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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.
I loved Avengers too. Good point about the regular human heroes. If I had a special skill of choice, I’d like to teleport both between places and in time.
Enjoyed the post!
I would like to be able to teleport – but I would want to be able to take other people and things with me. What fun would it be to teleport to Tahiti w/o a friend or signifiant other? Thanks for the opportunity to win the arc.
I loved the Avengers. It was really a great flick that I am glad that I did not wait to see it. It was also great on the comedy side too. Funny! Anyway, my super power, really, would probably be something along the lines of being Empathic. I’m already very aware of others feelings, and I like to try to make them feel better. So, if I were to choose one, it would be to be Empathic. If it were a super power, you could feel others emotions…good or bad….sometimes even pain or pleasure. But, you come across someone who is feeling down, you’d do what you could to make them feel better.
I saw the Avengers last night with my 9 year old son and husband. We had a blast. If I could choose a superpower, I would like to be supergirl, have the ability to fly, be strong, and have telekinesis, X-ray vision, and powerful hearing.
i would love to be able to have super speed.
I would love to be able to have super speed
I have not seen Avengers yet, but have a date to this week. If I could have any super power it would be to be able to absorb anyone elses superpower. This could be by touch, or touching something the other super hero, or evil bad guy might own, or have touched. Much like a psychic might read objects I would be able to transfer their powers into my own energy. This way I feel like my super powers are limited against any evil doer. Fingers crossed I win this ARC! I can’t wait either way. Thanks for the contest opportunity!
If I could have any power I would want to have powers like superman. He gets the best of everything he’s super fast, can fly, bullet proof, and had x-ray vision.
Sadly, I have been contemplating this for far too many years. We would play superheroes when we were kids and my best friend and I would always be the Wonder Twins. So due to my love of animals and childhood nostalgia, I choose the ability to become any animal that I want.
If I have to choose a super power it would be mind- reading and mind-control.
Be able to manipulate light for my photography.
The movie was a great mother’s day outing with my parents. We all loved it. However the ‘underdog’ hero was the agent who without any superpower tried to make a difference. Plus I love the wit of the conversations between all of the Avengers.
I know it will be a villain’s superpower but I would like to control people’s memories like in the movie push. I would love to make people believe anything I want them to its evil and something like taking away their free will but none the less it would be my choice in super power.
I would like to have the power to shape shift into any animal I want to.
I loved the advengers. It’s not too often you go to a movie where everyone laughs and cheers together.
Anyhow, I would choose healing. How nice it would be to help people that way.
I would love to be able to teleport – I am terrified of flying and my husband is in the army, so he gets stationed all over and it would make life so much easier on both he and I if I could just poof there!!!! I haven’t seen Avengers yet 🙁 I really want to but i’m waiting on my hubby to get home so we can go see it together !!!!!
I have contemplated this frequently over the years & even though I constantly change my mind every time I see something new, I always come back to telekinesis. Being able to control things around me by by thought alone would just be awesome & there is just so much you can do with that ability.
i would like to have mind control, it would just be so nice to just change peoples minds for them and my life would be a whole lot easier!
I unfortunatly havent seen The Avengers YET but I will tomorrow after all the comments but If I could have a super power it would be to control minds that just seems like a cool power
Hi
I’d like to be able to teleport or read mind.
Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
I would love to be able to either fly or teleport but rather the first. 🙂
I have always wanted to fly.
I would love to have mind control and flying of course, beats the traffic.
Shapeshifting. That’s what I would choose. I think that the ability to readi minds would be very useful as well, I think I would end up completely nuts if I could do it
I would love to be able to turn invisible if for no thee reason then to get some me time every now and again. It is so rare!
Telekinesis all the way!!!! 🙂
I would choose invisibility. I think that would be so cool. Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
I haven’t seen The Avengers yet, but now I’m on a mission to!
If I had a superpower, I would want to be able to read a person’s emotions.
-Cheryl
If I had a superpower it would be to help all of the people that come to me for help in my job as a psychologist.
I would love to shapeshift into a dragon! Love the idea of flying and have always loved dragons 🙂
If I had a special ability and could pick it, I would like to have the ability to walk/go-through objects (walls, floors, etc). No idea what I would do with it, but always like that talent. It would get rid of the pasky need of opening doors when my hands are full.
I would love to know the future or be invisible, thank u for the arc giveaway 🙂
I would love to be able to teleport or control the weather.
If I could have any supernatural ability, I would like to be telekinetic. I would definitely clean my house while sitting on the couch 🙂
Teleportation, no contest. To be able to go anywhere I wanted at anytime? Yes. Yes. Yes.
Also, The Avengers was PHENOMENAL. And so funny. Can’t wait to see it again.
Most definitely the ability to shape shift. I would love to be able to turn into anything and anyone.
To have a photographic memory! Oh my gosh, that would be… crazy amazing.
Can’t wait to see this movie! hmmm I think I would love to be able to fly but it would also be pretty cool to read minds as well!
I would choose healing powers. There are lots of ways to save people before the worst happens and most of us would choose the easier path but you can’t heal every painful injury. I would want to be there in the aftermath when the worst injuries happen, the mental injuries. I could heal more people that way.
I don’t think there is a reason horrible things happen to wonderful people. I don’t see a reason and I think it’s wrong to try and justify tragedy. But I think some people learn to take the good from horrible situations. That is not easy to do. These are the mentors who guide the next generation. We need more people like this.
Sometimes people choose to hide rather than live. It’s perfectly understandable. It isn’t weakness but protection. They become angry and bitter. They become isolated.
That is why I would choose healing. It’s not just to heal a broken leg but to heal a broken heart so you can grow as a person into an even better person rather than being a wounded animal who dies alone.
I would love to be able to read minds haha but only when I wanted to not all the time hehe or fly haha or maybe shift that would be pretty cool can I choose all of the above that would be great!
My special ability would be invisibility. I would like to be able to turn invisible and sneak up on everyone!
I would love to either be able to teleport myself or have the ability to fly. Although, I do wear dresses a lot which may make flying a bit awkward, maybe I’ll go with teleport…
If I wasn’t scared of heights it would be flying! But since I am not, I would love to teleport. Being able to visit my family whenever I wanted and quickly travel to new places would be awesome!
I would love mind control as a first choice but a fighting second place choice goes to teleporting. Go anywhere I want to go and not pay $4 a gallon for gas for my car. Having teleport skills would be better then winning the lottery!
My husband and I LOVED The Avengers!! My super power would be invincibility – to be able to withstand anything and never be permanently hurt. Like Cat..she has strength of heart, mind and spirit and then completed the package with strength of body after becoming full vampire!
I would want to fly but only if it came with wings otherwise Id go with telekinesis nothing would be out of reach ever again 🙂
I would want the gift of shape-shifting. I think, of all the abilities to have, the ability to be anything imaginable, from a bug to a giant oak, would be absolutely awesome! This ability alone would help the world tremendously when needed.
The Avengers was an awesome movie loved it.
I would want telekinesis because then I what have to deal with the MTA anymore, their just bad.
*wont* I should reread before I hit submit lol
I would like to have the Power of Controlling Time and Space, meaning that I can stop it and move through time as I like. That would be totally awesome if I had an ability like that. Watched The Avengers too Iron Man and Hulk are the best Super Heros ever =) Especially where Hulk takes Loki and bashes him around, loved that part 😀
I would love to be a shape shifter!