Harper Kingsley blogNovel

May 6, 2012 0 comments

NOVEL: Vedran’s Hand, by Harper Kingsley – Chapter One [fantasy]

Title: Vedran’s Hand
Author: Harper Kingsley
Genre: fantasy
Rating: Adult
Landing page: https://harperkingsley.net/blog/dragon-knight

Summary: A duel to the death is to take place between two unbeaten champions. The Emperor’s Hand, the man known only as Dragon Knight, has been tasked with giving out eighteen gold seals to men and women of his choice, allowing them to witness the legendary battle between Hezzero and Nasbeth. Everyone wants an invite, and they are willing to do whatever they have to in order to get one.
Meanwhile, machinations are going on behind the scenes and someone is planning for a new Emperor to be crowned. All they need is the death of Emperor Vedran Malvorta.

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.

October 10, 2011 0 comments

BOOK REVIEW: Heroes & Villains, by Harper Kingsley

Title: Heroes & Villains
Author: Harper Kingsley
Genre: science fiction, fantasy, superhero, mm romance
Summary: Vereint wants to be a superhero and use his amazing abilities for good. Instead, he’s relegated to a life of mediocrity spiced with outright mockery on the part of the heroes he’d so long admired. So he faces the truth of himself and the life he lives… and becomes the supervillain Darkstar.

My rating: I personally think it’s super awesome, but I don’t rate my own stuff (yet. I might get desperate, so I’m not going to let go of all available options.)

Review: Starts off with Vereint Georges trying his best to balance life as the wannabe superhero Starburst (a name that leads to much mockery) and an office worker. There are some clashes and he ends up alienating most of his co-workers, which makes his role as a superhero more important. Except Blue Ice, a hero he’s always admired, treats him like crap, which leaves him questioning the life he’s chosen.

With very little prompting, he leaves morals behind and turns to a life of crime as the supervillain Darkstar. With his awesome powers he could have been a figure of great terror, but instead he keeps to the smaller crimes of robbery and hostage taking. Still, his looks and powers lead him to having a reputation as the world’s premier supervillain.

And his arch-enemy? Well, it ends up being Blue Ice, who can’t help feeling a bit fascinated.

A slow building romance works in the background, eventually taking over the story and changing both of their lives forever. But in between… there’s super battles, the terrorist organization called the Darksters that see Darkstar as their role-model, and a man bent on avenging his sister by killing as many superheroes as he can manage.

There’s also like robot squid things and minions and inadvertent bank robberies and stuff. Oh yeah, and romance happens.

In all, this story is basically PG-13 and probably would have held to that rating if I didn’t have such a foul mouth. I don’t know how many times I used the f-word and various other vulgarities, but it was enough that the rating was unfortunately bumped to a soft-R.