Yu is fascinated by forms - the comic book, the television series, game instructions - and uses his playful, innovative fiction to find something subtle and human at their core. In this collection's mordantly funny title story, underpowered hero Moisture Man ('I am able to take about two gallons of water from the moisture in the air and shoot it in a stream or a gentle mist.') faces off against such diabolical villains as depression, self-doubt and a faceless superhero bureaucracy that keeps denying him health benefits. Third Class Superhero by Charles Yu, paperback, 174 pages

A standout, Will Clarke's 'The Pentecostal Home for Flying Children,' about a town under siege by the teenage offspring of an alien superhero, feels at once uncanny and utterly, hauntingly real. The strongest tales focus on supporting characters long denied an inner voice: the plucky girl reporter, the faithful butler, the sidekick - even the townsfolk who spend their days ducking the flying rubble of superbrawls. As a result, Who Will Save Us Now? is a surprisingly varied read, by turns funny, creepy, melancholic and joyous.Įditors Owen King and John McNally organize the collection around timeworn conventions - the origin story, the secret identity, etc. Superhero tropes turn up in every short story of this new anthology, but its 22 authors eschew the tidy duality of hero/villain to stake out moral territory where the lines between good guys and bad fade to obscurity. Who Can Save Us Now? Brand New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories, edited by Owen King and John McNally, paperback, 320 pages

Hero by perry moore