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Nothing to Lose
So you think you know all about superheroes? Those guys in the capes and the lightly starched spandex speedoes. Leaping tall buildings and always getting the girl. You don't know nothing.Join Steve Vernon, Nova Scotia's hardest working horror writer, as he takes you into the world of Captain Nothing. It's a world without hope, a world that is as cold and dark as a landlord's heart, three days after the rent is due. It's a world that could give the Batman a case of the squirming night fears. NOTHING TO LOSE is a collection of stories that will show you the darker side of courage. It will show you the shadows in a hero's heart. Go on. I dare you to take a closer look.You've got nothing to lose.
Paperback
First published January 22, 2011
1 person is currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Steve Vernon
249 books205 followersHi! I'm Steve Vernon and I'd love to scare you. Along the way I'll entertain you. I guarantee a giggle as well.
If I listed all of the books I've written I'd bore you - and I am allergic to boring.
Instead, let me recommend one single book of mine.
Pick up SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME for an example of true Steve Vernon storytelling. It's hockey and vampires for folks who love hockey and vampires - and for folks who don't!
For more up-to-date info please follow my blog at:
http://stevevernonstoryteller.wordpre...
And follow me at Twitter:
@StephenVernon
yours in storytelling,
Steve Vernon
If I listed all of the books I've written I'd bore you - and I am allergic to boring.
Instead, let me recommend one single book of mine.
Pick up SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME for an example of true Steve Vernon storytelling. It's hockey and vampires for folks who love hockey and vampires - and for folks who don't!
For more up-to-date info please follow my blog at:
http://stevevernonstoryteller.wordpre...
And follow me at Twitter:
@StephenVernon
yours in storytelling,
Steve Vernon
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 23, 2020
This is a pretty weird collection. The first story could be a classic superhero tale, only the hero isn't the invincible kind with superpowers or the equivalent in gadgets. He's a complete nutcase, hence the enemy he fights is not a villain as such, but the manifestation of a lifetime of abuse. Which is quite brilliant, all things considered. The second story is just plain crazy. The third made me cry.
August 8, 2020
Strange book. Interesting but odd.
January 4, 2012
Steve Vernon, The Adventures of Captain Nothing, vol. 1: Nothing to Lose (Nocturne Press, 2007)
I've been trying to get my hands on something authored by Steve Vernon ever since I first heard about Long Horn, Big Shaggy, which sounds so awesome I'm not even going to attempt to recreate any description I've heard here. It, however, is very long out of print and very, very expensive when used copies turn up on Amazon. [ed. note: as-new copy still showing for $375, but there's now a Kindle edition, and I still have christmas cash left over, so guess what I just bought and will be reviewing sometime in the relatively near future?] So this popped up at an eminently more reasonable price on the Kindle a while back, and I snapped it up and gave it a read. And it's pretty durned enjoyable, for what it's worth; if this is your kind of bag, you'll want a copy.
And what sort of bag would that be, exactly? Well, Captain Nothing is a wannabe superhero. Except that he doesn't really have anything in the way of superpowers. And he's kind of got something of a drinking problem. And in general when he thinks he's helping, he's usually sticking his foot in it. (If all this sounds familiar, it should; with the exception of the drinking-problem part, it's the basis of the delightful 2010 film Kick-Ass.) In fact, Captain Nothing reminds me of a down-on-his-luck hardboiled private eye a lot more than he does a superhero, which I'm sure was intentional; judging by this collection, at least, Steve Vernon has a thing for thumbing his nose at genres, mashing as many disparate ones as he can into any given story to come up with a delectable, if sometimes foul-smelling, stew of lampooned genre clichés, bashed-up structure templates, and beaten-into-three-dimensions caricatures of the kinds of cardboard cutouts you find in bad genre fiction, especially from the dime-novel days. All of which is served with a complimentary side of grim humor and one-liners from the country's most inept superhero. I mean, how can you go wrong?
If this is what Steve Vernon is all about, I suspect Nothing to Lose will be the beginning of a long and beautiful friendship between us, one in which Steve Vernon keeps turning out books and I keep very happily reading them and telling you, the reading public, that you should be too. And you might as well get in on the ground floor—pick a copy of this up and give it a try. You won't regret it. *** ½
I've been trying to get my hands on something authored by Steve Vernon ever since I first heard about Long Horn, Big Shaggy, which sounds so awesome I'm not even going to attempt to recreate any description I've heard here. It, however, is very long out of print and very, very expensive when used copies turn up on Amazon. [ed. note: as-new copy still showing for $375, but there's now a Kindle edition, and I still have christmas cash left over, so guess what I just bought and will be reviewing sometime in the relatively near future?] So this popped up at an eminently more reasonable price on the Kindle a while back, and I snapped it up and gave it a read. And it's pretty durned enjoyable, for what it's worth; if this is your kind of bag, you'll want a copy.
And what sort of bag would that be, exactly? Well, Captain Nothing is a wannabe superhero. Except that he doesn't really have anything in the way of superpowers. And he's kind of got something of a drinking problem. And in general when he thinks he's helping, he's usually sticking his foot in it. (If all this sounds familiar, it should; with the exception of the drinking-problem part, it's the basis of the delightful 2010 film Kick-Ass.) In fact, Captain Nothing reminds me of a down-on-his-luck hardboiled private eye a lot more than he does a superhero, which I'm sure was intentional; judging by this collection, at least, Steve Vernon has a thing for thumbing his nose at genres, mashing as many disparate ones as he can into any given story to come up with a delectable, if sometimes foul-smelling, stew of lampooned genre clichés, bashed-up structure templates, and beaten-into-three-dimensions caricatures of the kinds of cardboard cutouts you find in bad genre fiction, especially from the dime-novel days. All of which is served with a complimentary side of grim humor and one-liners from the country's most inept superhero. I mean, how can you go wrong?
If this is what Steve Vernon is all about, I suspect Nothing to Lose will be the beginning of a long and beautiful friendship between us, one in which Steve Vernon keeps turning out books and I keep very happily reading them and telling you, the reading public, that you should be too. And you might as well get in on the ground floor—pick a copy of this up and give it a try. You won't regret it. *** ½
Read
July 4, 2013Depending on where you live, this book can be awfully hard to find. The original release came from a POD publisher that rose up and went out of business in about the same amount of time as it took you to read this sentence. Then Toronto-based publisher Burning Effigy released a chapbook version which is still on the market.
Now the good folks at Crossroad Press have released an e-book of this nasty little collection.
What's it about? Bluntly, it is a combination of super hero meets horror. Or to put it another way - if you think you know everything about super heroes...you don't know nothing.
Meet Captain Nothing - on of the nastiest anti-heroes imaginable.
Three stories.
"The Glint of Moonlight on Broken Glass"
"Lamprey Fellatio"
"The Meat Axe of Love"
Check it out.
At $2.99 you've got nothing to lose.
yours in storytelling,
Steve Vernon
Now the good folks at Crossroad Press have released an e-book of this nasty little collection.
What's it about? Bluntly, it is a combination of super hero meets horror. Or to put it another way - if you think you know everything about super heroes...you don't know nothing.
Meet Captain Nothing - on of the nastiest anti-heroes imaginable.
Three stories.
"The Glint of Moonlight on Broken Glass"
"Lamprey Fellatio"
"The Meat Axe of Love"
Check it out.
At $2.99 you've got nothing to lose.
yours in storytelling,
Steve Vernon
Read
January 23, 2011NOTHING TO LOSE was originally published by out-of-business Nocturne Press.
Since Nocturne's untimely demise the book has been re-released by Toronto publisher Burning Effigy Press.
Check out their website if you're interested in hunting up a copy of this collection of dark superhero tales.
http://www.burningeffigy.com/store.shtml
It has also just been released in e-book format from Crossroad Press.
http://store.crossroadpress.com/produ...
At $2.99 you have nothing to lose.
Yours in storytelling,
Steve Vernon
Since Nocturne's untimely demise the book has been re-released by Toronto publisher Burning Effigy Press.
Check out their website if you're interested in hunting up a copy of this collection of dark superhero tales.
http://www.burningeffigy.com/store.shtml
It has also just been released in e-book format from Crossroad Press.
http://store.crossroadpress.com/produ...
At $2.99 you have nothing to lose.
Yours in storytelling,
Steve Vernon
February 2, 2016
Three stories tied together by the least likely of superheroes; Captain Nothing. The first story was great and had a lot of things going for it including some great observations and descriptions courtesy of the titular character. The action flows, and the horror is there. The story is good. The other two stories not so much. Yes the action is there but it all seems different. Less holistic and authentic. All in all uneven, but the first story is worth it all.
July 10, 2020
Captain Nothing isn't exactly a nihilist (like his name implies). But he accepts his circumstances with a shrug. He's a superhero. Big deal. That's why he stitched a leather mask on his face. That's the point, right? Unlike Batman, he's "always on duty."
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews