Why Supers?

Happy 2024! I want to start the new year off by talking a bit about a world that is going to grow quite a bit this year: Thunder Falls.

What is it? Where is it? And why do a bunch of supers call it home?

The first two answers are relatively easy. The last answer requires going back in time a bunch of years.

Thunder Falls is a (fictional) small town in my home state of Maine. There are a bunch of real-world towns, and even a couple cities, that could work for what I am doing with my series, but Thunder Falls literally takes my favorite bits of all the places I’ve lived in Maine and blends them together into what you read on the page.

I’m a home-town boy through and through. Just ask my editor, Colby! There are more than a few turns of phrase that he forces me to take out because they’re so obscure that only my group of friends are likely to get them!

As for where Thunder Falls is located - there isn’t an exact map, but somewhere between Southern and Midcoast Maine.

Now, as for why I decided to include supers in the town (the shortened term for superheroes, or characters with super abilities) come back in time with me. The year? 2002. Me? A bright eyed, naive high schooler. For those young enough, this was back before streaming. If you wanted to watch a television show, you had to plank your butt in front of the television on a certain night of the week, or you’d miss out on knowing what happened in your favorite show. That was also the golden era where seasons of television were 22-24 episodes long - and most included mid-season finales around December where you’d wait with baited breath for the return in late January or early February.

Typical of someone my age, I watched some WB, later rebranded as The CW. You name it, I probably watched some of it, and if I didn’t, then my sisters certainly did. One night I happened to be checking to see what was on when I saw a commercial for reruns of a show about a young Superman. Enter Smallville. This wasn’t a boy in a suit - this was a teenager (I use that term loosely because those actors were anything but) in normal clothes, living in a back-woods town with farms like me, and he was discovering that he wasn’t exactly normal.

Powers, my friends. Clark had super powers. Not only that, but he had to keep these powers a secret from everyone he held dear because, God forbid, his friends and family became targets for super villains! (They became targets anyway, but who’s keeping count?)

This show had it all. Amazing special effects. Excellent storytelling. Tom Welling… Good Lord, Tom Welling. One look at the Season 1 poster with him shirtless, strung up on the scarecrow frame with the red “S” painted on his chest and…oh my…

Sorry, what was I talking about again? Oh yeah!

I’ve seen Smallville multiple times. I bought the seasons on DVD as soon as they came out. I listened to all the commentaries. It’s cemented in my brain.

So, fast forward to a few years ago when I started planning Thunder Falls. I knew that I wanted to make something that brought back feelings of Smallville. Not only that, but I wanted it to fulfill something that I dreamed about back in the day - way back when I read fanfiction between episodes and seasons. I always asked the same question:

What if Clark was gay? What if he struck up a romance with Lex, his best friend and eventual mortal enemy? This was the basis for many fanfictions, including a few long-lost entries that I penned myself. To me, having to keep your superpowers secret is akin to keeping your sexuality a secret. Watch Smallville again and tell me that all the times Clark’s friends confronted him about his “secret” that you couldn’t swap the subject from his powers and abilities to his sexuality? (To be fair, around Season 2 or 3, the actors were well aware of the fandom’s fascination with CLex, so they played it up in every scene they had together, adding fuel to the fire.)

That’s a long-winded way of explaining why I wanted to explore the idea of supers living in my small Maine town. Think of it as a bit of wish fulfillment. The supers in Thunder Falls tend to be more reserved than the big hitters. You kind of have to lay low in a small Maine town where everyone knows everyone. Perhaps they use their abilities to help out the community. Or maybe they use their powers in the bedroom… You get the idea! Either way, these supers are trying to find love just like the rest of the residents of Thunder Falls, and I guarantee they’re going to find it!

So, if you’re looking for a little MM romance that mixes super powers with some small town drama, then give my series a shot!

Speaking of… I’ve got the next book to work on!