Harper Kingsley blogNovels

May 6, 2012 0 comments

“Heroes & Villains” by Harper Kingsley [superhero, science fiction, mm]

"book cover: Heroes & Villains" Title: Heroes & Villains
Author: Harper Kingsley
Genre: superhero, science fiction, gay
Word count: 135,000+
Novel rating: M
Excerpt rating: PG-13

Summary: Starburst – loser, joke, failed superhero.
Darkstar – powerful, dark legend, supervillain.
Both Vereint Georges

Vereint has spent his entire life dreaming about being a superhero, and now he’s registered his name and set out to make his dream a reality.

Except nothing is going quite the way he planned.

No one respects him. His name – Starburst – is mocked far and wide. And Blue Ice – the hero he’s looked up to for years – thinks he’s nothing but a loser and a joke.

So what other choice does he have but to force the world to respect him?

And to that end he transforms himself into the world’s most feared supervillain. Darkstar.

Set in a world where metahumans are fairly common, Vereint has been gifted with extraordinary power. Unfortunately, with great power does not come great popularity. Not until the good boy goes bad… then the wannabes pop out of the woodwork and bring terror to the world at large in his name (“AS DARKSTAR WILLS THE DARKSTERS FOLLOW.”)

Reminiscent of the comic books of old, the world of “Heroes & Villains” is actually a pretty grim one. With one okay from the CMPF (Central Metahuman Policing Force) a metahuman found breaking the law can lose all of their basic human rights. If they’re lucky, they’re executed. If they’re not lucky… well, no metahuman wants to end up in Butcher Bay.

The good guys in “Heroes & Villains” aren’t so good, and the bad guys aren’t so bad. And Vereint is just a guy that wants to get ahead in the world.

April 29, 2012 0 comments

Teaser 01: “Idlewile” [musician, drama, novel]

Okay, so “Idlewile” is the band story I’ve been working on. Though to be honest I don’t really know if I would call it a “band” story, since Idlewile is a solo singer. It’s just that “song story” seems like an awkward description for it.

Anyway, “Idlewile” is my latest passion and I’m fairly racing through getting it done. It’s like I’ve been struck by a mad case of the prolifics. Hopefully it’s easily transmitted.

I came up with the idea for “Idlewile” after watching a bunch of kdramas and catching up on some celebrity news. I just suddenly decided that I wanted to do a story based on the life of a pop idol. And from there, my brain created Idlewile – whose real name is George Idleston – a young man with a rather bleak past. He was raised in an orphanage until he was recruited into the boy band Anathema at 14.

And right there is where I run into trouble. “Anathema” is the name of a UK band! So I need a new band name – one that hasn’t already been used.

That’s where I need help from you. I am currently asking if anyone can think up a good name for a boy band that hasn’t already been taken.

Leave suggestions in the comments and I’ll choose. Whichever suggested name gets chosen, the person that came up with it will receive a free copy of “Idlewile” when it comes out and I promise to acknowledge you in the foreword section.

Any help is much appreciated, though I’ll probably need to ask for more help in the future.

The world of Idlewile – pop stars and soap operas – is such an alien world to me that there are many things that leave me questioning. I know what I want to see happen, but there’s just a couple of things I might not be able to work through on my own.

~Peace, love, joy

Idlewile hadn’t donned a costume like the other singers and was still wearing his customary jeans and leather jacket, though he had put on a dark purple top hat and a silver and green feathered eye mask. Even from the back, his strut was all arrogant confidence and his hips rolled in an interesting manner.

Whatever Idlewile was singing, it wasn’t in English. It might have been Swedish or German, though Chris’ tin ear couldn’t be sure. All he knew was that it sounded really catchy and it was probably going to become the next hit song. The kids would totally love it, even though they didn’t understand a single word.

March 19, 2012 0 comments

EXCERPT: Altredes [science fiction] #LisaBailey

Title: Altredes
Author: Lisa Bailey
Genre: YA, sci-fi/fantasy
Summary: Sebastian Altredes is the heir of the powerful Altredes Family and has been ordered by his father to represent the Altredes in their alliance with the up and coming Mercana Family. Only the man the world knows as “Sebastian Altredes” is really Sabrina Altredes, a woman forced to take the place of her twin brother after he fled from his responsibilities.

Now Seb is dealing with the sharp-eyed head of the Mercana Family, Paul Anthony, and dodging assassins bullets with only her bodyguard Cisero to keep her alive.

** Yes, this is totally my riff on Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” **

Read the excerpt:

November 6, 2011 0 comments

Ch09-Heroes & Villains [superhero, sci-fi]

I’m such a gigantic nerd that I was flipping through the print copy of my own book and was like, “Hey, this is pretty good.”

I think that once I write something, my mind completely shifts away to other things and I kind of blank out on what I wrote. So even though I have a general idea of the story, I forget the details.

Here’s Chapter Nine from “Heroes & Villains”:

CHAPTER NINE