Super Stories of Heroes & Villains

“Editor Lalumière has put together an impressive best-of anthology for modern superhero fiction, with works from SF royalty like George R. R. Martin and Kelly Link, hit comics creators Kurt Busiek and Mike Mignola, and wonderful but lesser-known writers. The satisfying and varied stories range from J. Robert Lennon’s deeply sad “The Rememberer,” about a super-powered storyteller. who can never forget, to Benjamin Rosenbaum’s brilliant and lighthearted “The Deathtrap of Dr. Nefario,” in which a familiar crime-fighter calls his therapist from a routine death trap. Also of note are Paul Di Filippo’s “The Jackdaw’s Last Case,” starring Franz Kafka as a superhero, and Busiek’s hilariously cynical “Clash of Titans (A New York Romance),” about a marketing man encouraging the rivalry between a superhero and his villainous ex-girlfriend to increase tourism. There are a few missteps: Gene Wolfe’s “The Detective of Dreams” is out of place, and Rachel Pollack’s Wonder Woman-inspired “Burning Sky” detours so far into sexual fantasy that it entirely loses the plot. Even so this is by far the best superhero anthology around, and a must-read for comic book fans.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Super Stories of Heroes & Villains is a fantastically presented anthology full of great stories. There are a lot of anthologies out there dealing with superheroes, but this is the best one I’ve run across. From pulp to steampunk, all the bases are covered. There’s a lot to love here.”
—Comic Book Therapy

“Super Stories of Heroes & Villains is filled with smart, imaginative, inspired stories taking place in a variety of versions of the superhero genre.”
—Fanboy Comics

“Not only are the stories fine in their own right, but they will provide a certain illumination you can take back with you when you’ve returned to the 8-paneled page.”
—Nexus Graphica

“If the capes-and-cowls genre ever hopes to find a foothold in the mainstream, it desperately needs a champion, and we think Lalumière would be a great nominee for the position.”
—Super Hero Novels

“Super Stories of Heroes & Villains was one helluva ride to read! From origin stories, romance gone wrong, to aliens from outer space and lets not forget philandering ‘heroes’ – there is a little bit of something of everything to turn your head…. Hats off to the editor for compiling a really great collection that any fiction fan would greatly enjoy!”
—My Shelf Confessions

Claude Lalumière was, in the 1990s, the owner and manager of the Montreal bookshops danger! and Nebula. Since 1998, he has been writing for the Montreal Gazette, the National Post, January Magazine, Black Gate, the Montreal Review of Books, and Locus Online.