MASKS is a book about truth, justice, and making everything up as you go.
RAE MASTERSON is doing her best, for whatever that’s worth. She’s an eighteen-year-old superheroine trying to keep it together with a borrowed costume, an acerbic wit, and a total lack of superpowers, in a city where most of the good guys were killed off ten years ago. Between sweet-talking Captain Catastrophe and trash-talking Madame Mortale, she’s almost succeeding … until she sees something she wasn’t meant to see. Now one of Earth’s premier superheroes is trying to kill her, and Rae must figure out what went wrong before she becomes the latest addition to her city of ghosts. And the one person who can help her might be more dangerous than every villain in town combined …
TREVOR GREY hasn't used his real name in years. A disgraced former sidekick who once dreamed of becoming a hero, Trevor is now hiding out in the storm tunnels under Los Angeles and trying to stay one step ahead of the people hunting him. Then a girl in a mask comes crashing into his life, and old habits kick in. He saves the girl … but now he’s exposed, and his life expectancy can be measured in hours unless he and Rae can crack a case that kills everyone it touches. And if Rae finds out who he really is, that may be the least of his worries …
Masks is a thrilling ride through the darkest regions of American myth. Here superheroes aren't superheroes--they're masks, defined less by who they are than by what they're hiding. Here a masked cowboy rides the streets, collecting the souls of fallen heroes, and the fate of the universe is in the hands of two kids barely old enough to vote. Sometimes funny, sometimes tragic, and always surprising, Masks is a story about what it really takes to save the world.
Masks is also the first novel by an emerging author who, er, hasn’t picked out a pseudonym yet. Stay tuned. In the meantime, watch this space for everything from character profiles and plot spoilers to videos and blog entries tracking the book's progress from draft to manuscript to agent to publisher to bookstore. I’m figuring this out as I go, and whatever I learn, I’m sharing with you—writers, readers, and everybody else.
Check out the page, read the blog, and when in doubt, remember the First Rule of Superheroics: “Always run toward the screaming!â€
Want to read a sample of my writing? Click here to read the MASKS prequel short story, "The Curtain," absolutely FREE!
Please note: I can't draw anything more complicated than a stick figure, so any 2D artwork you see on these pages is by Nicole Le, unless otherwise indicated. YES, I AM LOOKING FOR A PRO ARTIST; Nicole has said she won't hang around forever. The plushies, however, are all mine. It's like drawing pictures with fabric and a lot of bleeding fingers ...
Oh, and writers--check out the writing group I founded, TellTales . It's a place for my fellow readers and writers to give and get support and feedback--oh, and have fun!
MASKS goes to Comic-Con
