks, My Name Is Lydia, The Creeper, The Undead, The Asylum, The Mansion and Wrong Turn. The Jack Nightingale time line is complex, this story is set between Midnight and Nightshade. Jack Nightingale has his own website at www.jacknightingale.com
Rule Zero
Laurence Timms - 2013
Then an unexpected message leads him into what could become his greatest – and strangest – case yet, a case whose foundations are inextricably linked to his own past.Rule Zero is a darkly comic thriller packed with psychic spies, prescient journalists, contact clairvoyants, repressed supermen, a lethal cocktail waitress and a roving troupe of ape-like security guards.Britain will never be the same again.
The Definitive Irredeemable Vol. 1
Mark Waid - 2011
IRREDEEMABLE dares to ask the question: what if the world's greatest hero decided to become the world's greatest villain? A "twilight of the superheroes"- style story that examines super-villains from the writer of KINGDOM COME and EMPIRE!
ZAP Agent Mathis
C.R. Daems - 2015
Of course it did fit a pattern of not being able to decide what she wanted to do with her life since grammar school. In college she had tried a variety of subjects, played sports, and partied, excelling at each, but she had graduated as undecided as she had been in grammar school. And the Ad, interview, and current speaker made the training sound like hard work and the job dangerous. But they had dangled two worms in front of her: the chance to see the lives of the rich and powerful up close and to protect important people. And she could quit if she decided it wasn’t what she was looking for—whatever that was. To everyone’s astonishment, can't-make-up-her-mind and party-girl Kate Mathis survives the training, makes agent, enjoys her job, and finds something she loves—outmaneuvering the terrorists.
Saviour - An Uncommon Tale
Sunny Sinha - 2020
He meets with an accident that changes the course of his life. It also changes him physically. He is now able to see the broken dreams, the pain and the time of death of any person with a mere physical touch. When he touches Simi, he learns that destiny has something bad in store for her. But destiny takes a sharp turn. In saving Simi, he becomes the cause of Raghu and Ishita’s accident. It is painful but it is a lesson that opens many doors for Arya.
Soul Full of Guns
John Birmingham - 2016
Thankfully not. Super Dave is dumpster fire of regret and disappointment for anyone who relies on him. Colonel Ekaterina Varatchevsky of the Russian GRU doesn't want to rely on him. A deep cover agent operating in the US as Karen Warat, a successful New York art dealer, Karin is gifted with superpowers courtesy of killing a Threshrend Daemonum which attacks her gallery and eats rather a large number of Manhattan's 1%. Now she doesn't have to rely on Dave any more. She has to target him. This is her story. Not told by Dave. Because you can't trust that guy.
The Rules of Supervillainy
C.T. Phipps - 2015
Supervillains, heroes, and monsters are a common part of the world he inhabits. Yet, after the death of his hometown's resident superhero, he gains the amazing gift of the late champion's magical cloak. Deciding he prefers to be rich rather than good, Gary embarks on a career as Merciless: The Supervillain Without Mercy. But is he evil enough to be a villain in America's most crime-ridden city? Gary soon finds himself surrounded by a host of the worst of Falconcrest City's toughest criminals. Supported by his long-suffering wife, his ex-girlfriend turned professional henchwoman, and a has-been evil mastermind, Gary may end up being not the hero they want but the villain they need.
Game Knight
Andrew Mayne - 2015
The first time they came for Kevin he woke up in a forest on the edge of town with a sword and only seconds to save his life before a lunatic with a battle axe nearly split his skull. At first he thought it was a dream, then it became a living nightmare as he found himself night after night having to fight in abandoned shopping malls, dark alleys and swamps on the outskirts of civilization. The rules were simple; they could come for him anytime they wanted, and if he resisted, someone close to him would die. A twisted clash of Fight Club and Game of Thrones where the only way to survive is to never stop playing.
The Culling
Peter Meredith - 2020
It’s time to tear down and start again. And what better way to eradicate humanity than by unleashing the monsters inside each of us? Destroying mankind is simple compared to perfecting a new version of mankind. Just as evil resides within all of us, the hero does as well. It’s just much harder to bring out. The Chosen are those few who survive the process. They become greater in every regard. The other 98% however, become the stuff of nightmares. Wickedly cunning and ferociously strong, they are insatiable demons that make the average zombie look like it's made of sticks and string.Into this cataclysm Bryce Carter is thrown wearing nothing but a hospital gown. He dared to defy Magnus, who felt injecting him with the serum just wasn’t punishment enough. Barefoot and bleeding, Bryce has to fight his way out of a city overrun with zombies.Led by the demons, the dead sweep across the streets like a grey river, forcing him to crawl through sewers and down into the dark tunnels beneath the blood-soaked streets. He’s hounded relentlessly and growing desperate as he only has so much time. Nuclear weapons are being readied and soon the city will be nothing but dust and ash.
Prepare to Die!
Paul Tobin - 2012
Then a freak chemical spill transformed him into Reaver, the man whose super-powerful fists can literally take a year off a bad guy's life. Days ago, he found himself at the mercy of his arch-nemesis Octagon and a whole crew of fiendish super-villains, who gave him two weeks to settle his affairs--and prepare to die. Now, after years of extraordinary adventures and crushing tragedies, the world's greatest hero is returning to where it all began in search of the boy he once was . . . and the girl he never forgot. Exciting, scandalous, and ultimately moving, Prepare to Die! is a unique new look at the last days of a legend.
Just Cause
Ian Thomas Healy - 2007
Mustang Sally runs. A third-generation superhero, Sally's life changes forever when she fights and loses to the notorious villain Destroyer, who killed her father just before she was born. She dedicates herself to tracking him down so she can even the score.When all you can do is run, you'd better be fast, but can even the fastest girl in the world run quick enough to save her teammates' lives from Destroyer and his growing parahuman army?
Blackjack Villain
Ben Bequer - 2012
A small-time villain. I know I’m not a big leaguer, but more than one wannabe hero has ended up in traction after getting in my way. I mostly stick to easy stuff, though, like popping banks and armored cars, and make a little money where I can. Living good is nice, you know?I thought I had it all figured out, until I found a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: A slot in a big time super villain team.The gig seemed like a dream. Steal bits of dusty old crap from different parts of the world and make serious cash. But little would I know that what would start small would end up sending me halfway across the galaxy (or was it to a different dimension?), and at the end of it all the fate of our planet, and everyone living in it, would be in my hands.Oh, and I met a girl.A girl that changed everything.
Illusive
Emily Lloyd-Jones - 2014
A small percentage of the population developed superhero-like powers, and Americans suffering from these so-called adverse effects were given an ultimatum: Serve the country or be declared a traitor.Some people chose a third option: live a life of crime.Seventeen-year-old Ciere Giba has the handy ability to change her appearance at will. She's what's known as an illusionist. She's also a thief. After crossing a gang of mobsters, Ciere must team up with a group of fellow superpowered criminals on a job that most would have considered impossible: a hunt for the formula that gave them their abilities. It was supposedly destroyed years ago - but what if it wasn't?Government agents are hot on their trail, and the lines between good and bad, us and them, and freedom and entrapment are blurred as Ciere and the rest of her crew become embroiled in a deadly race that could cost them their lives.