This mostly tepid anthology, edited by King (son of Stephen King and author of We're All in This Together
) and McNally (America's Report Card
), has a few stimulating moments amid a flood of formulaic stories about inept people who are given powers that serve only to spotlight their insecurities. There are a few standouts: Stephanie Harrell's “Girl Reporter” reveals the origins of a Superman-like hero through the first-person narration of a Lois Lane–like reporter. For Jim Shepard, in “In Cretaceous Seas,” the “superhero and super villain all in one” is “a shitty son, a shitty brother, a lousy father, a lazy helpmate, a wreck of a husband” who means well but hates himself for not doing better. Sam Weller's “The Quick Stop 5” is a hilarious story about five people at a gas station who are turned into superheroes after biofuel spills from a truck. Weller's presentation of “super-power” as a subjective term resonates as one flips through the pages of this anthology. Readers who can't get enough of superheroes will get the most out of this. (July)
