John Varley - Superheroes

Superheroes

edited by

John Varley

and

Ricia Mainhardt

If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as

"unsold and destroyed" to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this

"stripped book."

This Ace Book contains the complete text of the original trade edition.

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SUPERHEROES

An Ace Book / published by arrangement with the editors

PRINTING HISTORY

Ace trade paperback edition / January 1995

Ace mass-market edition / January 1996

All rights reserved.

Copyright 1995 by John Varley and Ricia Mainhardt.

Cover art by Bruce Jensen.

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission.

For information address: The Berkley Publishing Group,

Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016.

ISBN: 0-441-00307-9

ACE

Ace Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,

200 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016.

ACE and the "A" design are trademarks belonging to Charter Communications, Inc.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Introduction copyright 1995 by John Varley.

"A Clean Sweep" copyright 1995 by Laurell K. Hamilton.

"Time for a Hero" copyright 1995 by Brian M. Thomson.

"Peer Review" copyright 1995 by Michael A. Stackpole.

"Shadow Storm" copyright 1995 by Mickey Zucker Reichert.

"Empowered" copyright 1995 by Thranx, Inc.

"Handing On the Goggles" copyright 1995 by B. W. Clough.

"She Who Might Be Obeyed" copyright 1995 by Roland J. Green and Frieda A. Murray.

"And the Sea Shall Cast Him Out" copyright 1995 by William Marden.

"The Defender of Central Park" copyright 1995 by Josepha Sherman.

"Reflected Glory" copyright 1995 by Paul Kupperberg.

"Super Acorns" copyright 1995 by Mike Resnick and Lawrence Schimel.

"Vets" copyright 1995 by Richard Lee Byers.

"Four Tales of Many Names" copyright 1995 by Gerald Hausman.

"The Long Crawl of Hugh Glass" copyright 1995 by Amber Corp.

"God Save the King" copyright 1995 by P. J. Beese and Todd Cameron Hamilton.

"Contract Hit" copyright 1995 by Richard A. Knaak.

"Origin Story" copyright 1995 by Dwight R. Decker.

"Tu Quoque" copyright 1995 by John DeChancie.

"Theme Music Man" copyright 1995 by Jody Lynn Nye.

"Bicycle Superhero" copyright 1995 by Dennis O'Neil.

"Captain Asimov" copyright 1995 by Steve Antczak.

"Press Conference" copyright 1995 by Brad Linaweaver.

"Basic Training" copyright 1995 by Jerry Bingham.

"One of the Boys" copyright 1995 by Lawrence Watt-Evans.

"Truth, Justice, and the Politically Correct Socialist Path" copyright by John Varley.

For Mom, Dad, Gloria and Bob--my superheroes

Table of Contents

IntroductionJohn Varley

A Clean SweepLaurell K. Hamilton

Time for a HeroBrian M. Thomsen

Peer ReviewMichael A. Stackpole

Shadow StormMickey Zucker Reichert

EmpoweredAlan Dean Foster

Handing On the GogglesB. W. Clough

She Who Might Be ObeyedRoland J. Green and Frieda A. MurrayAnd the Sea Shall Cast Him OutWilliam Harden

The Defender of Central ParkJosepha Sherman

Reflected GloryPaul Kupperberg

Super AcornsMike Resnick and Lawrence Schimel

VetsRichard Lee Byers

Four Tales of Many NamesGerald Hausman

The Long Crawl of Hugh GlassRoger Zelazny

God Save the KingP. J. Beese and Todd Cameron HamiltonContract HitRichard A. Knaak

Origin StoryDwight R. Decker

Tu QuoqueJohn DeChancie

Theme Music ManJody Lynn Nye

Bicycle SuperheroDennis O'Neil

Captain AsimovSteve Antczak

Press ConferenceBrad Linaweaver

Basic TrainingJerry Bingham

One of the BoysLawrence Watt-Evans

Truth, Justice, and the Politically Correct Socialist PathJohn VarleyAbout the Authors

HEROES

Introduction

JOHN VARLEY

I did give this essay a title, but if I did it would probably be "What Superheroes Mean to Me." And with a title like that there's just no other place to start with than the Littleton Stamp Company of Littleton, Colorado.

Which is exactly where we will start, except for a brief digression to mention my aunt, who was a librarian in Portland, Oregon, and who for many years tore the foreign stamps off all the letters that came into the library until one day, possibly alarmed at the way her desk drawers were bulging, she dumped them all into boxes and shipped them off to me, in Texas.

I kind of liked them. And when the rest of my family heard this, a few other relatives promptly sent me the stamps they had been hoarding for years because they were too pretty to throw away and besides, maybe they're worth something. (I've since learned that every family sooner or later selects someone to be known as "the stamp nerd," usually a thin, studious male with thick glasses. Except for the specs, I fit the part. Thus are philatelists born.)

I bought a stamp album, learned to soak the stamps off the paper backing, and started pasting them into their proper places.

Enter the Littleton Stamp Company. This firm advertised on matchbook covers and in comic books.

The gist of the ad was they would send you 500 (or 700, or maybe it was 1,000) stamps, all different, FREE!!!!, if you just sent them a self-addressed, stamped envelope, (anslexusastmpsnaprval) Eh? What was that? The print was so small and it went by so fast it must have been the wind. Did you hear anything? Never mind.

We will also include a selection of stamps for approval

Hah? Speak up, will you? Heck, I'm sure I did hear anything, and even if I did, I do know what "on approval" means, and anyway, I'm sure not going to let it stand in the way of my 1,000 (I'm sure it was a thousand) FREE!!! all different stamps from twenty-five (count 'em) countries.

So I fixed four-cent stamps to two envelopesthereby cruelly dating myself to my readers in 1994

posted the letter, and sat back to wait.

The results exceeded my wildest dreams. The Littleton Stamp Company paid off like a slot machine from hell. There were at least 1,000 stamps on paper stuffed into a big bag (there were a lot of duplicates, but who cared?). Looking through them, I soon concluded there were a lot of librarian aunts out there, and not all of them had a designated stamp geek to send their hoarded treasures to.

Obviously, they were selling them to the Littleton Stamp Company. Which, in turn, was giving them away in the mail

Did I feel the first chill of doubt then? Hard to remember. Even at that tender age I think I'd concluded that people seldom just gave things away. On the other hand, I knew a lot of people thought of these little bits of paper as nothing more than trash. So maybe it was true.

For whatever reason, I put my doubts away and returned to the examination of the treasure trove. And here I discovered something entirely unexpected. In addition to the wads and wads of stamps torn from envelopes, there were these cunning little glassine envelopes. Inside the envelopes, which were Introduction printed with legends like "10 Madagascar."