Superpower fiction (and super giveaway!)

Let’s face it, True Believers: comic book action has escaped from the musty aisles of mom and pop shops and soared into the stratosphere of the pop culture mainstream. From blockbuster movies like “The Dark Knight” and “Iron Man” to television programs like “Heroes” and “The 4400,” superpowered men and women have captured our collective imagination – and now our bookshelves!

Superpowered fiction has come into its own and in just about every way that you can imagine. How about podcasting for starts? Podcasting authors Mur Lafferty and Matthew Wayne Selznick stormed their way to the top of many an iTune subscriber’s “must-listen” list with their inspired and offbeat superhero novels, “Brave Men Run” and “Playing for Keeps.” Both Lafferty and Selznick aren’t afraid to play with convention, like superheroes with near-useless or oddball powers in “Playing for Keeps,” and mashing comic book action with retro-teen angst a la John Hughes in “Brave Men Run.” So popular were these podcasts that they were eventually brought into print from Swarm Press, along with novelist and label-mate Van Allen Plexico, whose “Sentinels” novels capture the action and spirit of famous comics teams like The Avengers.

Any discussion of original superhero fiction has to include the “Wild Cards” anthologies, a shared world edited by George R. R. Martin. An ongoing source of original superhero fiction for over twenty years, the Wild Cards collections have featured stories by Walter Jon Williams, Chris Claremont, Roger Zelazny and more. The series is going strong today, with a new volume, “Busted Flush,” being released by TOR books in December 2008.

Another way that superhero literature has made the leap from comic book pages to novel form is in the form of spin-off novels. These have really come into their own in recent years with established authors like Tom Piccirilli (”Hellboy: Emerald Hell“) and Jeff VanderMeer (”Predator: South China Sea“) bringing their own unique visions to the genre. While “Hellboy” and “Predator” might make you think that only horror and sci fi icons can make the leap to full-length novel form, author Kevin J. Anderson, whose “The Last Days of Krypton” explores the past of caped crusader’s doomed homeworld, shows that traditional superheroes like Superman continue to command a loyal audience among fans and new readers.

While longtime comic book readers may argue the merits – or even bemoan the sight – of seeing the art form they’ve championed for so many years being embraced by the mainstream, one thing is for sure: much like a hapless teenager bitten by a radioactive spider, popular culture has been permanently transformed by their influence.

GIVEAWAY!

Want to win an a advance review copy of “Busted Flush,” the new Wild Cards anthology edited by George R.R. Martin and published by TOR BOOKS? What about Kevin J. Andersons’s “The Last Days of Krypton?” from Harper?

Just leave a comment on THIS POST between now and October 8 to be entered into a drawing for ONE of the two books!

THANKS TO TOR and HARPER for making this contest possible!