Both the Soloist and Gifted are free today on Amazon. No need for a Kindle device--there's a free app on the page available to read them on any machine! 

Soloist: http://amzn.to/1ArXWpL 
Gifted: http://amzn.to/1F9cDuw

Have you already read other or both? Let me know what "one-shot" story you'd like to read next! Emily, Doc, Billy? I'm curious to hear. 

I always wanted to be a comic book writer. I'm the next best thing now, writing superhero novels, but I spent my childhood drawing my own comics, and when I realized I was mediocre artist at best, I started writing scripts I hope would one day dazzle Marvel or DC Comics some day. 

Turns out it doesn't work that way. But that's okay. I have my Indestructibles. 

But once in a while I'll get a hair-brained idea I feel compelled to write (like my goofy takes on Spider-Man and alternate revisions of Martian Manhunter and Aquaman). For those, I just threw my proposals here on the blog for kicks, in no small part because they were more ideas than stories. I'd love to pitch either of those two DC concepts as TV shows, but I need to be a much bigger fish for something like that to happen, and I'm still in guppy territory. 

But I once read that you should write speculative scripts with the idea that they would never be produced--whether those spec scripts are for comics or for TV shows, any ongoing serial. Ongoing series have a plan, and they aren't going to buy a script that deviates from that plan (even if it's awesome) but if the fates align, someone might see it and go, hey, that guy can tell a story! 

So with that in mind, a few months back, when I was gearing up to start really digging into Book 3's writing process, I decided to stretch my creative legs and write a spec script Marvel would never, ever produce, putting together four characters who would never, ever be put together on a team, for a concept that was part team-up, part ridiculous heist scenario. It was a chance to throw a few of my favorite random non-Avengers characters together in one place. It is, quite honestly, a script that would never, ever fly, anywhere. 

So what do I do with it? 

I think I'll just post it here. Hope you get a kick out of it. Full disclosure: this was basically a brainstorming, flexing my writing muscles exercise. It was a practice script to see if I still knew how to write a 22 page comic. It's not intended for sale, I'll never print it in any real fashion, and I sure as heck won't work with an artist on producing it because I don't want to get into trouble. Strictly posting it here because it feels silly to just leave it sitting on my computer never to be seen. Y'know? 

I present you: "Pete Wisdom and Union Jack: Her Majesty's Secret Parcel Service." 

So I can't argue with the writer's thoughts in this great article on Pitch Perfect 2's success and how Hollywood will botch understanding the movie's success, but I wish opinion writers would stop with the "Hollywood is only making superhero movies" fallacy. They do, certainly, get the most press, that is inarguable, but I ran the numbers in an article for Home for Wayward Geeks earlier this year--superhero flicks were 4% of the movies produced in 2014 and less than 3% of the movies scheduled in 2015.

I also saw the Avengers on opening weekend and sat in front of a row, an entire row, of 30-something year old women who spent the entire movie talking about the PLOT. So while yeah, the likelihood Hollywood will misuse the amazing Anna Kendrick and Elizabeth Banks, saying "maybe it’s time to stop catering almost exclusively to the supposed gravy-train demographic of young male movie-goers" in reference to superhero films is kind of ignoring the fact that the audience for those movies aren't, well, all young male movie-goers anymore.

Why is it people who are writing for big-name publications are convinced only little boys like superhero stories? It's like they stopped doing research in 1985 sometimes...

Had a lot of fun giving a book talk earlier this month with students at the Sawyer Free Library in Gloucester, Mass. Don't always get to see photos from events like this, so a special thank you to the organizers of the event for sending them over to me! 

Had a great time talking with a really witty, creative group of students. Be sure to check out their trailer for the Indestructibles on Youtube! 

In honor of the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron, we've decided to put out a short Indestructibles story through Amazon Kindle (and the free Kindle app) this weekend! 

Okay, I admit it, it's not because of Age of Ultron. That's totally a coincidence. But I mean, it's a good coincidence, yeah? 

The story can be found here, for just 99 cents. It tells a day in the life story of Kate "Dancer" Miller before she joined the Indestructibles and gives us more insight into what motivates the most mysterious member of the team...