6. Masked

Edited by Lou Anders

I had, recently, the new experience of coaching at the state track meet for my school. For those out there unaware, track meets are long strange affairs where the motto should be 'hurry up and wait.' It's hot and sticky hours of waiting under a searing Georgia sun punctuated by short periods of frenzied activity. For the coaches, it is almost entirely 'go there,' and 'do that' while our butts slowly go numb on aluminum stadium seating. Should it be surprising then, that when the we took the kids to the mall after the meet, I jumped at the opportunity to nip off to a book store and buy some distractions.

One of these distractions was a collection of short stories about super heroes. Normally, this isn't the kind of book I'd pick up but I recognized a few of the authors and I was, to be entirely frank, kind of desperate. Any anthology of short stories is hit or miss on quality and my general rule of thumb for an anthology to be successful that at least 50% of the stories are worth reading. Out of 15 stories, only one fell utterly flat which more than meets my requirements.

My particular favorites were:

• "Cleansed and Set in Gold" by Matthew Sturges

A story of a super hero who pays a price of self-respect every time he uses his powers. He hates what his powers require of him, yet he knows that he has a responsibility to the people around him. Only, what if people found out? and what would his Superman-like best friend think, if he knew? Is it ultimately worth it?

• "Where Their Worm Dieth Not" by James Maxey

Possibly my absolute favorite for the book, this is a sad story of super beings united by a cause even though the villains always come back. They never stay dead and neither do the heroes. But the people who the heroes love, sometimes they die. It is all underpinned by classic ideas of redemption and of punishment. Absolutely fantastic.

• "Downfall" by Joseph Mallozzi

So why are super villains bad. Are super villains just normal people with normal baggage making typical bad choices, but because they have super powers the stakes are higher? People make all sorts of horrible choices rooted in old trauma. What if a super-villain entered witness protection? And what if the FBI wouldn't leave him alone. Sounds like a great story recipe to me.

• "Call Her Savage" by Marjorie M. Liu

I was surprised how much I liked this story. If super-heroes and villains are just people with extraordinary powers, then the things they have to do would wear on their minds. Just like any other person exposed to battle, dealing out death would carry a toll. Liu's protagonist is just such a person and instead of the being Ameri/Euro-centric, she set her characters in Asian centric universe.