Friday, August 16, 2013

Heroes & Villains Blog Tour

Hello, I'm Harper Kingsley, and this is the final stop on the Heroes & Villains blog tour. I've talked about Tetris, Ninja Turtles, Megamind, Lord of the Rings, and of course, Vereint and Warrick.

Heroes & Villains, Allies & Enemies, and All That Remains cover the three main periods of Vereint's life. Each is a standalone novel that follows Vereint and Warrick's relationship as it evolves and grows. Everything begins with Vereint's failure to be a superhero.

In a world populated by a mix of normal people and people possessing amazing abilities, every kid dreams of growing up to wear a cape. The only question is: Do they want to wear the cape as a hero or as a villain?

Vereint has always wanted to be a hero. From the minute he gained metabilities, he started planning his move to the city. He had dreams of being like his hero Blue Ice. But the reality of superhero life and the mockery of the public sees his Starburst cape permanently packed away for the black kato mask of Darkstar. His dreams of saving the world are retired for dreams of living well and being happy.

Is it a crime to have great power but to choose not to use it to help? To see catastrophes happening and choose to sit back and watch TV? To hear of terrible cruelties and choose to look away? To stand by while a bank is being robbed by a group of guys that bought rayguns off the Internet?

To some, Darkstar isn't just a villain because he robs banks and steals whatever he wants. He's a villain because there's so much he could do to help people and he doesn't. Because he is too powerful, too terrible, and it's too easy for him to lose control.

Heroes & Villains is about the love between Vereint and Warrick. The animosity between Blue Ice and Starburst. The dirty pleasure of Blue Ice and Darkstar. And how the most powerful man on the planet picks up followers when he doesn't even want them.

"As Darkstar wills, the Darksters follow."

I've had a lot of fun working on this series. There's something great about writing characters with superpowers. Anything can happen because these are people with inhuman strength and speed and a lot of them can fly.

I like writing vampires and shifters, magic guys that can fold time and space, and all kinds of amazing characters doing amazing things. Yet at the end of the day, superheroes will always hold a big chunk of my heart.

Which is why I've made Vereint the centerpiece of Heroes & Villains. There's just something about someone so powerful living in a crappy apartment surrounded by neighbors that are sure he's some kind of drug dealer or petty criminal. He's that weirdo in apartment 221B. Sure, he's really good looking, but there's something suspicious about him. He's a little shifty around the eyes.

Vereint is incredibly powerful and he's always believed that powerful people should use their gifts. It's just that sometimes he wants to be a normal guy, and that's how Warrick makes him feel. When they're not destroying buildings or arguing in the middle of a super battle, they have conversations and cuddle on the couch. They're two men on opposite sides that sometimes look very much the same.

Heroes & Villains was fun to write, and I hope people enjoy reading it. Thanks for following the tour.

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I'm giving out an ebook copy of Heroes & Villains at the end of this blog tour. You can earn five entries by following the tour and answering the question after each post. Make sure to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win.

I'll be using Random.org to pick a winner the morning of August 19th.

Answer the question in the comments: Do you have any "super human" abilities? (I personally can solve word finds faster than the computer can keep up. It's the power of nerd vision.)

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Heroes & Villains at Less Than Three Press.

All Vereint ever wanted was to be a superhero, fight alongside the other great heroes of the city and beat down the villains that plague them. There's just one problem: he sucks at it, at least according to the other heroes and the majority of the city. Instead of the greatness and glory of which he dreamed, Vereint spends his days alone, exhausted, and depressed. 

When the mockery and derision finally go too far, Vereint decides he's reached his limit. If he's never going to be good enough to succeed as the hero Starburst, maybe it's time to try the role of villain instead …

You can find Harper Kingsley at her blog, on Twitter, and at Goodreads.

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