By Patrick Thomas
I always wondered why super- villains were so dumb, even when coming up with a plan to take over the world or at least the Tri-State area. I love a good super-powered knock-down drag-out fight as much as the next guy, but why do the superheroes and super-villains always have to fight? Why is it superheroes always have to slug it out when they first meet? No talking, just fists and laser beams.
Super-villains have powers and sometimes they’re even cooler than the heroes. When you have the power of magnetism, super strength, speed, are invulnerability or have the power to control elements why waste your time robbing a bank? Isn’t there some other way they could use their powers to come up with money legitimately? Or even become incredibly rich?
In my story for the Crazy 8 Press Love, Murder & Mayhem anthology “As Time Goes By”, I explore this trope. My main character starts off as a super villain getting out of prison. He’s met by the hero put him there and instead of threatening him the hero actually encourages the villain to do something with his power to earn money without going outside of the law and maybe even help humanity. Thanks to the love and support of his wife he rises to the challenge. The guy is an old school super villain. He’s never killed, only robbed banks and jewelry exchanges and such. The truth is he’s not a bad guy, just someone who made some bad decisions and never thought through what he could really accomplish with his abilities.
So what happens when a bad guy who really wasn’t that bad reforms and makes the entire world a better place and his reward is having the life of the women he loves threatened? How does someone who is trying to be a good man deal with his world being torn down around him? Especially after he worked so hard to build it up just to prove to his wife that he was worthy of her love?
Tune in to Love, Murder & Mayhem to find out.
Love, Murder & Mayhem is now available for sale both in print and ebook formats.
Patrick Thomas is the award-winning author of the beloved Murphy’s Lore series and the darkly hilarious Dear Cthulhu advice empire which includes the collections What Would Cthulhu Do? Cthulhu Knows Best, Have A Dark Day, and Good Advice For Bad People. His more than 35 books include Exile & Entrance, a slew of urban fantasies that include By Darkness Cursed, Fairy With A Gun, Fairy Rides The Lightning, Dead To Rites, Rites of Passage, Lore & Dysorder; the steampunk themed As The Gears Turn and the science-fantasy space adventures Constellation Prize and Startenders. He co-writes the Mystic Investigators paranormal mystery series and The Assassins’ Ball, a traditional mystery, co-authored with John L. French. A number of his books were part of the props department of the CSI television show and one was even thrown at a suspect. “His Soul For Hire story Act of Contrition”, included in Greatest Hits, has been made into a short film by Top Men Productions. Drop by www.patthomas.net to learn more.