In a way, it did work. Because it turns out Sheba was right. I'll hate her forever, she's rotting in prison, but she was right. I did need to make a choice.
It was long past time for a change in the status quo. An insurrection to overthrow the spoiled tyrant of my life.
And now that the uprising's finished, now that I've chosen, once and for all, it's really put things into perspective. Answered a lot of questions.
Like what, for instance?
*****
"Super-heroes and villains, or cowboys and Indians? Which do you wanna play next?"
There's a moment I remember. From when I was a kid.
My best friend Billy McVicker and I are running around the back yard of my parents' home in Virginia. Chasing between magnolias over a shimmering carpet of bluegrass in the sunniest corner of summer.
My mother steps out on the back porch with lemonade on a tray. She's a little gray, but still smiling.
I'm smiling, too. Because I'm happy. Utterly, completely happy. Not a care in the world.
And I finally know the answer to Billy McVicker's question.
"Well?" Billy socks me in the arm. "Which one do you wanna play next?"
"Cowboys!" I start running as I say it. "And Indians!"
And I laugh as he chases me, shooting make-believe guns, riding make-believe horses. Both of us laughing to the heights of the cloudless blue sky, hearts pounding like fireworks. Unburdened, unfettered, resilient, strong. Free of the darkness and willing to forget.
Free. As a child.
I remember this moment well. From when I was a kid.
This morning. And now. And forevermore.
*****
Also by DC Comics Author Robert T. Jeschonek
7 Comic Book Scripts
Comic book and super-hero fans, rejoice! This volume includes seven scripts—mostly super-hero tales, plus one war/horror story—from a writer whose work has been published by DC Comics, among others. Robert T. Jeschonek has written plenty of scripts in his career, and these seven will shine a light on his writing process, his wild imagination…and some thrilling and thought-provoking adventures. The first in a series collecting some of his best work, this action-packed book includes seven scripts:
"Super-Powered Poser Blues": A super-hero stand-in runs into unexpected problems while impersonating a mighty mortal.
"My Date With Godling": A hard-driving cosmic god-hero launches a mission under false pretenses…a mission that quickly goes from intense to insane.
"The Mime: On Bread Alone": An endangered priest is protected by a silent hero whose make-believe performances have real world consequences.
"Young Soldiers Never Die": A future warrior discovers that one man's idea of a perfect soldier is another man's idea of pure hell.
"The Child Is Father to the Man": The younger selves of three great old-time heroes leap forward to the future after suffering their greatest defeat.
"Johnstown Man: Losing Ground": A blue collar steel town hero battles crime in the age of layoffs.
"Don't Tug on Superstar's Cape": A super souvenir hunter goes after the ultimate prize from the ultimate hero and nearly loses everything in the bargain.
Don't miss this collection of seven comic book scripts for one low price. It’s the latest book from award-winning storyteller Robert T. Jeschonek (My Favorite Band Does Not Exist), a master of unique and unexpected fiction that packs a punch.
Now on Sale!
*****
About the Author
Robert T. Jeschonek is an award-winning writer whose fiction, comics, essays, articles, and podcasts have been published around the world. His young adult urban fantasy novel, My Favorite Band Does Not Exist, was named one of Booklist’s Top Ten First Novels for Youth. Simon & Schuster, DAW/Penguin Books, and DC Comics have published his work. He won the grand prize in Pocket Books' nationwide Strange New Worlds contest and was nominated for the British Fantasy Award. Visit him online at www.thefictioneer.com.
*****
E-books by Robert T. Jeschonek
Fantasy
6 More Fantasy Stories
Blazing Bodices
Earthshaker – an urban fantasy novel
Girl Meets Mind Reader
Groupie Everlasting
Rose Head
The Genie's Secret
The Return of Alice
The Sword That Spoke
Horror
Bloodliner – a novel
Diary of a Maggot
Dionysus Dying
Fear of Rain
Road Rage
Humor (Adults Only)
Dick by Law – a novel
Literary
6 Short Stories
Getting Higher – a novel
Mystery and Crime
6 Crime Stories
Crimes in the Key of Murder
Dancing With Murder (a cozy mystery novel)
The First Detect-Eve
The Foolproof Cure for Cancer
The Other Waiter
Who Unkilled Johnny Murder?
Poetry
Flight of Ideas
Science Fiction
6 Scifi Stories
6 More Scifi Stories
6 Scifi Stories Book 3
Beware the Black Battlenaut
Lenin of the Stars
Messiah 2.0
My Cannibal Lover
Off The Face Of The Earth
One Awake In All The World
Playing Doctor
Serial Killer vs. E-Merica
Something Borrowed, Something Doomed
Star Sex
Teacher of the Century
The Greatest Serial Killer in the Universe
The Love Quest of Smidgen the Snack Cake
The Shrooms of Benares
Universal Language – a novel
Superheroes
6 Superhero Stories
7 Comic Book Scripts
A Matter of Size (mature readers)
Forced Retirement (Forced Heroics Book 1)
Forced Betrayal (Forced Heroics Book 2)
Forced Partnership (Forced Heroics Book 3)
Heroes of Global Warming
Mr. Sandman: The Dream Lord Awakens - graphic novel script
The Masked Family – a novel
The Wife Who Never Was
Thrillers
Backtracker – a novel
Day 9 – a novel
The Trek It! Series
Trek This!
Trek Off!
Trek Fail!
Trek Script!
Trek Script 2
Trek Novel!
Trek It!
Young Readers
Dolphin Knight – a novel
Lump
Tommy Puke and the Boy with the Golden Barf
Tommy Puke and the World's Grossest Grown-Up
*****
Now on Sale from Robert T. Jeschonek
A Young Adult Fantasy Novel That Really Rocks!
One of Booklist's Top Ten First Novels for Youth
Being trapped in a book can be a nightmare—just ask Idea Deity. He’s convinced that he exists only in the pages of a novel written by a malevolent author . . . and that he will die in Chapter 64. Meanwhile, Reacher Mirage, lead singer of the secret rock band Youforia, can’t figure out who’s posting information about him and his band online that only he should know. Someone seems to be pulling the strings of both teens’ lives . . . and they’re not too happy about it. With Youforia about to be exposed in a national magazine and Chapter 64 bearing down like a speeding freight train, time is running out. Will Idea and Reacher be able to join forces and take control of their own lives before it’s too late?
School of Rock meets Alice in Wonderland in this fast-paced, completely unpredictable novel of alternate realities, time travel, and rock ‘n’ roll. If your favorite band does not exi
st . . . do you?
"Overall, My Favorite Band Does Not Exist is a wacky and enjoyable trip...full of intriguing, imaginative concepts that keep a reader hooked." –Thom Dunn, The Daily Genoshan
"This first novel has all the look of a cult fave: baffling to many, an anthem for a few, and unlike anything else out there." –Ian Chipman, Booklist Starred Review
"Chaos theory meets rock 'n' roll in adult author Jeschonek's ambitious, reality-bending YA debut." "...this proudly surreal piece of metafiction could develop a cult following..."–Publishers Weekly
"Reading this reminded me of authors like Terry Prachett and Neil Gaiman…" –BiblioJunkies
Now Available from Graphia Books!
Order now from your favorite bookseller.
*****
6 SUPERHERO STORIES
Copyright © 2012 by Robert T. Jeschonek
www.thefictioneer.com
Cover Art Copyright © 2012 by Ben Baldwin
www.benbaldwin.co.uk
Published in May 2012 by Pie Press by arrangement with the author. All rights reserved by the author.
"Forced Retirement" originally appeared in A Thousand Faces, The Quarterly Journal of Superhuman Literature, November 2009.
"A Matter of Size" originally appeared in The Drabblecast 195, January 2011.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Design by Pie Press
Johnstown, Pennsylvania