Book picks similar to
The Reluctant Superhero by Micah B. Edwards


superhero
apocalypse-whenever
cyberpunk
fantasy-sci-fi

Superheroes in Prose: Welcome to Prose


Sevan Paris - 2012
    Pretty awesome, right? Imagine you have the power to levitate or crush something the size of a Winnebago. Equally awesome. Now ... here’s the catch: having the power means you are bonded irreversibly to a smartass, sociopathic alien life form.Not so awesome.So, what would you do with all of that power? The way I figured it, I had one of two options: Option #1) Use it to commit crime or Option #2) Use it to fight crime. My name is Gabe Garrison and I chose Option #2. This is my story …

Existence


David Brin - 2012
    Gerald Livingston is an orbital garbage collector. For a hundred years, people have been abandoning things in space, and someone has to clean it up. But there’s something spinning a little bit higher than he expects, something that isn’t on the decades’ old orbital maps. An hour after he grabs it and brings it in, rumors fill Earth’s infomesh about an “alien artifact.” Thrown into the maelstrom of worldwide shared experience, the Artifact is a game-changer. A message in a bottle; an alien capsule that wants to communicate. The world reacts as humans always do: with fear and hope and selfishness and love and violence. And insatiable curiosity.

The Prometheus Effect


David Fleming - 2017
    All around the globe, energy reserves are dangerously low. Superpowers brace for battle over what remains. Should Jack share his energy solution?He thinks it’s too dangerous.The power potential is as important as Prometheus discovering fire and giving it to man. There must be a way to use what he knows, but he’s conflicted. Maybe the brilliant mind of Mykl can solve the puzzle?Mykl is five.Is the answer worth the cost?You’ll love this Dystopian Science Fiction, because the world building is brilliant, the technology is fascinating, and the story keeps you turning pages. And don’t be fooled……this isn’t for kids.Get it now.

George R. R. Martin: Short Stories, Volume 1


George R.R. Martin - 2003
    Martin was born September 20, 1948 in Bayonne, New Jersey. He began writing very young, selling monster stories to other neighborhood children for pennies, dramatic readings included. Later he became a comic book fan and collector in high school, and began to write fiction for comic fanzines (amateur fan magazines). Martin's first professional sale was made in 1970 at age 21: "The Hero," sold to Galaxy, published in February, 1971 issue. Other sales followed. Moving on to Hollywood, Martin signed on as a story editor for Twilight Zone at CBS Television in 1986. In 1987 Martin became an Executive Story Consultant for Beauty and the Beast at CBS. In 1988 he became a Producer for Beauty and the Beast, then in 1989 moved up to Co-Supervising Producer. He was Executive Producer for Doorways, a pilot which he wrote for Columbia Pictures Television, which was filmed during 1992-93. Martin's present home is Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (he was South-Central Regional Director 1977-1979, and Vice President 1996-1998), and of Writers' Guild of America, West. Volume 1 of "George R. R. Martin: Short Stories" contains the Hugo, Locus Poll and Nebula Award? Winning "Sandkings," and more excellent short science fiction and fantasy.

The Quantum Magician


Derek Künsken - 2018
    He found a precarious balance as a con man, but when a client offers him untold wealth to move a squadron of warships across an enemy wormhole, he must embrace his birthright to even try. In fact, the job is so big that he'll need a crew built from all the new sub-branches of humanity. If he succeeds, he might trigger an interstellar war, but success might also point the way to the next step of Homo quantus evolution.

Good Intentions: A Supervillain Story


Michael Crider - 2015
    I recommend you read this book in full before beginning your journey, as approximately six out of ten villains are captured or killed before completing their third extra-legal activity. Any portion of these instructions you neglect to read before then will represent a small waste of money on your part. - excerpt from Villainy for Dummies! by Professor ParasiteShawn Simmons lives in a world of superpowers. Until now he's always been content to walk beneath as his Heroes fly over, happy in the knowledge that he was making a contribution. But when his job hands him an opportunity for some much-needed heroics of his own, Shawn finds himself press ganged into the company of the world's largest villainous organization. Before long he's on the wrong side of both the super-powered and the powers that be. Now caught in the cruel clutches of a comic book cabal, Shawn is trapped between the criminal intentions of the planet's most feared supervillains and a woman with even higher aspirations. Can he escape from his poor decisions before he loses his family, his identity, and his life?Good Intentions: A Supervillain Story is a novel that celebrates and lampoons the conventions of superhero comic books, while approaching the subject from a completely new angle. It's full of interesting bad guys, kick-ass women of both virtuous and dubious nature, heart-pounding action, and a protagonist who would really prefer to avoid it.

Tales from the Loop


Simon Stålenhag - 2014
    The facility was complete in 1969, located deep below the pastoral countryside of Mälaröarna. The local population called this marvel of technology The Loop. These are its strange tales.Simon Stålenhag’s paintings of Swedish 1980s suburbia, populated by fantastic machines and strange beasts, have spread like wildfire on the Internet. The 2015 Kickstarter for the English version of the book raised over $320,000. Stålenhag’s portrayal of a childhood against a backdrop of old Volvo cars and coveralls, combined with strange and mystical machines, creates a unique atmosphere that is both instantly recognizable and utterly alien.In this top-quality artbook, Simon Stålenhag’s first set of paintings are collected in book form—together with texts that tell the stories of the youth who lived in the shadows of the machines. In addition, three separate prints (format 260×230 mm) as well as a full-color map (format 520x340mm) of the land of The Loop are included in the book.

Emperor Mollusk versus The Sinister Brain


A. Lee Martinez - 2012
    Destroyer of Worlds. Conqueror of Other Worlds. Mad Genius. Ex-Warlord of Earth.Not bad for a guy without a spine.But what's a villain to do after he's done . . . everything. With no new ambitions, he's happy to pitch in and solve the energy crisis or repel alien invaders should the need arise, but if he had his way, he'd prefer to be left alone to explore the boundaries of dangerous science. Just as a hobby, of course.Retirement isn't easy though. If the boredom doesn't get him, there's always the Venusians. Or the Saturnites. Or the Mercurials. Or . . . well, you get the idea. If that wasn't bad enough, there's also the assassins of a legendary death cult and an up-and-coming megalomaniac (as brilliant as he is bodiless) who have marked Emperor for their own nefarious purposes. But Mollusk isn't about to let the Earth slip out of his own tentacles and into the less capable clutches of another. So it's time to dust off the old death ray and come out of retirement. Except this time, he's not out to rule the world. He's out to save it from the peril of THE SINISTER BRAIN!

The Hunted Assassin


Paul B. Kohler - 2016
    His pretense is a disguise. His very existence on Taloo Station is no accident. Martin Wheeler—AKA Jaxon Rasner, is hiding from his past. After nearly a decade of living in obscurity, a team of killers is sent to end his life. Making matters worse, his estranged daughter is brutally abducted. Marked for death, he must return to the life he left behind as he races for survival throughout the Outer Ring, where he has no choice but to embrace the killer within.

Set Ablaze


Teyla Branton - 2016
    . . Tie-in to the series that shows where Ritter was those two missing months after The Change. In and out. Do the job. Renegade Blaze Vincent has survived years with this motto. Barely. Plucked from death’s door and revived repeatedly with curequick, he’s developed an addiction that threatens to destroy everything he’s worked for. Now the Emporium is buying fields around a tiny Portuguese town, and mortals—Blaze’s countrymen—are dying. Blaze and his partner, Kenna Murray, are determined to unravel their enemies’ intentions before the entire town is lost. But things tend to explode when Blaze is around. Literally. And to save his people, he must be willing to take yet one more step over the edge. Please Note: Set Ablaze is not as long as the books from Erin's viewpoint. This tie-in to the series can be enjoyed at any time. However, between The Change (Unbounded Book 1) and The Cure (Unbounded Book 2), Renegade Ritter Langton disappears for two months. Set Ablaze fits between those books in the Unbounded timeline, giving us a glimpse into what Ritter was doing. Keep in mind this novella ISN'T ABOUT RITTER, but tells the story of someone very close to him. Because readers are not made aware of Ritter’s whereabouts until nearly the end of The Cure, readers may better appreciate Set Ablaze after reading the first two books. If you’ve enjoyed the Unbounded series, you will love this extra peek into Ritter’s family. Praise for the UNBOUNDED series: “Excellent and well written!” “I recommend reading the entire series” “Thoroughly enjoyable” “High action and adventure” “Teyla Branton belongs right alongside Patricia Briggs, Kim Harrison, Ilona Andrews, Jennifer Estep, and Kelly Armstrong.”

The First & Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever (Thomas Covenant, #1-6)


Stephen R. Donaldson
    

Running Black


Patrick Todoroff - 2010
    Based in the Belfast Metro Zone, they're the best black contract outfit on the planet. Stable nano-technology: the melding of man and machine on a microscopic level. It's a break-through worth billions no one's been able to achieve. Until now. The Dawson Hull Conglomerate has finally developed a viable Nanotech Neural Network; an interface system that exponentially increases a person's cyber-capabilities. They're days away from unveiling the prototype to the world. And Eshu International just got hired to steal it. Video Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OFb28...

Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick


Philip K. Dick - 1982
    Dick was a master of science fiction, but he was also a writer whose work transcended genre to examine the nature of reality and what it means to be human. A writer of great complexity and subtle humor, his work belongs on the shelf of great twentieth-century literature, next to Kafka and Vonnegut. Collected here are twenty-one of Dick's most dazzling and resonant stories, which span his entire career and show a world-class writer working at the peak of his powers.In "The Days of Perky Pat," people spend their time playing with dolls who manage to live an idyllic life no longer available to the Earth's real inhabitants. "Adjustment Team" looks at the fate of a man who by mistake has stepped out of his own time. In "Autofac," one community must battle benign machines to take back control of their lives. And in "I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon," we follow the story of one man whose very reality may be nothing more than a nightmare. The collection also includes such classic stories as "The Minority Report," the basis for the Steven Spielberg movie, and "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," the basis for the film Total Recall. Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick is a magnificent distillation of one of American literature's most searching imaginations.» Introduction by Jonathan Lethem1. Beyond Lies the Wub (wikipedia)2. Roog (wikipedia)3. Paycheck (wikipedia, imdb)4. Second Variety (wikipedia, imdb)5. Imposter (wikipedia)6. The King of the Elves (wikipedia, imdb)7. Adjustment Team (wikipedia, imdb)8. Foster, You're Dead! (wikipedia)9. Upon the Dull Earth (wikipedia)10. Autofac (wikipedia)11. The Minority Report (wikipedia, imdb)12. The Days of Perky Pat (wikipedia)13. Precious Artifact14. A Game of Unchance15. We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (wikipedia, imdb)16. Faith of Our Fathers (wikipedia)17. The Electric Ant (wikipedia)18. A Little Something for Us Tempunauts (wikipedia)19. The Exit Door Leads In (wikipedia)20. Rautavaara's Case (wikipedia)21. I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon (wikipedia)

Change Agent


Daniel Suarez - 2017
    . . .    In 2045 Kenneth Durand leads Interpol’s most effective team against genetic crime, hunting down black market labs that perform "vanity edits" on human embryos for a price. These illegal procedures augment embryos in ways that are rapidly accelerating human evolution—preying on human-trafficking victims to experiment and advance their technology.   With the worlds of genetic crime and human trafficking converging, Durand and his fellow Interpol agents discover that one figure looms behind it all: Marcus Demang Wyckes, leader of a powerful and sophisticated cartel known as the Huli jing.   But the Huli jing have identified Durand, too. After being forcibly dosed with a radical new change agent, Durand wakes from a coma weeks later to find he’s been genetically transformed into someone else—his most wanted suspect: Wyckes.   Now a fugitive, pursued through the genetic underworld by his former colleagues and the police, Durand is determined to restore his original DNA by locating the source of the mysterious—and highly valuable—change agent. But Durand hasn’t anticipated just how difficult locating his enemy will be. With the technology to genetically edit the living, Wyckes and his Huli jing could be anyone and everyone—and they have plans to undermine identity itself.

Permutation City


Greg Egan - 1994
    Permutation city is the tale of a man with a vision - how to create immortality - and how that vision becomes something way beyond his control. Encompassing the lives and struggles of an artificial life junkie desperate to save her dying mother, a billionaire banker scarred by a terrible crime, the lovers for whom, in their timeless virtual world, love is not enough - and much more - Permutation city is filled with the sense of wonder.