D.D. Barant's Blog
July 4, 2026
Another Free Book!
So, I just released another novel—a cyberpunk book called INTERPHASE—and for the next four days or so it’s available as a free e-book! Go here to download it: https://tinyurl.com/yc549f62
Here’s a brief description:
The Brainframe is a global network that stores and channels emotions. Ryder is an e-jacker, a professional thief who steals emotive energy--and he'll have to pull the biggest job of his life to save the mind of his partner Akiko. Unless the serial killer haunting the Brainframe gets to him first . . .
Sierra is the drug-addicted CEO of the fifth biggest corporation in the world. When she stumbles upon an AI-driven plot to use a genocidal bioweapon, she's the only one who can stop it--if her own demons don't stop her.
Cask is a macecraft pilot, patrolling Low Earth Orbit and shooting down spysats for the Free Republic of Alabama. When he's duped into letting a dangerous satellite through, he has to find a way to redeem himself.
None of these three have ever met--but each of them will be instrumental in preventing a rogue Artificial Intelligence from wiping out humanity.
Here’s a brief description:
The Brainframe is a global network that stores and channels emotions. Ryder is an e-jacker, a professional thief who steals emotive energy--and he'll have to pull the biggest job of his life to save the mind of his partner Akiko. Unless the serial killer haunting the Brainframe gets to him first . . .
Sierra is the drug-addicted CEO of the fifth biggest corporation in the world. When she stumbles upon an AI-driven plot to use a genocidal bioweapon, she's the only one who can stop it--if her own demons don't stop her.
Cask is a macecraft pilot, patrolling Low Earth Orbit and shooting down spysats for the Free Republic of Alabama. When he's duped into letting a dangerous satellite through, he has to find a way to redeem himself.
None of these three have ever met--but each of them will be instrumental in preventing a rogue Artificial Intelligence from wiping out humanity.
June 9, 2026
Is Donald Trump a Supervilliain?
Okay, the obvious answer is: yes. But maybe not for the reasons you think.
Trump has been the inspiration for supervillains before, that much is true. In the 80s, John Byrne’s reimagining of Lex Luthor as a corrupt real-estate Baron—as opposed to an evil supergenius—drew on Trumpian elements, and so did Back To The Future II’s corrupt, trophy-wifed, hair-implant-sporting casino owner Biff Tannen. Even The Simpsons made a joke about Trump eventually getting elected President. This was just art imitating—or mocking—life, something that happens all the time.
But then, things start to get a little . . . weird.
In the year 2000, Lex Luthor became the President of the US, in a storyline that affected the entire DC Universe. He gets removed from office two and a half years later . . . but then, in 2003, he becomes President again in two different alternate universes: in the graphic novel RED SON. and in the animated Justice League storyline “A Better World”. And then in 2011, Lex becomes President for the fourth time in the TV series Smallville.
This is no longer art imitating life, or making an obvious joke; it’s predicting exactly what will happen, when Biff Luthor eventually becomes the guy with the codes to the nuclear football—not once, but twice.
A supervillain running the US is an entertaining storyline, but no one gave it any serious consideration as something that could actually happen. Somebody as blatantly, obviously evil as Lex Luthor could never get elected, not in real life.
But here’s the thing: Trump is so much worse than Luthor.
True, they’re both convicted felons driven by hatred. But at least Luthor is smart—whereas Trump, by any measurable standard, is a moron. Luthor really only cares about destroying Superman, but Trump has a long, long list of enemies he’s out to ruin—basically, anyone who’s ever crossed him. And then there are the deranged, rambling speeches and social media posts, which sound more like the Joker on meth than anything else. Let’s face it—if fiction were to introduce Trump as an original character, no one would buy it as anything but the broadest kind of satire. He isn’t remotely believable, and the idea that he could be elected to the highest office in the land? It’s a Simpsons gag, nothing more.
And yet.
This is the alternate universe we wound up in. My current theory is that the ghost of Hunter S. Thompson broke into God’s office on a crazed Angel dust binge and has rewritten us into a Gonzo reality. Or maybe everything will turn black-and-white and we’ll see a man in a dark suit with a sardonic smile on his face stare into an invisible camera and say “Submitted for your consideration: a very dark, dangerous, and definitely insane political turn of events; one that could only happen… in the Twilight Zone.”
But this isn’t fiction, folks. Supervillains—because Trump has assembled his own Legion of Doom to help him turn America into a fascist state—now run the country. So what can we do about it?
Well, fiction is what I know, so I wrote THE SUPERPOWER. It’s about supervillains taking over America, and the heroes—super and not—that fight back. I’ve had a long career as a novelist, but despite my love of comics, I never got around to writing a superhero book. Over many years, I created a bunch of characters and a world for them to live in, but I wasn’t sure what the plot should be.
Then Trump got reelected, and the plot became obvious.
So is Trump the book’s villain? Kind of. Like I said, Trump is simply not credible as an actual character, so I split him into two: one is a greedy, ruthless alien who only cares about winning and puts people in detention camps to be sold offworld. The other is an insane megalomaniac who declares himself president and posts demented rants that sound like a cross between Dr. Doom and the Joker.
One of the worst things about the world we live in now is feeling powerless. One of the reasons I wrote this book is to fight that feeling. I hope that whoever reads it will feel a little less powerless, too.
Trump has been the inspiration for supervillains before, that much is true. In the 80s, John Byrne’s reimagining of Lex Luthor as a corrupt real-estate Baron—as opposed to an evil supergenius—drew on Trumpian elements, and so did Back To The Future II’s corrupt, trophy-wifed, hair-implant-sporting casino owner Biff Tannen. Even The Simpsons made a joke about Trump eventually getting elected President. This was just art imitating—or mocking—life, something that happens all the time.
But then, things start to get a little . . . weird.
In the year 2000, Lex Luthor became the President of the US, in a storyline that affected the entire DC Universe. He gets removed from office two and a half years later . . . but then, in 2003, he becomes President again in two different alternate universes: in the graphic novel RED SON. and in the animated Justice League storyline “A Better World”. And then in 2011, Lex becomes President for the fourth time in the TV series Smallville.
This is no longer art imitating life, or making an obvious joke; it’s predicting exactly what will happen, when Biff Luthor eventually becomes the guy with the codes to the nuclear football—not once, but twice.
A supervillain running the US is an entertaining storyline, but no one gave it any serious consideration as something that could actually happen. Somebody as blatantly, obviously evil as Lex Luthor could never get elected, not in real life.
But here’s the thing: Trump is so much worse than Luthor.
True, they’re both convicted felons driven by hatred. But at least Luthor is smart—whereas Trump, by any measurable standard, is a moron. Luthor really only cares about destroying Superman, but Trump has a long, long list of enemies he’s out to ruin—basically, anyone who’s ever crossed him. And then there are the deranged, rambling speeches and social media posts, which sound more like the Joker on meth than anything else. Let’s face it—if fiction were to introduce Trump as an original character, no one would buy it as anything but the broadest kind of satire. He isn’t remotely believable, and the idea that he could be elected to the highest office in the land? It’s a Simpsons gag, nothing more.
And yet.
This is the alternate universe we wound up in. My current theory is that the ghost of Hunter S. Thompson broke into God’s office on a crazed Angel dust binge and has rewritten us into a Gonzo reality. Or maybe everything will turn black-and-white and we’ll see a man in a dark suit with a sardonic smile on his face stare into an invisible camera and say “Submitted for your consideration: a very dark, dangerous, and definitely insane political turn of events; one that could only happen… in the Twilight Zone.”
But this isn’t fiction, folks. Supervillains—because Trump has assembled his own Legion of Doom to help him turn America into a fascist state—now run the country. So what can we do about it?
Well, fiction is what I know, so I wrote THE SUPERPOWER. It’s about supervillains taking over America, and the heroes—super and not—that fight back. I’ve had a long career as a novelist, but despite my love of comics, I never got around to writing a superhero book. Over many years, I created a bunch of characters and a world for them to live in, but I wasn’t sure what the plot should be.
Then Trump got reelected, and the plot became obvious.
So is Trump the book’s villain? Kind of. Like I said, Trump is simply not credible as an actual character, so I split him into two: one is a greedy, ruthless alien who only cares about winning and puts people in detention camps to be sold offworld. The other is an insane megalomaniac who declares himself president and posts demented rants that sound like a cross between Dr. Doom and the Joker.
One of the worst things about the world we live in now is feeling powerless. One of the reasons I wrote this book is to fight that feeling. I hope that whoever reads it will feel a little less powerless, too.
May 16, 2026
FREE BOOK!
My new ebook THE SUPERPOWER: PART ONE is FREE until Tuesday, May 19th at midnight. Go to https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GX2Y6YBQ if you’re in the US, or https://tinyurl.com/2wf943yv if in Canada.
Twelve miles off the coast of New York sits the manmade island known as the Protectorate. It’s home to most of the world’s superpowered crimefighters, from aliens to robots to demigods, who’ve built a utopia designed for themselves and their unique lifestyle.
But beneath the surface is a darker reality: the Basement, a prison for supervillains. Building and running this prison is the price the heroes pay for gaining their own country.
A consortium of supervillains organizes a breakout and then conquers the Protectorate—and that’s only the start of their plan. Before they’re done, they will have taken over America itself, and systematically dismantled all the rights and freedoms its citizens take for granted. Enemies of the state are taken to detainment camps and then sold offworld as slaves; White Christian Nationalism becomes the official religion presided over by a demon posing as a televangelist; and the new President—one no one remembers electing—is a madman who stages public executions and posts insane rants on social media.
But the heroes have plans of their own—and they’d rather die than surrender their country to unchecked evil.
Twelve miles off the coast of New York sits the manmade island known as the Protectorate. It’s home to most of the world’s superpowered crimefighters, from aliens to robots to demigods, who’ve built a utopia designed for themselves and their unique lifestyle.
But beneath the surface is a darker reality: the Basement, a prison for supervillains. Building and running this prison is the price the heroes pay for gaining their own country.
A consortium of supervillains organizes a breakout and then conquers the Protectorate—and that’s only the start of their plan. Before they’re done, they will have taken over America itself, and systematically dismantled all the rights and freedoms its citizens take for granted. Enemies of the state are taken to detainment camps and then sold offworld as slaves; White Christian Nationalism becomes the official religion presided over by a demon posing as a televangelist; and the new President—one no one remembers electing—is a madman who stages public executions and posts insane rants on social media.
But the heroes have plans of their own—and they’d rather die than surrender their country to unchecked evil.
FREE BOOK!
My new ebook THE SUPERPOWER: PART ONE is FREE until Tuesday, May 19th at midnight. Go to https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GX2Y6YBQ if you’re in the US, or https://tinyurl.com/2wf943yv if in Canada.
Twelve miles off the coast of New York sits the manmade island known as the Protectorate. It’s home to most of the world’s superpowered crimefighters, from aliens to robots to demigods, who’ve built a utopia designed for themselves and their unique lifestyle.
But beneath the surface is a darker reality: the Basement, a prison for supervillains. Building and running this prison is the price the heroes pay for gaining their own country.
A consortium of supervillains organizes a breakout and then conquers the Protectorate—and that’s only the start of their plan. Before they’re done, they will have taken over America itself, and systematically dismantled all the rights and freedoms its citizens take for granted. Enemies of the state are taken to detainment camps and then sold offworld as slaves; White Christian Nationalism becomes the official religion presided over by a demon posing as a televangelist; and the new President—one no one remembers electing—is a madman who stages public executions and posts insane rants on social media.
But the heroes have plans of their own—and they’d rather die than surrender their country to unchecked evil.
The post FREE BOOK! appeared first on ddbarant.com.
May 4, 2026
Goodreads Giveaway!
Hey, everyone: I’m giving away a hundred copies of my new ebook THE SUPERPOWER: PART ONE on Goodreads. Go to
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
anytime from now until June 4 to enter.
Twelve miles off the coast of New York sits the manmade island known as the Protectorate. It’s home to most of the world’s superpowered crimefighters, from aliens to robots to demigods, who’ve built a utopia designed for themselves and their unique lifestyle.
But beneath the surface is a darker reality: the Basement, a prison for supervillains. Building and running this prison is the price the heroes pay for gaining their own country.
A consortium of supervillains organizes a breakout and then conquers the Protectorate—and that’s only the start of their plan. Before they’re done, they will have taken over America itself, and systematically dismantled all the rights and freedoms its citizens take for granted. Enemies of the state are taken to detainment camps and then sold offworld as slaves; White Christian Nationalism becomes the official religion presided over by a demon posing as a televangelist; and the new President—one no one remembers electing—is a madman who stages public executions and posts insane rants on social media.
But the heroes have plans of their own—and they’d rather die than surrender their country to unchecked evil.
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
anytime from now until June 4 to enter.
Twelve miles off the coast of New York sits the manmade island known as the Protectorate. It’s home to most of the world’s superpowered crimefighters, from aliens to robots to demigods, who’ve built a utopia designed for themselves and their unique lifestyle.
But beneath the surface is a darker reality: the Basement, a prison for supervillains. Building and running this prison is the price the heroes pay for gaining their own country.
A consortium of supervillains organizes a breakout and then conquers the Protectorate—and that’s only the start of their plan. Before they’re done, they will have taken over America itself, and systematically dismantled all the rights and freedoms its citizens take for granted. Enemies of the state are taken to detainment camps and then sold offworld as slaves; White Christian Nationalism becomes the official religion presided over by a demon posing as a televangelist; and the new President—one no one remembers electing—is a madman who stages public executions and posts insane rants on social media.
But the heroes have plans of their own—and they’d rather die than surrender their country to unchecked evil.
The post Goodreads Giveaway! appeared first on ddbarant.com.
Book Giveaway
Hey, everyone: I’m giving away a hundred copies of my new ebook THE SUPERPOWER: PART ONE on Goodreads. Go to
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
anytime from now until June 4 to enter.
Twelve miles off the coast of New York sits the manmade island known as the Protectorate. It’s home to most of the world’s superpowered crimefighters, from aliens to robots to demigods, who’ve built a utopia designed for themselves and their unique lifestyle.
But beneath the surface is a darker reality: the Basement, a prison for supervillains. Building and running this prison is the price the heroes pay for gaining their own country.
A consortium of supervillains organizes a breakout and then conquers the Protectorate—and that’s only the start of their plan. Before they’re done, they will have taken over America itself, and systematically dismantled all the rights and freedoms its citizens take for granted. Enemies of the state are taken to detainment camps and then sold offworld as slaves; White Christian Nationalism becomes the official religion presided over by a demon posing as a televangelist; and the new President—one no one remembers electing—is a madman who stages public executions and posts insane rants on social media.
But the heroes have plans of their own—and they’d rather die than surrender their country to unchecked evil.
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
anytime from now until June 4 to enter.
Twelve miles off the coast of New York sits the manmade island known as the Protectorate. It’s home to most of the world’s superpowered crimefighters, from aliens to robots to demigods, who’ve built a utopia designed for themselves and their unique lifestyle.
But beneath the surface is a darker reality: the Basement, a prison for supervillains. Building and running this prison is the price the heroes pay for gaining their own country.
A consortium of supervillains organizes a breakout and then conquers the Protectorate—and that’s only the start of their plan. Before they’re done, they will have taken over America itself, and systematically dismantled all the rights and freedoms its citizens take for granted. Enemies of the state are taken to detainment camps and then sold offworld as slaves; White Christian Nationalism becomes the official religion presided over by a demon posing as a televangelist; and the new President—one no one remembers electing—is a madman who stages public executions and posts insane rants on social media.
But the heroes have plans of their own—and they’d rather die than surrender their country to unchecked evil.
April 24, 2026
The Superpower
So, my new novel THE SUPERPOWER is now available on Amazon--either as a paperback, or as three e-books. It's about supervillains taking over America and turning it into a fascist state--you know, nonfiction. I plan on doing some giveaways in the near future, so stay tuned.
July 25, 2024
Just dropped the first installment of a new Kindle Direct e-book series, and it’s . . . well, a little weird. Here’s the press release.
Here's the link to the book:Taylor Swift and Youtuber Mr. Beast are already known worldwide for their philanthropism—but not for fighting evil using magic and super-speed. This is the premise of a new novel by the team of DD Barant and Dixie Lyle, authors of the Bloodhound Files and WTF Mysteries series. Or is it?
As it turns out, these heroes hail from different realities in the Multiverse, being not so much copies as variations on a theme. They’re trying to stop a mad scientist who’s using WW II vintage robots from yet another reality as a mercenary army for a variety of drug kingpins, terrorist organizations and militias.
The novel reads like a summer blockbuster Marvel movie, with plenty of action, banter, humor and suspense. With Swift already rumored to play a superhero in the much anticipated DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE and Mr. Beast publicly stating his desire to own a real-life Iron Man suit, perhaps this will help satisfy their comic book aspirations.
The book also aims to do some good in the real world: 50% of the profits are being donated to the UNITED FOR UKRAINE fund.
Taylore Swift and Myster Beast Versus The Nazi Zombie Robots Of Doom is now available as an Amazon Kindle Direct e-book for 99 cents.
As it turns out, these heroes hail from different realities in the Multiverse, being not so much copies as variations on a theme. They’re trying to stop a mad scientist who’s using WW II vintage robots from yet another reality as a mercenary army for a variety of drug kingpins, terrorist organizations and militias.
The novel reads like a summer blockbuster Marvel movie, with plenty of action, banter, humor and suspense. With Swift already rumored to play a superhero in the much anticipated DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE and Mr. Beast publicly stating his desire to own a real-life Iron Man suit, perhaps this will help satisfy their comic book aspirations.
The book also aims to do some good in the real world: 50% of the profits are being donated to the UNITED FOR UKRAINE fund.
Taylore Swift and Myster Beast Versus The Nazi Zombie Robots Of Doom is now available as an Amazon Kindle Direct e-book for 99 cents.
The post Just dropped the first installment of a new Kindle Direct e-book series, and it’s . . . well, a little weird. Here’s the press release. appeared first on ddbarant.com.
February 18, 2020
Dixie Lyle news
Hey, everyone--I have some Dixie Lyle writing news. My next Whiskey, Tango and Foxtrot mystery, PURRFECTLY DEAD, now has a tentative publishing date of May 2021. Quite a ways in the future, but I thought I would let people know. My publisher has read it and loves it, saying my fiction makes her "want to do a dance." High praise!
The post Dixie Lyle news appeared first on ddbarant.com.
January 8, 2020
Farewell For Now
The Crossover is going on hiatus. These last two panels will be all you see for a while. So long and thanks for all the fish! thecrossover.thecomicseries.com
The post Farewell For Now appeared first on ddbarant.com.
