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Zephyr VIII
Superheroes. Celebrities. Crazed Robots. Interdimensional Assassins. And a city where even the villains get a magazine shoot. Zephyr tells the story of a cynical, smart-mouthed superhero kicking ass in a world going mad around him. “I absolutely loved this book. The author is whip smart and dissects this genre like a surgeon” – Joe Gazzam, author of Uncaged The place is Atlantic 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. With his daughter getting into the business and his wife showing him the door, it’s easy to wonder if Zephyr’s life might be easier without his ever-growing powers and supervillains, extradimensional invasions and city-shaking calamities derailing his best efforts handling life in a celebrity-mad alternate universe where Manhattan’s a mutant-infested ruin and the Beatles were a superhero team. If you love Alan Moore’s Watchmen and other classics of the adult superhero genre, you’ll love Zephyr because it’s the freshest take yet. Volume 8 sees Zephyr commit to the debt he feels owed to Annie Black, promising her ghost to investigate the circumstances of her murder -- despite Annie just wanting to hurry up and get to the after life already. Zephyr's quest takes him to hostile environments, parallel worlds, World War Two Germany, and into a madman's nightmarish Big Brother house to find the maniac behind Annie's death -- except things aren't as they appear (again) and Zephyr finds himself fighting for his life and those of Twilight, Shade and Streehawk as well. Editorial reviews “It’s a skilfully-written superhero fantasy resonant with emotion. Expect to feel your soul move as the swaggering narrator bears comic and often poignant witness to the vagaries of a life both bizarre and very like our own” --AA Attanasio, author of the Radix tetrad and The Dragon and the Unicorn series. “The book deconstructs the superhero in the most entertaining, cynical and interesting ways” --Michael Ivan Lowell, The Suns of Liberty series. “There are so many subtle yet brilliant liberties that Hately takes with reality that makes his world pop as a unique, fun, unpredictable sand box in which he hatches super human adventures on par with anything else on the market” --reader Greg McCubbin. “Here is a brutally honest look at a superhero for a mature reader. A darkly humorous look at the strains and excesses of a hero who is past his prime” --reader Keiran Jones. “I strongly recommend this book and can’t wait to read the others in this inventive, entertaining series” --reader Mike Flota.
291 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 24, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 11, 2020
ANOTHER SMASHING INSTALMENT!
Once again, ole Zephyr, our smart ass, antisocial superhero protagonist, is out kicking ass and taking names in vol8. The man with power of six million lightbulbs, (or whatever the f@(< it is,😉) himself, has matured (meh, somewhat, anyway....) along with Hately’s now polished delivery of Zephyr and company’s extraordinary existence in their parallel version of the universe, which is governed by higher plasticity levels, and ergo, magic, superpowers, mutancy, time travel and unending versions of timelines, are all cracking along nicely for those lucky bastards, well some of them anyway...
Windsong, Twilight, Shade, Shift, Chamber, and co all get a great run in this episode, and the character development has never been better, with back stories and (and future stories) playing out in a manner leaving the reader (well, this one, anyway) stuck in a loop, flicking to the next page....
Volume 8 gets 5 stars from me, all in all, this entire series has been a cracking good read.
Once again, ole Zephyr, our smart ass, antisocial superhero protagonist, is out kicking ass and taking names in vol8. The man with power of six million lightbulbs, (or whatever the f@(< it is,😉) himself, has matured (meh, somewhat, anyway....) along with Hately’s now polished delivery of Zephyr and company’s extraordinary existence in their parallel version of the universe, which is governed by higher plasticity levels, and ergo, magic, superpowers, mutancy, time travel and unending versions of timelines, are all cracking along nicely for those lucky bastards, well some of them anyway...
Windsong, Twilight, Shade, Shift, Chamber, and co all get a great run in this episode, and the character development has never been better, with back stories and (and future stories) playing out in a manner leaving the reader (well, this one, anyway) stuck in a loop, flicking to the next page....
Volume 8 gets 5 stars from me, all in all, this entire series has been a cracking good read.
May 10, 2020
Write Book IX , Please & Thank You
More than anything, it's been interesting tracking the evolution of Zephyr's voice (and the general tone of the books as a whole) throughout the series. That Zephyr's becoming a more sympathetic figure (and spending more time navel-gazing) is really fascinating - that swap in Book VII seems to have made a significant dent in his outlook - but I trust he'll still remain a dick. It's part of the draw. Let's get on with Book IX, Mr Hately. I'm invested and this series has proven to be good reading during the lockdown. Five stars earned had there been fewer typographical errors. The humor in this particular book is the best in the whole series.
More than anything, it's been interesting tracking the evolution of Zephyr's voice (and the general tone of the books as a whole) throughout the series. That Zephyr's becoming a more sympathetic figure (and spending more time navel-gazing) is really fascinating - that swap in Book VII seems to have made a significant dent in his outlook - but I trust he'll still remain a dick. It's part of the draw. Let's get on with Book IX, Mr Hately. I'm invested and this series has proven to be good reading during the lockdown. Five stars earned had there been fewer typographical errors. The humor in this particular book is the best in the whole series.
November 8, 2018
Can’t get enough of this series!!
The zephyr books have completely changed my mind about comic novels. I had avoided them and had only bought the first one thinking it was a graphic novel AND IM HOOKED. these are well written , sexy, laugh out loud funny, and I have gotten hooked on the characters. Excellent work!
The zephyr books have completely changed my mind about comic novels. I had avoided them and had only bought the first one thinking it was a graphic novel AND IM HOOKED. these are well written , sexy, laugh out loud funny, and I have gotten hooked on the characters. Excellent work!
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June 27, 2021Keeps the balls aloft
Somehow Hately continues this never-ending smorgasbord of pop culture slash superhero mashup. Quite impressive and peculiarly addictive. Waiting on no. 9.
Somehow Hately continues this never-ending smorgasbord of pop culture slash superhero mashup. Quite impressive and peculiarly addictive. Waiting on no. 9.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews