The Oops Promotion

On account of Amanda not having physical copies in time for the St. Charles County Libraries Indie Author Event, the digital copies of BOTH Accidentally Heroic books will be free on Amazon October 14th-18th. That's right, both books, completely free.#accidentallyheroic #oopspromotion

Digital Copy Free July 4

Independence Day Promotion- Accidentally Heroic: Manifestation (AKA Book 2) will be FREE for the Kindle tomorrow on Amazon. If you read and enjoyed book one, but haven't had the coin for book two, get your FREE digital copy tomorrow. You don't need a Kindle, there's a free app for your smartphone, tablet, and other digital devices.So for all those "I want to read your book, but I have no money" folks (you know who you are) no excuses, get the free download.

Digital Version of Book 2 - Accidentally Heroic: Manifestation Free July 4th, 2017

Fourth of July is coming. That means celebrating FREEdom. Accidentally Heroic: Manifestation AKA book 2 will be FREE in the digital format on Amazon July 4th.

Accidentally Heroic: Manifestation is now available in a digital format

The digital version of Accidentally Heroic: Manifestation is available on Amazon. If you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, both book 1 and 2 are now enrolled with Kindle Select--meaning, Kindle Unlimited readers can read for free.

Book One is Free on Kindle from now until May 31st

Promotion time! The Kindle/digital version of book 1 is free now until May 31st (the day before the Kindle Release of book 2). New readers can down read the first book for free in anticipation of the second book.

The physical copy of book two, Accidentally Heroic: Manifestation is now available in paperback both on Create Space and Amazon.

Click here to get a free digital copy from Amazon

Book Two Now Available for Purchase via Create Space

I am pleased to announce the paperback version of Accidentally Heroic: Manifestation is now available for purchase at: Create Space

It should appear on Amazon within the next few days, The Kindle Version is scheduled to release June 1st. 

Look at this pretty book, you know you want to buy it.

Book 2 Sneak Peak: Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Sportsmanship

Luke Marconi:

There is an old cliché that says, “History is written by the victors”.  I disagree with that opinion; in war there are no victors.  Our world had changed; I had changed.  I found myself seated on a rusting folding chair in a basement.  A solitary 60-watt light bulb shone above me, the brave light trying to illuminate an entire room.  You could tell that Power-Sparring was illegal by the lavishness of my surroundings.

Wrestling, boxing, and MMA all paled in comparison to this brutal new sport.  Our world had just discovered our existence, the existence of people with special abilities.  They called us Superheroes, because it was the best convention they knew.  Unfortunately, we were not using our powers to help people.  Rather, most of us spent our time illegally sparring one another for money and glory.  While killing your opponent was not necessary to win in Power-Sparring, not all powers could be used without shedding blood.

I knew why I was really there, but I had the perfect cover.  I started to pray more those days, remembering how beautiful faith was.  I needed something to buffer the darkness, and my faith in God was to my soul what that 60-watt light bulb was to the basement where I sat.  Without the bulb, the room would be plunged into darkness, and, if I faltered in faith, so too, would I.  Light poured down the old wooden stairs as they opened the door to the basement.  It was Showtime.

“Hey kid, why ain’t you wearing no costume?”  The MC asked as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pretending we were friends.

“My powers do all the talking,” I calmly replied.  It was all about the show, I knew that, but I didn’t need spandex or a cape to make a spectacle.  My opponent gave them more of a show, but at least his costume wasn’t nearly as flamboyant as most.  His head was shaved and he wore a black leather jacket with blue neon letters stitched upon it which read “Photon Phinish”.  Really dude?  Really?  Our kind may have been blessed with amazing abilities, but we came up with the worst nicknames.

He stared at me as we entered through the fence which created the “cage”.  He wasn’t going to be an easy opponent, no matter what power he had.  He wasn’t looking at me with hate or respect, he was sizing me up.  There I was, this skinny white boy, clad in blue jeans and a hoodie, about to fight a biker.  Photon Phinish suddenly broke into a silly grin.  Oh God, he reminded me of my dumbass cousin Larry.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, from Little Rock Arkansas, I bring to you Phoooooootoooonnnn PHINISH!”  The crowd went wild; great, this guy was popular.  “And, from Springfield Missouri, we bring you,” the MC paused, “Some scrawny guy in a hoodie!”  I closed my eyes and focused on the dinging of the bell.  Practice, that was all there was to it.  I needed to practice.  I had been working on my focus, working on controlling my power.  The cage was the best arena to practice.  I focused on the heat in the air.

I stepped to the side as Photon Phinish breezed past me.  His fist barely missed my face.  I had no clue what his power was.  His nickname, the nickname often gave away the power.  Photon Phinish?  I had taken too long trying to figure out the details when I was blinded by bright light.  Shit.

A fist pummeled me in the stomach.  I fell to my knees and heard the laughter of the spectators.  Fan-fucking-tastic.  I had to get up, I had to move, but the light was so bright it gave me one hell of a headache.  I staggered to a stand only to receive another punch, this time hitting me square in the jaw.  Holy hell, I was going down in no-time.

Many Super Heroes relied on power alone to win in the ring.  This guy clearly wasn’t super-skilled in the art of throwing a punch.  I personally knew one scary-ass Eastern European woman who could demolish a concrete wall with her fist.  However, my opponent had learned to pair his ability with tried and true fighting skills.  His strategy was simple and effective; he blinded you with light, and then beat the crap out of you.

I could almost hear the lecture Linus would give me the moment they carried me back into HQ.  I needed to win this.  I was back on my feet, my eyes still recovering from the previous flares of light.  I needed to fight with my eyes closed, just as I had the first few seconds of the fight.  Unfortunately for my opponent, I had the upper hand in terms of power.  I focused on the temperature in the room around us, on pressure, and on energy.  I was a Thermodynamic, I could control all those things.

“I’m sorry dude,” I apologized to my opponent.

“Huh?”  He said.  Suddenly, he struggled to breathe.  I had willed the air around him to dramatically drop in temperature.  His breath was visible, and now it was time for a little payback.  I moved to strike and converted the energy from the lost heat into energy in my attack.  One punch and he was down on the ground.  The crowd roared with excitement.  Like I said, I didn’t need spandex or a cape to make a spectacle, my powers did all the talking.

“Is he ok?  Do you hear me?  Is Photon Phinish okay?”  I screamed against the cheering crowd, my opponent was still on the ground.  That was when I saw her, Agent Esther Dimanche.  Agent Dimanche wore her dark hair up in a tight bun, her glasses perched at the end of her nose.  Despite the squalor of our settings, Agent Dimanche was clad in a sleek suit and shoes that cost a month’s salary.  I glanced behind to see someone help Photon Phinish stand up; thank god, he was ok.

“So, Marconi, what excuse do you have this time?”  Agent Dimanche glared at me, the venom in her eyes overwhelming.  I was doomed.  I stepped out of the cage and onto the floor.

“Well, I discovered it is, in fact, an illegal Power-Sparring operation.”  I replied.  Yeah, she didn’t buy it.  We walked; you always walked with Agent Dimanche.  She threw a towel at my head.

“You stink, take a shower and then we’ll drive back to headquarters.”

“Listen, it’s not what you think,” I said as we got into the car.

“Right, you’re not engaging in one of the illegal activities we’ve set out to stop.”  Agent Dimanche rolled her eyes as she hopped into the driver’s seat.  I opened the door and groaned audibly.  We had a passenger.

“Jin Ae, really?  You brought Jin Ae?”  I glared at Agent Dimanche as I buckled into my seat.

“You’re full of shit Marconi, and, personally, I’m not fond of it.”  She snarled.  “Now, tell me why you were really fighting.”  I remained silent.  I knew I couldn’t lie, that was why she had brought Jin Ae.  Jin Ae’s power made you tell the truth.

“Is this an interrogation?”

“Marconi, do you trust me?”  Agent Dimanche glanced at me.

“No,” I replied.  Crap, I didn’t mean to say that!

“I figured as much.”  She replied with a tone which surprised me.  Was Agent Dimanche, aka Chanteuse, disappointed I did not trust her?

“Chanteuse…”

“It’s Agent Dimanche to you, Marconi.  Now answer me, why were you fighting?”

“Because I can’t stand being idle!  I want to improve my power so the next time it isn’t someone I love taking the fall!  I don’t want someone else to sacrifice their life like my mom did.  The next time if someone has to be in the line of danger it ought to be me!  You don’t get it; you’re all about the job, that’s all you care about.  Me, I’ve got people to protect and, so sue me, if fighting in an illegal operation can help me train to do that then that’s what I’m gonna do!”

Chanteuse slammed on the brakes.

“All about the job?”  She snarled.  Oh shit.  “Fuck you Marconi, fuck you.”  The next twenty minutes we sat in dead silence.

When we entered HQ, Boss immediately picked up on the friction between Chanteuse… uh… Agent Dimanche and me.  He set down his book, “A Brief History of Time”, Boss was always reading.  Chanteuse stormed off into the other room and slammed the door.  Jin Ae walked in and looked to Boss, AKA Linus.  I was doomed.

“Luke was caught in a Power-Sparring operation… as a fighter.”  Jin Ae walked off after ratting me out.  Thanks.  Linus proceeded to clean his glasses casually.

“I’m not surprised.”  That was it.  I turned to walk away.  “Tell me Luke, have you ever given thought to how important our allegiance with Chanteuse is.”

“She’s not trustworthy.  You know she’s former Elite!”

“I suspect she’s probably still active with them, but that is beside the point.  Really, discriminating against defected Elite members?”  He smirked in amusement.  I realized I didn’t have a leg to stand on.

“It’s no offense to you, Boss.”

“You’re also forgetting Cartouche and Methuselah.”  Linus returned his glasses to his nose.  I realized there was another name he had been thinking of.  He was thinking of her.  “Chanteuse is our eyes and ears inside of the FBI.  She also ensures they don’t investigate our little group too closely.”  At that moment the door opened.  My cousin, Larry, and his girlfriend Nadia, AKA Cartouche, entered.  Aggravation must have been contagious amongst the women at headquarters.  Cartouche was clearly vexed and left a confused Larry behind in the foyer.

“What did you do this time?”  Linus sighed.

“I don’t get it, one minute I was giving her a present for Ramadan…”

“Larry, Ramadan isn’t for months.”

“It’s not?  But it’s December…”

“You’re probably thinking of Chanukah.”

“They’re similar… right?”

“No Larry, they’re not similar. Nadia isn’t Jewish.”  Linus held his head in his hands.  Larry scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

“Uh… goodnight guys.”  Larry slinked off.  Linus turned his annoyance toward me.

“Luke, we’re helping Chanteuse destroy subversive activities such as Power-Sparring.  People are paranoid about our kind.  Since our kind was revealed to the world, new laws have been written.  Obviously, you have not read up on the Super Human Control act of 2012.  Chanteuse is in a particularly delicate situation; she could lose her job and fall under investigation herself should you have been caught by another agent.  More importantly, I want you to think about Larry and Nadia—something has happened.”

“The fight?  Nadia and Larry fight all the time, they’ll be fine.”

“Luke,” Linus paused, “Cartouche is on the FBI’s most wanted list.”  Linus moved to leave, but turned back to look at me.  “The crimes she committed when she belonged to the Elite make her a prime candidate for the Death Penalty.”

Book 2 Sneak Peak: Prologue

Prologue:

December 2012

Linus:

Winter once more descended upon us, suspending the land in a blanket of virgin snow.  It was calm, the perfect excuse for a pensive man to peer out the window and let his mind drift.  I thought of her, always.  My leads for the past year and a half had been inconclusive.  I had not adjusted well to losing my power; I was a fish out of water.

I picked up a book and allowed myself to drink in the words, to become inebriated from their wisdom.  As engrossed as I was, my reverie was diverted by concerns of my own uselessness.  I was the leader of a group of super heroes, the most talented and special of humans, and I no longer possessed a power.  I was inadequate to stand in their company.  They were the next evolution of mankind…

“SPIDER!”  The Caffiend shrieked in unadulterated terror.  In the blink of an eye, he darted across the room at inhuman speed.  “Ewww ewww eww, they give me the creeps!”  The Caffiend perched upon a chair.  At that moment, he resembled a three-year-old girl far more than a teenage boy.  It did not help that Jin Ae, a full-grown woman, also shied away from the offending arachnid.  Cartouche, our Bosnian cohort, made her way to defend our cowardly crew.

CRACK.  Cartouche looked up at me with guilty eyes.  There was a massive hole in the floor where she had stomped.  There were definite downsides of keeping company with a woman of unfathomable strength.  To add insult to injury, the spider scampered away on the floor, unscathed by an attack which would have killed a bear.

I sighed with ire and got up from my chair.  Casually, I strolled over to the eight-legged antagonist and dropped my book.  PLOP.  I motioned for a tissue as I retrieved my book from the floor.  Calmly, I wiped away the smashed remnants of the spider.  My sense of uselessness dissolved in an instant.  Without me, my noble companions would be trapped walking up a downward escalator.  At least I served some purpose.

How many Super Heroes does it take to kill a spider?

Book Two-- Accidentally Heroic: Manifestations is Almost Here!

Accidentally Heroic: Manifestation is coming soon!

Patient readers, as you know, it's been a long road to the elusive, "Book Two".  Almost two weeks ago, I filed the copyright.  Yesterday, I received the physical proof from Create Space.  As soon as I am done reviewing the proof for any issues, I will be announcing a release date.  Like book one, book two will initially be exclusive to paperback while I work on the Kindle/eReader formatting.

However, the perk of the delay on the Kindle Version of Accidentally Heroic: Manifestation is that, until the Kindle version is up and entered into KDP select, I can release a few of the early chapters to give readers a taste of what's to come.

In the meantime, here is a picture of book one and two side by side:

Warm Regards,
-Amanda

What's your sign?

Accidentally Heroic Book 1 is a Cancer, published July 2015.  The question, dear readers, is will Book 2 be a Taurus or a Gemini?