Villain: A Novel LP

(Hardback)

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The BoysmeetsStarter VillainandAssistant to the Villainin Natalie Zina Walschotss electrifying, sharp, violent, and hilarious sequel to the highly acclaimed novel,Hench,in which the Auditor must confront the near-impossible in order to right the many wrongs in the superhuman industry...or cause more of them. Shes not picky.

Anna, better known to superheroes as the Auditor, has carved out a name for herself. Any hero unlucky enough to cross her path knows her potential and powers. Surely, success should taste sweet: she has an incredible job with lots of perks, and her boss willliterallyannihilate anyone who crosses her, and her greatest enemy, the former hero Supercollider, has been utterly defeated and literally ground to a pulp.

But Anna still has her sights set on a greater work: destroying the Draft, the organization that makes, trains, and manages the worlds most powerful superheroes. These heroes have shown time and time again that they do more harm than good, and now is the time to stop the damage at its source.

Yet all is not well for the Auditor and her fellow evildoers. Her employer, Leviathanthe worlds most feared supervillainis not coping well with Supercolliders defeat at someone elses hands. Moreover, her unlikely ally and unexpected friend, Quantum Entanglement, has vanished without a trace, leaving Anna to examine all the ways they deceived each other. Tension and uncertainty fill the air, and fear that this moment of triumph is about to crumble looms over all of them.

Anna soon finds herself facing down an opponent unlike any shes taken on beforenot another superhero, but someone like her...someone much more dangerous: the Drafts Chief Marketing Officer. This isnt a test of physical prowess, but ideas, and as the fight spirals deeper and deeper, with new foes popping up every dayshell need more than just her superpowerdata researchto keep ascending through the supervillain ranks.

Its guerrilla ad warfare, and the Auditor might have finally met her match.

Reviews

"Witty and inventive . . . the pleasure of the novel is the slow rollout of the rules. Creating a universe involves inventing lots of little problems, and the solutions here don't disappoint." -- New York Times on Hench

"Hench is an engrossing take on the superheroic. It's smart and imaginative; an exemplary rise-of-darkness story, one I won't soon forget...I honestly can't wait to see what Natalie Zina Walschots does next with the genre." -- NPR Books

"Walschots playfully pokes at both office politics and comic book absurdity while offering gripping action and gut-wrenching body horror. The inventive premise, accessible heroine, and biting wit will have readers eager for more from this talented author." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Hench

"A fiendishly clever novel that fizzes with moxie and malice." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on Hench

"In this refreshing, subversive, and darkly humorous debut novel, poet and journalist Walschots slowly reveals the nuances of her superpower-filled world, keeping readers guessing. Hench reads like a comic without the illustrations and is packed with subplots and rapid-fire wit. With a diverse and inclusive cast of characters, Walschots' original tale performs a brilliant and exciting variation on the superhero trope and is not to be missed." -- Booklist (starred review)

Author Bio

Natalie Zina Walschots is a freelance writer, community manager and bailed academic based in Toronto. She writes everything from reviews of science fiction novels and interviews with heavy metal musicians to to in-depth feminist games criticism and pieces of long-form journalism. She is the author of two books of poetry.