Peloran

by on May 10, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Races of Humanity

The Peloran are far stronger than most Earthborn humans. They were genetically engineered with stronger muscles, denser bones, and better immune systems. They almost never get sick. And they heal far more rapidly than Earthborn humanity. Scratches and cuts usually heal in seconds to minutes. Cracked bones can take a few hours. Broken bones can heal within hours or days depending on how extensive the damage was. They can even regrow limbs if they are completely amputated, though it can take up to weeks depending on how much of the limb was lost. Basically, any wound that doesn’t kill them on the spot will heal in time and leave no physical hint that it ever happened. That’s a powerful ability for a soldier.

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Peloran

by on May 9, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Races of Humanity

The Peloran are a far more diverse race than we guessed upon initially meeting them. Most of those we met were fair-skinned, fine-boned, and paragons of beauty that would have made them the stars of fantasy or science fiction movies. They are amazing in our eyes. But in the eyes of the of the Peloran, they are genetic defects. Outcasts from proper Peloran society. Proof that even the genetic wizardry that created their race can break down in time. Or be diluted. The true Peloran that inhabit their homeworlds are stronger, hardier, and far less likely to be ensnared in unwanted violence. Which is any violence at all. They are hard hard-wired to seek peaceful resolutions of nearly any situation, after all.

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Peloran

by on May 8, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Races of Humanity

Most Peloran look a little bit different from those of us born on Earth. Pointy ears and a slightly alien tint to their skin. More elegant bone structure that often reminds people of the elves from classic fantasy stories. Which often came from other worlds. Funny that. The elegant bone structure is a surprise in many ways. They’re so tough, you’d expect them to look like human tanks, but their bones are so much denser that they actually take up less space. Hence the slim looks on most of them. Just don’t try to pick one of those dainty little bitties up while you’re dancing. Trust me on that one. Even those of us with Ageless strength feel that weight. The bit that always got me as a kid was just how…different their skin was. Truly…just a bit alien.

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Peloran

by on May 7, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Races of Humanity

The Peloran who made Contact with humanity were nearly indistinguishable from Earthborn humans. But they were only a small minority of the total Peloran population, picked for that mission because of their appearance. The majority of the Peloran race look a bit more alien, or sometimes a lot more alien. They’re still undeniably human, though they look more like some of the traditional cheap aliens of Pre-Contact science fiction stories. Back when makeup artists painted up the actors in different colors and maybe added some minor facial prosthetics to give them an alien appearance. Little did those artists know just how close to the truth they really were.

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Super Powereds Year Four

by on May 6, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I recently discovered Super Powereds by Drew Hayes. It a world where some people have super powers and some of them train to become certified Heroes to defend the United States of America from Supers with less…patriotic and law abiding ideas in mind.

The four books center around five young adults who were Powered. They had no control over their powers until a top secret experimental procedure changed them. The real story starts with them on their first day of a college where Supers go to become Heroes. Yes, it is a story of young people going to school. And it is glorious.

The five young heroes are all competent in their own ways. Sometimes scarily so. And each have fully fleshed out histories that we learn in time. And they are all relevant to the story that unfolds in the four books that follow. The teachers are much the same. They know what they are doing and do it well. These are no bumbling idiot adults while the smart kids do all the work.

In many ways, I find it most similar to Harry Potter, though it concerns college kids rather than grade school children. But it does follow some of the same tropes. A Great Evil was done ten or so years ago. Family ties and conspiracies are discovered. Climactic battles of good versus evil are waged. Named characters we know die. And no matter how powerful the students think they are, when a Teacher enters the fray, bodies will hit the floor.

Year Four encapsulates the story begun in the first three books very well. It is a bit long, as final novels of a series often are. But it is also worth the read, all the way to the very end. Drew Hayes has an amazing talent for mixing humor and drama, and he has access to a very good reader for his audio books who brings them alive. I liked the writing and reading well enough that I’m now reading the Unadventurous Tales of Fred, The Vampire Accountant and loving and laughing my way through it.

I believe that if you enjoy stories of people doing amazing things in worlds that are a bit more supernatural than our own, Super Powereds may just be a series you will love. I was most satisfied by it from cover to cover. All of the covers.

I give it two fireballs, set to maximum burn.

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