PREFACE
This story takes place in the same universe as my other Hyper novels. So far, that would consist of this book, Hyper [Book Zero]:Prologue, and Hyper [Book One]: Emergence. Those two are currently available on Amazon as e-books. I am working on Hyper [Book Two]:Uprising. The plan is to add to those two with Hyper [Book Three]:Insurrection.
The short version: Iron Man crossed with King Arthur, stranded in England — in the year 1352.
The universe of Hyper was born from a confluence of several aspects of my worldview:
- I hate the War on Drugs, even though I, personally, ingest nothing more potent than caffeine. To be forced, by law, into being told what I can do with my own body, in my own home, is deeply repugnant to me. I prefer to call it The War on Some Drugs.
- I adore stories featuring people with superhuman powers, but want it to be reasonably believable, and have characters with consistent powers. They don’t have to be rock-hard SF, but I want them to at least make the attempt to portray real physics.
- I played RPGs for many years and use GURPS character sheets to define what my characters can do, and stick to it. Many writers fall into the trap of ‘I’ll just make the hero more powerful’. Unfortunately, this is almost always a one-way street: you rarely see writers de-powering their characters, unless it’s part of a huge reboot of their entire universe.
- I have a degree in physics, which helps me blend scientific fact along with the outlandish nature of superpowered characters.
- I want to suspend my disbelief, not hang it by the neck until dead.
I have a minion who is authorized to write stories in my world, and is assisting me in other ways (marketing, artwork, etc.). His name is Jeff Atchison.
In the world of Hyper, a new street drug has appeared on the streets of Los Angeles. It began as a top-secret military performance enhancer, then its creator absconded with their whole supply, and put it in the hands of the black market. The authorities crack down on it immediately, with their usual totalitarian police state tactics, however, some of the users acquire super powers.
The War on Drugs has new warriors, on the side of human liberty, and they have superhuman powers.
The protagonist of this story is younger brother to Doctor Adrian Steele (Doctor Steele). Kenneth Steele (Steele), son of Adrian Steele, is his nephew. Both of those characters figure prominently in Hyper [Book One]: Emergence. Which, of either of those two, are still alive in Hyper [Book Two]: Uprising? Ain’t tellin’. Buy the books and see for yourself.
~ Arthur Samuels
~ Evil Genius