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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.
To answer Jeaniene’s question, if I had a supernatural ability I’d like it to be shapeshifting with the caveat that it be an immortal shapeshifter (experiencing history/technology through time fascinates me). I’d like to be a wolf, cougar, or a bird.
Shapeshifting would be great if I could change into any animal or person.
Even though it is very very selfish I would want to be able to fly. It must be so amazing and incredibly beautiful to see the world from a birds perspective without needing any noisy machinery.
I would like to have the power of immortality that would also result in the ability to heal others. 🙂
I would love to have a super man with a magic hammer ~THOR~
LOL! but talking about superpowers I would like to have the ability to fly!! Thank you for the giveaway!
If I could have any superpower I would choose the power of invisibility (as long as my clothes would become invisible with me, otherwise it’d be very impractical!). It would be pretty cool to be able to sneak in and out of places and be able to listen in certain conversations without people knowing you’re there (I’m terrible, I know!). I also like to be able to ‘disappear’ when you don’t want to be bothered by other people.
Hello! Difficult question, because I want every time something else.
I probably do not even want to have magical powers, and the trait in the character, which I do not have) And on the subject, telekinesis always liked this talent and ever since “all women are witches” series, or read minds, but can be a talent that can not come up yet, or what else)
And I love your books because they helped me in my difficult time in my life)
And I like the story, I think a book about Vlad for me will be loved)
A bunch of my friends and I have been playing a super hero based role playing game called Mutants and Masterminds and in order to play each person much create their super hero. The list of powers is ginormous and really quite intimidating, but eventually each person must find something personal they can play.
Generally my choice would be something psyonic like my favorite heroines Phoenix and Sage (both x-men). I chose emotion control. I have the ability to change people’s emotions, namely making them love me.
So we’re in a battle and the Hulk comes after me and Oh no I’m just a girl with normal girl strength whatever will I do? I will make the Hulk love and defend me from all other on coming problems.
The real problem of course is not becoming evil.
YAY!! I can’t wait for this book! I would like to shape shift in to anything I want at the time 😛
If I could have any special ability, I would definitely choose the ability to travel in time. It would be amazing to teleport into a completley different era or have the power to be anywhere at any time. I’m sure jt would have the usual frustrations – like no one believing your predictions or warnings, but it would still be my first choice.
I would want teleportation to be my super power. I used to hate the boring road trips with my family over the summer. It would be so much cooler if I could just poof myself anywhere.
I’d want to be able to have complete control over my dreams to the point where it seems almost real, and take things from my dreams into reality when I wake up. Oh, and be able to put ideas into peoples head that I see in my dreams that will start to manifest when they wake up. Inception kind of shit. >=]
The difficult aspect of this question is choosing just one. I would have to say that I would like the superpower of telekinesis. It would make it much easier to complete my household chores before my kids get home from school – all while completing my own school assignments.
I have always had fantastic dreams about being able to fly!
Thanks for the contest! As for my superpower, I’d love to be able to teleport!
Oh…. superpowers! My inner comic geek is coming out. *laughs* If I could have a super power I’d pick invisibility. I could cause all kinds of mischief with that ability!
I want to be able to teleport from place to place – no more traveling time, no more late meetings. And I could also buy food from all other the world!
I think either shapeshifting or teleporting would be awesome. Is there a teleporting shapeshifter out there? I’m drawing a blank, someone better get on that!
I would love to shape shift.
If I could have any supernatural ability I would love to be able to shape shift. I would love to ‘wear someones face for a day’ to see the things they do. It would make life more interesting :)If I couldn’t shape shift I would like to teleport as it could quite possibly be the fastest way of traveling 🙂
This is a tough question cause there are so many good reasons to have each superpower. I think teleporting would be the most functional for me though. I hate getting stuck in traffic and if I could teleport I could live where ever I wanted and not have to worry about a long commute to work.
As a teacher, mother, and former firefighter I have my fair share of super powers, but I do believe I would LOVE mind control. No more listening to excuses of why they didn’t do homework, why the chores never seem to get done, just to make certain people see that I do know what I am talking about and to do what I ask LOL
I would love to live in Thor’s world, and fight evil with my own hammer
thing. And then live HEA with Thor. The End.
I am sure my answer will be the most selfish of them all but I think I would love to be able to shape shift, since I am so lazy I would never have to diet and exercise!
If I could have any supernatural power in the world I would want to be able to talk to and understand what animals are saying. This would be an amazing talent! Ever since I was little and I watched The Wild Thornberries I’ve dreamed of being able to do this.
I have to say being a superhero would be nice, I think if I were to have a power I would want to be able to read peoples mind and able to control thought processes. I love to read about the superntural, but have come to realization that many superhero types have other personality issues to overcome, so with that in mind. I do not know if I would want any type of power. I already have areas that I need to work on and adding a special power to that would only make those areas harder and make personality issues harder to overcome.
I would absolutely love to either shapeshift or to be immortal (but only if I can get others to be immortal too, otherwise it just would be really lonely 🙁 )
The power I would love to have is to be able to translate my body anywhere in an instant. Flying messes up the hair and could be cold. lol i wouldn’t need super powers cuz I could just translate behind a bad guy and disable them. hehe
I am so excited for this new book, thanks for the chance to win!
I would like to have immortality and also to be able to read minds…
Definitely SHAPESHIFTING!!!! *-*
Thank you so much for the amazing giveaway!
Supernatural power…hmmm….I think I would like to be a shapeshifter.
It would be like living 2 differnet lives at once!
I would choose to have the ability to absorb other amazing powers like Peter Pattrelly(Heroes), Rogue(x-men), or Cat.
Definitely flying! I think that would be so cool! Ever since I watched Peter Pan I’ve really wanted to fly!
I’d like to be able to fly or teleport. I don’t drive so that would be really useful!
my superhero strength would be : Animal mind control…speak via thoughts to animals, insects to help attack, round up or track the villain. Kinda like Aqua man…but land animals.
Hi! I would love to be able to stop time and then just let it continue without anyone being the wiser. A great way to avoid accidents, cheat at tests or just take a nap anytime you wanted! 🙂
At first I thought I would like to be Immortal but then I thought would I be alone forever… no thanks so I guess it would like to read minds. Love your books thanks.
Such a hard question to answer! My choice varies depending on the day however I think most often I wish that I could turn into something else. I think shape-shifting and whatever extra abilities it came with would be amazing. A turtle, dog, horse, bird whatever! aghhh that would be so much fun. Although the ability to heal ranks high too. Can’t wait for your book Jeaniene!
Supernatural power…..that’s easy shapeshifter! that would be so crazy cool!!
All those super powers sound really cool and I wish I could have more than one but if I had to decide on just one I would want pryokinesis because it fits my personality and I have always been fascinated by it.
I think that I would like the ability to teleport. Although I do like a good road trip, I think getting someplace with just a thought and a breath would come in handy. In danger? Teleport away. Want to see something? Teleport there. No traffic, and no waste of time.
If I could have any power, it would be telekinesis. I’ve always like that power for some reason. Either that or pyrokinesis.
At first I was going to say mind reading. But I am sure that gets quite tedious. So I would have to say shape shifting. It would be amazing to change into another creature!
I would like to be a shapeshifter, nothing could be better to me than running wild with the wolves.
I would love to have telekinesis, because if you could master that you could fly and do so many other things as well, cleaning the house would be so much better at least. Thank you for this opportunity and I cannot wait for Once Burned, <3<3<3 Vlad!
Hmm… If I had a super power it would have to be psychic, however also having the ability to switch it on and off at will. Listening in on someone in embarrassing situations would be really off putting 🙂
I would have to go with a classic: invisibility.
Ever since I was little I’ve always wanted the ability to fly so I could be closer to the clouds
Hmmmm, tough call. I think I’d like to shape shift and just be an overall kick ass fighter. Thanks for the contest!
If I were to have a superpower it would be that of flight! Think about it, you don’t like where you are, fly away!
Thanks for the oppertunity to win!