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[From VBC: We’re very excited to have Jeaniene Frost on the blog again today. And we’re so anxious for Once Burned, her spinoff book featuring Vlad. It comes out in June and at the end of this post there’s a chance to win advanced copies. With that, we turn it over to Jeaniene.]
I’m fresh off a superhero high after seeing The Avengers this weekend, but aside from my new found love for The Hulk, the movie also got me thinking about the attributes of larger-than-life heroes and heroines. If you haven’t seen The Avengers yet, I’ll describe the members of the team. There’s Ironman, a “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” named Tony Stark who fights evil while wearing an incredibly high-tech suit; Thor, demi-god of the planet Asgard, whose hammer-wielding badassery is only eclipsed by his mighty biceps; Steve Rogers’ Captain America, a formerly brave yet scrawny man who was transformed into a superhuman through breakthrough genetic tampering; The Hulk, whose non-mean-green-and-ready-to-ream personality is mild-mannered scientist Bruce Banner; Black Widow, former Russian spy Natasha Romanoff who uses her looks, wit, and lethal fighting skills to save the day; and Clint Barton, nicknamed Hawkeye, a S.H.I.E.L.D agent whose skill with a bow and arrow makes Legolas look like a child playing cowboys and Indians. Although not a fighting member of the Avengers, the mastermind behind them is Nick Fury, human director of the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D.
What I particularly loved about The Avengers is that three of the six superheroes are regular humans. See, my books feature supernatural creatures – in this case, vampires – fighting evil and finding love with humans. I get asked a lot about compatibility issues in a human/nonhuman relationship and I think the movie gives a great example of how being compatible has more to do with will, perseverance, and bravery than with matching supernatural abilities. Black Widow doesn’t have any otherworldly abilities – or a high-tech Super Suit – yet she’s critical to the success of the Avengers because of her other strengths. Same goes with Hawkeye. Tony Stark, even without his Ironman suit, is still instrumental to the team because of his intelligence. Sure, having the ability to withstand injuries that would kill a normal person (Captain America), or a huge magical hammer (Thor), or enough strength to throw a demi-god around like a rag doll (The Hulk) are also critical, but they’re not enough to defeat the villain and his army without those extraordinary yet “regular” Avengers.
As I said, I’ve played with the same themes in my books. My vampires may have abilities like super strength, telekinesis, mind control, or the ability to fly, but that doesn’t make their human counterparts less extraordinary, in my opinion. Take my upcoming novel, Once Burned. In it, my heroine Leila is a human whose exposure to a massive dose of electricity left her with some unusual abilities; namely, her body gives off voltage and she picks up psychic impressions through touch. While those abilities initially throw her together with my hero, a pyrokinetic vampire named Vlad (yes, that Vlad :)) it’s her mental fortitude that impresses Vlad the most. Without that, Leila would have been merely another tool he used against his enemies. But her inner strength proves so captivating that even the uncrowned Prince of Darkness ends up drawn into the most high-stakes battle of all: falling in love.
I’m going to assume that everyone agrees mental fortitude is important, but just for kicks, if you could have any supernatural ability (flying, mind control, pyrokinesis, telekinesis, shapeshifting, a big magic hammer, Hulking-out, etc.) what would it be? Everyone who answers will be entered to win one of two advance reading copy of Once Burned.
CONTEST DETAILS AND RULES
1. To enter, you leave a comment on this blog post answering Jeaniene’s question above.
2. You do not need to follow Vampire Book Club to be entered, but we sure do like it.
3. This contest is open internationally.
4. Contest closes at 11:59 p.m. CST on June 3, 2012.
5. The winners will be selected using Random.org. Then each will be contacted via email and given 48 hours to claim her prize. If we do not hear from the winner(s) within that time, a new winner will be selected.
6. Entrants must be at least 18 years old or have their parent’s permission to enter. Please review our privacy policy, if you have any questions as to how Vampire Book Club uses your information. (Short version: we’ll only use it to contact you for this contest.)
7. Though unlikely, Vampire Book Club has the right to change or cancel any giveaway at any time without prior notice.
8. Vampire Book Club is not responsible for prizes lost or damage in transit.
9. Big thank you to Jeaniene Frost for providing the two ARCs of Once Burned.
telekinesis would be the one awesome
I would want teleportation. I have chronic fatigue and just driving 15 minutes to work totally exhausts me.
The ability to transport time. To go into the past or future!
supernatural ability? invisibility or even better the ability to eat all the ice cream and chocolate i want and immediately burn the calories
The ability to read minds would be amazing and useful.
If i was a superhero I would want to be able to freeze time for however long I want. I mean come om, how awesome would it be to be able to freeze time and finish a paper, or take a nap. I would love it.
I would love to be able to control all the elements or be able to manipulate metal like Magneto in X-Men.
I would say telekenisis, but I’m too lazy as it is, so probably shapeshifting 🙂
I would love to have control over the elements that way you can take control of every situation and always have the right power at hand.
I’d love to have the power that could take phobias away-including my own!
I would love shapeshifting ~ especially into a white wolf..
Telekinesis, definately
Hm, I would definitely not want to be a shapeshifter – all the bones breaking. No, thanks. Being invisible might be funny, but not really helpful. Come on – you can’t run away everytime life is difficult. But what I really really would love to have is superstrength! Being able to walk around in a part at night without fear? That would be great! So my choice is superstrength!!!
park instead of part…..
I would love the ability to be invisible. You can do/get away with a lot if nobody sees you.
I would like the ability to heal myself and others. This way I could help heal illnesses that still don’t have a cure or heal victims of tragic accidents and so on. 🙂
Hmmm that is a pretty interesting question. I think the ability to travel through time would be pretty cool. Go into the future as see what will happen before it happens in this time or to go back to the old west. I have a love of history so I think if I had that power, I wouldn’t stop using it!!
Telekinises I’m a very lazy person and I would like to move things around without getting up .lol
i would like to be a shape-changer
The ability to teleportation or ability to be invisible.You can do get away with a lot if nobody sees you.
I’d love a healing superpower. Like could heal any wounds I get and also heal other peoples injuries.
(….Turning water to wine would also be cool…think I may be confusing this superpower idea with something else. ha)
Definitely healing power!! 😀
Unlimited Shapeshifting. When I was a kid I read a book series by Jack L. Chalker called Soul Rider. In it, a person with the right abilities could enter the “Flux” and change their body shape/appearance in any way they wanted. Blue, busty, and tall, anyone? Add to that my fascination with the Wonder Twins, and you’ve got my superpower of choice.
If I could have any superpower it would be flying and pyrokinesis. I would love to win the Arc for Once Burned. I cant wait for the release date!
I think it would be awesome to be able to shapeshift. I wouldn’t want just one animal, either. I want to be able to choose which one I want, like Daine in Tamora Pierce’s Immortals series.
Hmmm…I used to alwasy be torn between a Dorian Grey type immortal youth (which is sort of vampirelike without the side effects), someone who cam time travel like Claire Randall Fraser or Cassie (Karen Chance). But now I’d just rather be someone who can covene and see with the dead, but of my choosing so I am not pestered.
Hmm.. I would say invisibility!! I am a total voyeur. And way too curious for my own good. I would love to turn invisible and just observe what some people (say ryan reynolds lol) do in their life.
I think I would like to have some telepathy. It would be an nice advantage to have. Might get a little sticky under some circumstances, but you could learn to deal with that
It would be awesome to be able to shapeshift, animal or human. If not I was always interested what it would be like to be someone who can talk and see the dead!
If I could have any super power I would want to be able to fly. I could finally travel the world like I always wanted, go see amazing places, and at realatively low cost!
Also, it could cut down my work time commute!
I would love to have healing powers.
Knowing the future will fantastic! Nothing beats foresight even if they do have repercussions.
I would definitely want the ability to shapeshift into anyone, kinda like Mystique from X-Men.
Shapeshifting!!
I’d love mind control, I could really get some stuff done. Or being a shifter would be cool.
I’ve had nerve pain that makes walking any distance painful, so flying sounds like a joy. And yet…shapeshifting to a four legged form might making running possible once again.
I want to be able to push. I’m not talking about abilities from the recent Dakota Fanning movie. I’m talking old school Steven King in Firestarter. The father of the little girl can place thoughts in people’s minds and make them believe them. That could be useful in so, so many different situations.
If I could choose one ability it would be pyrokinesis. I am not sure what I would do with it tho but I like it LOL
I would want mind control powers. That way when someone pisses me off I can just make them go away! 😉
Definitely time travel, because reading people’s minds might sound great at first, but sometimes you really just don’t want to now what people are thinking 😉
But really, as long as you can go back to any time you want, time travel would be awesome on so many levels (I’m a bit of a history geek, so sue me).
if i would have the choice of a superhero ability, i would choose to fly. i have always dreamed of flying and having that absolute freedom that birds have. i also always wondered if i was flying like a bird would i see the world differently??
thanks for the chance of reading once burned!!
Honestly there are a lot of factors that would go into thinking of an answer. I have a long love relationship with comic books and comic characters and have thought of this often through the years. If we’re putting ourselves in a supernatural world, where one would need to fight bad guys and such, my answer might be different than if I was just in an average world but with an added ability. Telepathy is always a safe bet, given that you’re hard to lie to and can glean information from unwitting sources or make people do things for you. Teleportation A La Nightcrawler is also handy although I can imagine you could easy make some mistakes popping in wher eyou shouldn’t! Mystique’s ability to shapeshift would be REALLY fun but alas not all that useful in the real world. I think if I was going to stick to one, I’d be with Domino and Longshot and ask for LUCK. As in “Whoa that plane just crashed, you’re SO LUCKY to be alive!” or “Whoa you just won the lotto! You’re SO LUCKY!” or “Youre family is beautiful and you seem so happy, you’re SO LUCKY!” I mean with luck you always have a little extra on your side. If not that, Wolverines super healing ability would be awesome. Long life, no worries about falling or hurting, no sickness. There are too many awesome powers to choose from. I keep thinking of more! ok ok, I’m sticking with Luck 🙂
Okay this is hard as i’d love to have all of these powers but i’m going to have to go with Teleportation as I spend at least four hours on a bus each week day just traveling to college. It would be amazing being able to wake up get dressed and just turn up at college a few seconds later 🙂 Thanks for the chance of the reading the book that I’ve been waiting for since the day I read about it….
6 weeks! I cannot wait this long!!!!
I would love to be able to fly and go invisible I think that would be a cool superpower to have. Now id you add the mind control that we are complet
I only want Wonder Woman’s bullet evading bracelets. Not exactly a Superpower, but sooo cool!!!!
I find it hard to deal with uncertainty, so I’d like precognition, although it never works out well for seers in stories (Cassandra, anyone?). I think the key would be to not over-interpret what you see or try to get around it. That’s usually what screws ’em up…
I would want pyrokinesis!! Roasted marshmallows when ever i wanted!!! Yum!! AND you could keep your hot chocolate warm, like forever!! EXTRA YUM!! I would be in HEAVEN!!! Oh great… i’m drooling right know!
Of that list, telekinesis is the one for me! Though I’d love a two-fer with super speed! 🙂
I would love to be able to time travel…either forward or backward.
Shapeshifting I think. That blue girl in Xmen(forgot her name) has a cool power,shifting to look like anyone. I would like that I think.
I’ve always wanted telekinesis since reading Roald Dahl’s Matilda.