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readingwithstardust's review against another edition
4.0
This is the first non-comic I've read from Northwest Press, and so I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised! The title choice aside, quite worth the read.
ericawrites's review against another edition
3.0
Most of the stories were pretty entertaining. Some grander than a short story ideas. Very much what's promised in the description: gay male super villains.
micklesreads's review against another edition
2.0
Some of these stories were really fun, but even those seemed rather unpolished. I often felt that I was reading authors who were much more used to a graphic format.
This was a stretch goal for the Kickstarter, and it is pretty obvious. The typos and misprints were really distracting, which made it tough to get through. Short fiction shouldn't feel like a slog, but this really did.
This was a stretch goal for the Kickstarter, and it is pretty obvious. The typos and misprints were really distracting, which made it tough to get through. Short fiction shouldn't feel like a slog, but this really did.
apostrophen's review
5.0
"Light and Dark," by Damon Shaw
Speaking of two sides...
Having shared a table of contents with the wonderful Shaw before in The Touch of the Sea, I knew when I saw him listed in The Lavender Menace that I was in for a treat. I knew he had a way of making the unnatural feel plausible, and this verisimilitude is present in "Light and Dark."
Here, two opposing and powerful forces are clashing it out in the skies of nearly ruined London, and one other creature - Mirror - is present. It's through Mirror that we see the ultimate clash between these two forces, and it's in Mirror's mind (and heart) that we see his yearning to be more than a mere tool (as he is quickly referred to in the story) that the darker force uses to attempt to feel his position in the hierarchy.
Obviously, there's an overt tip-of-the-hat to the whole "mirror, mirror" trope here, but Shaw refreshes it and ties it into the dark, gritty world he's crafted so well that it doesn't feel remotely strained. It's a great story, with an end I didn't see coming.
"The Web," by Steven Bereznai
If you've never read Queeroes, then this is a great story to get to know Bereznai's style, which is a mix of fun, a little sexy - and, for this collection - edgy and dark. Here we have a young man whose powers are about to be tested to join a league of superheroes, and another young man who is definitely just as appealing as the future ahead of him.
But the life of a superhero - even a fledgling one who has yet to begin - is fraught with danger, and it won't be long until this young man gets his first taste of just how dangerous things can get, and just how hard it is to live up to expectations. Lavender Menace continues to deliver.
"Scorned," by Jeffrey Ricker
When it comes to my writing career, Jeffrey Ricker is like my big brother. We're mostly on the same trajectory, but he got there a little faster than me and even though I'm younger he's better looking and still has his hair. If he wasn't such a nice guy, it would be irritating. As it is, we often share stories, show each other drafts of our work, and give each other feedback in the way of all brothers (ie: honest and blunt).
In the case of this story, I got to read different versions of the initial tale. I watched this character and this story evolve into a wonderfully dark story of a man with electrical power who is now held in a jail that prevents him from using his abilities. He's being grilled by a cold psychologist and his life is far from a good one. Trapped. Broken. Powerless.
Angry.
But sometimes opportunities come even to those who seriously don't deserve them.
Somehow bitterly enjoyable, this story makes you feel a little guilty for feeling just a bit of glee at where it takes you.
"Snow and Stone," by Stellan Thorne
There's a lovely couple of standards in a lot of superhero (and by proxy, supervillain) stories. The dedicated reporter. The despotic dictator. The loud editor. The journalist standing face-to-face with the powerful villain and being one of the only people brave enough to speak the truth.
And then there are authors like Stellan Thorne who take all those ideas, and give them a not-so-gentle shove sideways.
This story, the next in The Lavender Menace, walks the line between a gritty journalistic story and a slow aching reveal and does so in a perfectly timed manner. There's a real talent to that kind of story twist, and Thorne has it. Obviously, I don't want to ruin anything, but if you think you know where the story might be heading in the first few pages, I'd be willing to bet you're wrong. I was delightfully wrong.
"The Knights Nefarious," by Rod M. Santos
Speaking of fun while feeling miserable, the next story in The Lavender Menace is freaking hilarious - and suitably bittersweet.
Here we meet Muse, a gay villain who - well, let's face it - isn't exactly a supervillain because his power is to bring inspiration to others, and that's not exactly going to stop the world in its tracks, no? Thing is, he has used his powers mostly to aid another supervillain, and for that supervillain's birthday - and to finally get that supervillain to love and notice him - he's decided upon one course of action: he's going to assemble a team who can take down the superhero who has plagued his partner for years.
The group he assembles aren't the A-listers. They're not the B-listers either. If there's such a thing as the M or N-listers, they'd still have something up on the group that Muse assembles, but Muse has a good plan, and it might just get him everything he's ever wanted.
Or, y'know, killed in the attempt.
If you've ever wanted to know what would happen if you were bitten by a radioactive chocolate bunny, then this tale is for you.
"The Plan," by Charles Christensen
Okay, this story has real cheek to it, and I dig cheek.
Here we have a villain whose powers are artifact based and who realizes that a life of being the good guy is morally enriching but financially disastrous. So he goes villain. Except then he starts to kinda-sorta fall for one of the good guys, and, really - it's hard enough being a gay fella without being a super-powered gay fella. The single scene is not exactly wide open, right?
Still, once a villain, always a villain. Right?
This story definitely left a grin on my face. I could picture everything so clearly - especially the revenge.
"Your Changing Body: A Guidebook for Boy Super Villains - Introduction by Mr. Positive," by Matt Fagan
Before my whirlwind trip back and forth to T-Dot, The Lavender Menace arrived, and I had a major moment of utter glee, and then realized I wouldn't be able to sit down and read it for a couple of days. Still, even though I needed to go to bed, and even though I should have done so already, I opened the book and flipped through the pages, and my eyes caught on this story.
I gulped it down, and really enjoyed it. Told in a narrative style that was just shy of comedic at times, but always with an edge of something darker, Fagan has the villain Mr. Positive telling the story of what, exactly, happened to him that led him to choose to be a villain, but from the point of view of a kind of "self-help" book for other blooming super-villains. It was charming, and a bit tongue-in-cheek in places, which makes the sudden turns into darker places all the more satisfying for the reader.
To top it off, the power Mr. Positive has is in and of itself a good one, and as far as origin stories go, this one was definitely one of the better I've read. Someone give this villain a comic book.
"The Origin of the Fiend," by Hal Duncan
This last tale in The Lavender Menace is Hal Duncan's incredibly fractured "The Origin of the Fiend." Filled with hat-tips to the great moments of comic history (you'll spot 'em if you're at all familiar with comics), the story begins with a young man reading comics and thinking on the histories and origins of the great comic book heroes - and villains - and how they intersect with reality or other world-shattering events. But as the story progresses, the lens between fiction and the reader and the comic world and the real world starts to break apart, and the blurring becomes heady.
The reader is sent on a pretty wild ride through this real-not-real narrative, and the end result is the perfect note upon which to end the collection. I often wonder about story placement in anthologies, and how editors come up with the table of contents, and sometimes - like with this collection - it's obvious just how much effort was made to leave the reader not only happy to have enjoyed the collection, but with something to mill and stew over thereafter.
"The Ice King," by Tom Cardamone
Speaking of Mr. Cardamone, the next story in the collection is his tale, "The Ice King." Here we meet a villain who - as the title suggests - is a being more of ice and cold than flesh and bone - and a deep core of hatred, anger, and arousal over a wound he gained in battle with a hero of light.
Revenge on a stranger is one thing, but revenge on someone with whom you shared a bond, however - that can be the kind of cold that cuts to the very bone.
Cardamone's villain is crafted with a kind of cruel glee - a villain you could easily imagine born of those powers and his life. The ultimate conclusion left a sly smile on my face and reminded me of why I adore Cardamone so much to begin with.
"After Balenciaga," by Marshall Moore
Oh lord this was creepy.
I don't even know how to tell you about this next story from The Lavender Menace. The power in this story of queer villainy is an exquisite one - to bring back the dead and force them to do as you wish. But where the man with this power leads, and what he does with it?
Did I mention creepy?
This story is quite short, and yet packs a solid punch. Or maybe not a punch, more like a cold finger that trails up your spine, just when you're alone and about to fall asleep.
"The Meek Shall Inherit," by Jamie Freeman
It's nice to bump into Jamie Freeman again - we've shared tables of contents a few times now - and his story in The Lavender Menace is a prime example of how many different voices he can deliver. This is a darker tale, and born of a world that it's easy to imagine. The future in which his tale takes place has grown all the more intolerant under the guise of faith, and his character learns he has an awesome - if terrible - power at his disposal.
And soon that awesome and terrible power will clash with all manner of intolerance and hatreds and - just maybe - make a dangerous and bloody point. But this is a darker world in which he lives, and sometimes power isn't enough.
Well told, this story was gripping all the more for the dark setting. I really enjoyed it.
"The Third Estate," by Lee Thomas
Speaking of destroying everything you touch, the villain of the next story in The Lavender Menace has a unique gift that is definitely laying waste to all in his path. Capable of possessing others, Legion is a man who has decided his mission is to punish, and punish he will.
It shouldn't have surprised me how dark and gripping Lee Thomas's story was - after all, this is the man who gave me nightmares with previous tales. I loved the idea of it - I think one of the best parts of this collection is showing how any power could be so quickly twisted to something dark in the face of our "wonderful" world.
Awesome. In the original sense of the world.
Speaking of two sides...
Having shared a table of contents with the wonderful Shaw before in The Touch of the Sea, I knew when I saw him listed in The Lavender Menace that I was in for a treat. I knew he had a way of making the unnatural feel plausible, and this verisimilitude is present in "Light and Dark."
Here, two opposing and powerful forces are clashing it out in the skies of nearly ruined London, and one other creature - Mirror - is present. It's through Mirror that we see the ultimate clash between these two forces, and it's in Mirror's mind (and heart) that we see his yearning to be more than a mere tool (as he is quickly referred to in the story) that the darker force uses to attempt to feel his position in the hierarchy.
Obviously, there's an overt tip-of-the-hat to the whole "mirror, mirror" trope here, but Shaw refreshes it and ties it into the dark, gritty world he's crafted so well that it doesn't feel remotely strained. It's a great story, with an end I didn't see coming.
"The Web," by Steven Bereznai
If you've never read Queeroes, then this is a great story to get to know Bereznai's style, which is a mix of fun, a little sexy - and, for this collection - edgy and dark. Here we have a young man whose powers are about to be tested to join a league of superheroes, and another young man who is definitely just as appealing as the future ahead of him.
But the life of a superhero - even a fledgling one who has yet to begin - is fraught with danger, and it won't be long until this young man gets his first taste of just how dangerous things can get, and just how hard it is to live up to expectations. Lavender Menace continues to deliver.
"Scorned," by Jeffrey Ricker
When it comes to my writing career, Jeffrey Ricker is like my big brother. We're mostly on the same trajectory, but he got there a little faster than me and even though I'm younger he's better looking and still has his hair. If he wasn't such a nice guy, it would be irritating. As it is, we often share stories, show each other drafts of our work, and give each other feedback in the way of all brothers (ie: honest and blunt).
In the case of this story, I got to read different versions of the initial tale. I watched this character and this story evolve into a wonderfully dark story of a man with electrical power who is now held in a jail that prevents him from using his abilities. He's being grilled by a cold psychologist and his life is far from a good one. Trapped. Broken. Powerless.
Angry.
But sometimes opportunities come even to those who seriously don't deserve them.
Somehow bitterly enjoyable, this story makes you feel a little guilty for feeling just a bit of glee at where it takes you.
"Snow and Stone," by Stellan Thorne
There's a lovely couple of standards in a lot of superhero (and by proxy, supervillain) stories. The dedicated reporter. The despotic dictator. The loud editor. The journalist standing face-to-face with the powerful villain and being one of the only people brave enough to speak the truth.
And then there are authors like Stellan Thorne who take all those ideas, and give them a not-so-gentle shove sideways.
This story, the next in The Lavender Menace, walks the line between a gritty journalistic story and a slow aching reveal and does so in a perfectly timed manner. There's a real talent to that kind of story twist, and Thorne has it. Obviously, I don't want to ruin anything, but if you think you know where the story might be heading in the first few pages, I'd be willing to bet you're wrong. I was delightfully wrong.
"The Knights Nefarious," by Rod M. Santos
Speaking of fun while feeling miserable, the next story in The Lavender Menace is freaking hilarious - and suitably bittersweet.
Here we meet Muse, a gay villain who - well, let's face it - isn't exactly a supervillain because his power is to bring inspiration to others, and that's not exactly going to stop the world in its tracks, no? Thing is, he has used his powers mostly to aid another supervillain, and for that supervillain's birthday - and to finally get that supervillain to love and notice him - he's decided upon one course of action: he's going to assemble a team who can take down the superhero who has plagued his partner for years.
The group he assembles aren't the A-listers. They're not the B-listers either. If there's such a thing as the M or N-listers, they'd still have something up on the group that Muse assembles, but Muse has a good plan, and it might just get him everything he's ever wanted.
Or, y'know, killed in the attempt.
If you've ever wanted to know what would happen if you were bitten by a radioactive chocolate bunny, then this tale is for you.
"The Plan," by Charles Christensen
Okay, this story has real cheek to it, and I dig cheek.
Here we have a villain whose powers are artifact based and who realizes that a life of being the good guy is morally enriching but financially disastrous. So he goes villain. Except then he starts to kinda-sorta fall for one of the good guys, and, really - it's hard enough being a gay fella without being a super-powered gay fella. The single scene is not exactly wide open, right?
Still, once a villain, always a villain. Right?
This story definitely left a grin on my face. I could picture everything so clearly - especially the revenge.
"Your Changing Body: A Guidebook for Boy Super Villains - Introduction by Mr. Positive," by Matt Fagan
Before my whirlwind trip back and forth to T-Dot, The Lavender Menace arrived, and I had a major moment of utter glee, and then realized I wouldn't be able to sit down and read it for a couple of days. Still, even though I needed to go to bed, and even though I should have done so already, I opened the book and flipped through the pages, and my eyes caught on this story.
I gulped it down, and really enjoyed it. Told in a narrative style that was just shy of comedic at times, but always with an edge of something darker, Fagan has the villain Mr. Positive telling the story of what, exactly, happened to him that led him to choose to be a villain, but from the point of view of a kind of "self-help" book for other blooming super-villains. It was charming, and a bit tongue-in-cheek in places, which makes the sudden turns into darker places all the more satisfying for the reader.
To top it off, the power Mr. Positive has is in and of itself a good one, and as far as origin stories go, this one was definitely one of the better I've read. Someone give this villain a comic book.
"The Origin of the Fiend," by Hal Duncan
This last tale in The Lavender Menace is Hal Duncan's incredibly fractured "The Origin of the Fiend." Filled with hat-tips to the great moments of comic history (you'll spot 'em if you're at all familiar with comics), the story begins with a young man reading comics and thinking on the histories and origins of the great comic book heroes - and villains - and how they intersect with reality or other world-shattering events. But as the story progresses, the lens between fiction and the reader and the comic world and the real world starts to break apart, and the blurring becomes heady.
The reader is sent on a pretty wild ride through this real-not-real narrative, and the end result is the perfect note upon which to end the collection. I often wonder about story placement in anthologies, and how editors come up with the table of contents, and sometimes - like with this collection - it's obvious just how much effort was made to leave the reader not only happy to have enjoyed the collection, but with something to mill and stew over thereafter.
"The Ice King," by Tom Cardamone
Speaking of Mr. Cardamone, the next story in the collection is his tale, "The Ice King." Here we meet a villain who - as the title suggests - is a being more of ice and cold than flesh and bone - and a deep core of hatred, anger, and arousal over a wound he gained in battle with a hero of light.
Revenge on a stranger is one thing, but revenge on someone with whom you shared a bond, however - that can be the kind of cold that cuts to the very bone.
Cardamone's villain is crafted with a kind of cruel glee - a villain you could easily imagine born of those powers and his life. The ultimate conclusion left a sly smile on my face and reminded me of why I adore Cardamone so much to begin with.
"After Balenciaga," by Marshall Moore
Oh lord this was creepy.
I don't even know how to tell you about this next story from The Lavender Menace. The power in this story of queer villainy is an exquisite one - to bring back the dead and force them to do as you wish. But where the man with this power leads, and what he does with it?
Did I mention creepy?
This story is quite short, and yet packs a solid punch. Or maybe not a punch, more like a cold finger that trails up your spine, just when you're alone and about to fall asleep.
"The Meek Shall Inherit," by Jamie Freeman
It's nice to bump into Jamie Freeman again - we've shared tables of contents a few times now - and his story in The Lavender Menace is a prime example of how many different voices he can deliver. This is a darker tale, and born of a world that it's easy to imagine. The future in which his tale takes place has grown all the more intolerant under the guise of faith, and his character learns he has an awesome - if terrible - power at his disposal.
And soon that awesome and terrible power will clash with all manner of intolerance and hatreds and - just maybe - make a dangerous and bloody point. But this is a darker world in which he lives, and sometimes power isn't enough.
Well told, this story was gripping all the more for the dark setting. I really enjoyed it.
"The Third Estate," by Lee Thomas
Speaking of destroying everything you touch, the villain of the next story in The Lavender Menace has a unique gift that is definitely laying waste to all in his path. Capable of possessing others, Legion is a man who has decided his mission is to punish, and punish he will.
It shouldn't have surprised me how dark and gripping Lee Thomas's story was - after all, this is the man who gave me nightmares with previous tales. I loved the idea of it - I think one of the best parts of this collection is showing how any power could be so quickly twisted to something dark in the face of our "wonderful" world.
Awesome. In the original sense of the world.
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