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Zephyr #5
Zephyr: Phase Five
Alternate cover edition can be found here.
It's 2012 on the eastern seaboard of the United States. The place is Atlantic City: a sweeping longitudinal metropolis rebuilt following widespread devastation in 1984. Superhumans are not only real, they're human. All too human, as Nietzsche would say.
Zephyr is an alt.superhero adventure influenced by postliterary writing and Sturgeon's law. The style is cynical, cinematic and systematically against standard expectations of the genre. Imagine if Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho was about costumed vigilantes rather than stockbrokers and you have half the idea.
Zephyr tells the story of a major, if somewhat jaded superhero in an alternate universe where New York City has been abandoned and the Beatles were a superhero team. Zephyr is a regular guy, but with powers, and it's easy to wonder if his life might have been better without them as supervillains and other problems that only superhumans can deal with derail his efforts handling life.
In Phase Five, Zephyr belatedly tracks down Loren aka Seeker to Atlantic City's grimy barrio and uncovers a sinister plot involving an addictive heroin-derivative that bestows super powers, inadvertently linked to Twilight's growing criminal empire. Meanwhile, masks across the city and the world start dropping out of public life as British super Sting preaches spiritual Ascension in Afghanistan. Zephyr investigates as part of his search for the deadly and elusive Matrioshka and, as usual, finds more than he expected.
It's 2012 on the eastern seaboard of the United States. The place is Atlantic City: a sweeping longitudinal metropolis rebuilt following widespread devastation in 1984. Superhumans are not only real, they're human. All too human, as Nietzsche would say.
Zephyr is an alt.superhero adventure influenced by postliterary writing and Sturgeon's law. The style is cynical, cinematic and systematically against standard expectations of the genre. Imagine if Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho was about costumed vigilantes rather than stockbrokers and you have half the idea.
Zephyr tells the story of a major, if somewhat jaded superhero in an alternate universe where New York City has been abandoned and the Beatles were a superhero team. Zephyr is a regular guy, but with powers, and it's easy to wonder if his life might have been better without them as supervillains and other problems that only superhumans can deal with derail his efforts handling life.
In Phase Five, Zephyr belatedly tracks down Loren aka Seeker to Atlantic City's grimy barrio and uncovers a sinister plot involving an addictive heroin-derivative that bestows super powers, inadvertently linked to Twilight's growing criminal empire. Meanwhile, masks across the city and the world start dropping out of public life as British super Sting preaches spiritual Ascension in Afghanistan. Zephyr investigates as part of his search for the deadly and elusive Matrioshka and, as usual, finds more than he expected.
309 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 7, 2019
Zephyr V
Another great read in a series of great reads. Cynical, jaded, and starting to get over the hill Zephyr is and interesting and fun romp for a different kind of Superhero.
Read them all. You'll love them!!
Another great read in a series of great reads. Cynical, jaded, and starting to get over the hill Zephyr is and interesting and fun romp for a different kind of Superhero.
Read them all. You'll love them!!
June 7, 2015
This was a hard book for me to read because I grew up on comic books and this did not fit my concept of them. The characters were plentiful but to me it seemed like more time was spent on their philosophical issues then the corralling of the bad guys and the display of superpowers.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews