‘The Faceless Man’ Is Here!
A ‘Terrific’ new book.
I started serializing my next book on this platform nearly one year ago. That “next book” is now an actual book: The Faceless Man.
In the initial announcement last year, I said:
Superheroes work best in a combination of short and long stories—episodic adventures as well as ongoing sagas. The smaller stories humanize the characters so that we care about them when they’re trying to save the world.
I had already written and published two superhero novels, but the third one kept failing to work. And that’s what it was missing—the smaller stories whose plots can’t sustain a full novel on their own but which do continue to build on each other and flesh out the characters. Without these, the eventual grand finale wouldn’t be nearly as meaningful. The Faceless Man fills in that missing piece of the puzzle.
Here’s the blurb for the new book:
“We must become something more than we were,” Fantastic Man had told them.
But he’s gone now—the world’s first super-powered crimefighter is missing in action, leaving only a few to carry on. Miranda strives to live up to the ideal of Ultra Woman despite reminders of her own shortcomings. Ken dons the blank mask of Mr. Amazing while wondering if there’s a better way. And Alyssa tries to put her brief stint as the Silver Stranger behind her.
Their adventures continue in The Faceless Man, a collection of stories and vignettes that journey from the depths of the human mind to the surface of the moon.
Olympus City produces an endless variety of extraordinary phenomena wrapped within fallible humanity, pushing these three friends to their limits—pushing them to become something more.
The paperback and ebook editions are now available. You can also add it to your shelf on Goodreads. If you read and enjoy it, please be sure to leave a review! Each review is a huge help.
The serialized versions have begun retreating behind paywalls, but paid subscribers will continue to have full access. The last story has two chapters left; they’ll publish on the current schedule and will initially be free to all subscribers (but not forever!).
The Faceless Man is the third book in the Terrific series, following The Flying Woman and The Silver Stranger. While I’d recommend reading them in order, you can start with any of the three.
I shared these excerpts of the first two books a while back:
The Flying Woman
I’ve written two superhero novels, and there will be a third, so I thought I’d share the beginning of the first one here.
Thank you for reading, and thank you to everyone who read and supported the original serialized versions of these stories! Your encouragement has been tremendously appreciated. And to everyone who was already waiting for the third book, thank you for your patience!
(And yes, this announcement takes the place of this week’s Friday pop culture article, so you will not have to endure three emails from me in a single week. Commentary will return on Friday, March 21.)
I know this has probably been answered elsewhere, but as I witnessed this happen in real time: that was a quick turnaround! How did you publish it so fast? Who did you get to do the printing?
A writer I respect very much (J.M. DeMatteis) has said that in stories, including superhero stories, it's always possible to go deeper. That's how I felt when I read "The Faceless Man." The novel format allowed that extra level of introspection that made the characters human, as well as superhuman.