The Trilogy Of The Realms is a different story about having a superpower. It is not at all your classic superhero and super villain story but it does share many elements viewed through the lense of contemporary fantasy. To be able to take over the body of whoever they want means that there are no real limitations for the protagonists. They can do what they want when they want and there is no one in the world that they cannot get to in order to persuade or threaten.

In I Am You the main protagonist uses this ability to make money as an assassin and manipulate of events such as sport or business that make criminals rich. I am writing the second book in The Trilogy Of The Realms at the moment called This Is Me. The assassin’s friend is the protagonist in this book and uses his abilities for good. Instead of killing people or cheating, he grants wishes. He does this by taking over the bodies of people with disabilities and giving them experiences and memories they cannot achieve themselves, he helps communities by taking a glimpse in the heads of public figures to make sure they are telling the truth about what they can and cannot do and the reason behind this. It’s a different story about having a superpower because in neither books are they superheroes or super villains – one is just trying to use his abilities to create a comfortable life and the other is just trying to make amends for the many deaths he has been responsible for in the past. There is also the added problem that neither of them has a body of their own to dress in a spandex suit.

I was writing This Is Me a few days ago and Matt, the protagonist, was granting the wish of a young child to capture his mother’s killer, a notorious bank robber on the FBI’s most wanted list. All Matt needs to find someone is a detailed knowledge of their physique and personality so he finds this guy, hijacks his body and walks him into the nearest FBI headquarters.

This was interesting to me as Matt asks the FBI boss that he meets ‘why do I not get any wishes from you or your agents?’ as he would be able to round their most wanted list up in one day without breaking a sweat. The boss is a man who exists in a world of strict procedure and protocol and explains with little patience that he works within a system and Matt is not a part of that system. His reply is ‘for the same reason that we do not arrest Santa for Breaking and Entering’. Even with the abilities Matt has, he is not taken seriously by a well established system of law enforcement despite the fact that he can make a hugely significant improvement to that system if he is allowed to take part.

I think this comes from my own experience as a hypnotist. I am not saying I am a superhero, but using hypnosis  I and many colleagues have been able to help many people who have suffered from what the medical profession refer to as mental illness. Hypnosis can help someone with clinical depression for example in just 2 to 4 hours who has been within the established system for years, but hypnosis remains on the outskirts of that system instead of being the first intervention that people are offered. I know how Matt feels and therefore I think I know which depths of my imagination this scene came from.

The other interesting thing is the fact that Matt could just get on and round these criminals up anyway, whether the law enforcement community asked him to or not. Instead he has chosen to set himself up as the wish foundation and keeps himself more than busy helping people that are actually asking for his help. This is reminiscent of one of the God conundrums. An issue that is brought up in a humorous way in Bruce Almighty when Bruce is trying to work out how to handle all the prayers he receives.

Having a superpower or super-ability is quite a responsibility, and I have a better understanding now of why Batman and Spiderman for example are treated more as criminals despite the fact they are trying to make the world a better place. So, as observed, this is a different story about having a superpower, but it has helped me to understand the genre better. As The Trilogy progresses though I will be playing more and more with the supernatural elements as I wish each book to be bigger and more epic than the previous one so watch this space for the development of more super villainous baddies and super heroic goodies.

The key theme of any superhero and super villain story is about the human psyche, about the constant battle in our minds between who we are and who we are not – the ego and the shadow – and that is very much the psychological phenomena that we all live with every day that has inspired I Am You and The Trilogy Of The Realms. In I Am You you can see this divide between the main two characters. You can see it symbolised in the characters of David and his split personality and Kryspin with his Tourettes. Then you can see it more literally when Matt realises that anyone who dies with Matt or You in their body has their soul cleaved in half so the Ego and shadow are seperated to become two separate entities trapped in The Realm Of Death.