Choose Your Weapon - Invisivility

 

"Timely, relevant, and genuinely terrifying, Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man recontextualizes a classic Universal monster into a modern examination of abuse, toxicity, and gaslighting." - Jeffrey Zhang

What is Invisibility?

Today we are looking at another weapon used in the Fantasy genre: invisibility. Simply stated, it is the state in which you are not seen.

Types of Invisibility

There are myriad ways of being invisible in Speculative Fiction.

Consider Magical rings, cloaks, potions and spells. Or magic conferred by a mythical creature, sorcerer, witch, or perhaps an ancient curse. 

And then there is Psychological, as in mind control, glamours ... your basic smoke and mirrors.

Also, we think of technology, which is seen mostly in SF via things like stealth tech, futuristic camouflage, DNA manipulation and advanced refraction of light.

Now, let's look at how these types of invisibility play out in our history of storytelling.

Early Fiction

Invisibility as a Weapon appears in very early fiction. Think of Hades (the god, not the destination) and his magic-imbibed helm of invisibility. Homer (circa late 8th or early 7th century BC) tells us he wore it when emerging from the underworld. In the light of day, Hades sees us but we don't see him.

Things are complicated with this helm when Perseus borrows it from Athena and uses it to assassinate the sleeping Medusa...

Later, in 1897, HG Wells gave us The Invisible Man, a SF novella about a scientist who turns himself invisible through technology. He uses his chemical inventions to lower the refractive index of a substance to that of air. This makes the substances, ie. his body, invisible to light. Although he intends to use his invention for self-indulgence, he ends up overwhelmed by isolation and falls into a mental spiral of madness and terror.

More Recent Fiction

Along the lines of The Invisible Man, Translucent, an original character from the Amazon series The Boys (not known in the comics series but replacing the alien Jack From Jupiter). Translucent can become invisible and repel bullets with his carbon metamaterial skin. It's pure technology, not magic. Like many, he is known to misuse his superpowers on unsuspecting innocents. He also gets depressed.

Forget-me-nots

Some writers give characters the ability to become so obscure they are forgotten or never noticed. Terry

Pratchett does this in Discworld, a comedic fantasy book where Granny Weatherwax and Tifanny Aching remain visible, but are extremely difficult to notice. The Grey Men in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time have this skill as well.

This technique appears in the Arcane Ascension, a series by Andrew Rowe. We also see magical objects with similar abilities.   

Oh, and for a more contemporary/mystery/thriller/fantasy, The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North is riveting. "... the tale of a girl no one remembers, yet her story will stay with you forever."

Magical Items

Night Angel by Brent Weeks has a character who is given a magic device that makes him the perfect assassin. Is it a call back to JRR Tolkien's LOTR. Of course, I must mention this cursed/magic ring forged in the Cracks of Doom.

The Crimson Shadow trilogy by RA Salvatore is also an example. Here, the MC has a cloak that grants him invisibility, but when he uses it, it leaves behind a crimson shadow burnt into the ground.

Deals with Devils

In David Eddings' Elenium series, two of the knights, Tynian and Ulath, make a deal with the Troll Gods whereby they can exist in the smallest fraction of every moment, meaning no one can see or hear them yet they can perceive everyone else. The natator acknowledges this as faulty logic, the explanation being it works because the Troll Gods are so neurologically divergent they think it will work.  So it does.

More recently penned, though set in the 1800s, we meet a young woman who makes a Faustian bargain to live forever but is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. I'm talking about The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab. Poor Addie can interact with others, but after a while, they forget she ever existed. The psychological repercussions are, at times, devastating. 

Mind Control

In the Books of Raksura by Martha Wells, one of the Queens has the ability to turn off people's awareness of her presence, and she becomes invisible in social and/or action sequences. Of course, we all remember this technique from Star Wars when Obi-Wan uses the Force to 'erase' himself when convenient.

Fun, Fear and Folly

The ability of invisibility can help our beloved characters get through a tough spot, but in most cases, they suffer consequences as a result. From Frodo's stolen ring to Rosette in the Quantum Enchantment series who uses a glamour to hide herself from danger, the actions come with a price. They hear something they shouldn't. They see an unforgettable horror. Or they are exposed unexpectedly, at the worst possible moment.

Invisibility is undeniably a powerful weapon, but would it be your first choice?

Let us know in the comments!

xx Kim

Choose Your Weapon Series 2024

Poison

The Perfect Storm

The Sword

Firearms

Ranged

Spells

Unarmed

Curses

Time Travel

Invisibility

***

About Kim Falconer

Kim Falconer, writing also as AK Wilder, has released Crown of Bones, a YA Epic Fantasy with Curse of Shadows as book 2 in the series. Currently, she is working on the third book, out in 2025.

Kim can be found on AKWilder Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and KimFalconer.com. 

Throw the bones, read your horoscopes or Raise Your Phantom on the AKWilder.com site See you there!

'the delicious threesome' by Cindy Pon -- More 'From the Backlist' Goodness!

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Our own Supernatural Underground backlist that is -- and today's fabulous reprise is from the wonderful Cindy Pon. 

Needless to say, we think it's a lot of fun. So much so that we just had to highlight it for you again today.

the delicious threesome...or is three a crowd?

by Cindy Pon

as a tween, one of my favorite series
of books was the single title historicals
(like "jacqueline" or "caroline") and it
always showed the teen heroine on the front
cover flanked by two boys. two boys that she
must choose between. i loved those books,
formulaic as the love triangle may have been.
the new period in history always made it fresh
enough for me to read almost every title in the
series. of late, there's been some discussion
on the love triangle within the young adult genre.

The Twilight effect...

is it overused? tired and worn out? o

the threesome configuration one of the best

ones to read for increased sexual and romantic

tension? like so many things in the young adult genre

that i attribute to "the twilight effect", the series really

put the love triangle at the forefront of YA reader minds. ...

*when two men love a woman.

...

so what about you? how do you feel about
love triangles? do they work for you?
what threesome novels are some of your favorites?

To read Cindy's original post in full, including all about two other trio-a-licious teen Fantasy series that she loved, plus the 27 fun and sometimes impassioned comments on the subject of love triangles in books, click here.

And to find out more about Cindy Pon, her books, and what she's working on now, go here. 

Villainy Among Friends: Three Authors Talk Writing Villains

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In dubbing 2024 the Year of the Villain, we've traversed quite a few examples of villainy in fantasy together, from Tolkien's pantheon of big bads, through Le Guin's more interior focus, to others such as formless evil, wrongdoers that manipulate from the shadows, and most recently, heroes that fall.

I don't believe any discussion of villains and villainy would be complete, however, without hearing from authors about the antagonists in their own work. So today I'm delighted to have fellow Supernatural Underground authors, Kim Falconer and Amanda Arista, here to talk exactly that.

Kim Falconer: Anti-Heroes, & Shadow, Betrayer, & Super Villains

Amassia series

I’m so excited to contribute to this group post on villainy. After all, what kind of story would there be without the evil doers?

But have you noticed over the decades that evil is changing? Becoming more three dimensional?

Once upon a time, villains did bad things for bad reasons and that was it. But this is no longer always the case.

Take, for example, the red-robe Tann in my Amassia series. As twisted as he gets, he isn’t 100% bad. He has reasons! He also has all the ingredients that make a good hero. He’s on a journey with strong motivations. Much is at stake, and he risks everything to succeed.

Sounds heroic, right?

That’s because Tann is a Shadow Villain. When we learn his history, later in the series, we see that he represents the ‘dark side’ of our heroes. And while he’s at it, he elucidates the history and nature of the crown of bones. In the end, it is the shadow villain who leads us through the darkness to the light, though unintentionally...

But Tann isn’t the only bad guy in the Amassia series. There is also a Betrayer Villain – the fallen one, as it were. Helen has written about this in detail in her post Once Were Heroes. In my series, this role is taken by High Savant Brogal. Notice how, while he is busy betraying, he shows the reader ‘another side’ of the story. It makes us question…

Then there is the Anti-Hero, like Jean-Baptiste Grenouille in Perfume. The anti-hero is a serious villain, but their story is told from their POV. They do ‘bad’ things (terrible things) but for ‘good’ reasons, according to them. Like in the Amassia series…oops I better not say that! It’s a massive spoiler! You’ll just have to find out in the pages.

Finally, there is the Super Villain. Like the Dark Side of the Force in Star Wars, or the Machine Mind in the Matrix, the super villain appears faceless yet all powerful. It is an impersonal force of nature. There is a super villain in the Amassia series. Can you guess what form it takes?

 

I’d love to know, who is a favourite villain on your bookshelf right now? In film?

Mine would have to be Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb, the Penguin. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15435876/

Happy reading, and viewing!

~*~

Amanda Arista: Faces To Punch in the "Urban Panther" Universe

Though there are lots of faces that Violet gets to punch in The Diaries of an Urban Panther series, the Haverty duo are the two really pulling all the strings: one as an old-fashioned bad guy coming after Violet with a vengeance and one as a dark mirror to her own story. 

Reade Haverty was always a villain, from the moment he took over the Dallas Pride, tearing apart a family of werelions to do so. Proud and power hungry, he stepped on everyone in his path to control all the shifters in Dallas. Including his son Spencer Haverty, playboy and panther whose bite activated Violet's own destiny. 

Haverty’s villainy was external and visceral and Violet was a pawn he wanted out of play. When Daddy Haverty met his end thanks to a well-placed knife to the heart, Spencer's villainy twisted into another antagonist force Violet had to stop, but this one was more difficult to defeat. 

Pulling on their connection as her maker, Spencer became the dark reflection of Violet. When she got power, he got power. When she took control, he took control. He invaded her dreams, twisted her friendships, and even killed her mentor. Thanks to his daddy issues, he never made the heroic choices that Violet did, even when she gave him the chance. 

Defeating both types of villains grew Violet into the hero she needed to be to lead the Dallas Pride. 

~*~

Helen Lowe: "The Wall Of Night" Pantheon

Like Kim's Amassia series, The Wall of Night is fantasy in the epic mode -- think Lord of the Rings meets the political machinations of House of the Dragon. It's also alternate (aka 'secondary') world fantasy, whereas Amanda's Urban Panther 'verse is set in a very recognizable Dallas, Texas. :-) 

As the series develops, opening with The Heir of Night (Heir) and progressing through The Gathering of the Lost (Gathering) to Daughter of Blood (Daughter), with the story finale currently in completion, the reader's understanding of its pantheon of villains evolves in the same way as the cast of heroes. 

The latter are chiefly drawn from a people known as the Derai, who have been fighting an age-old war for the fate of the universe and all life. Yep, the stakes are high -- and in Heir, the evil the main characters face is a correspondingly monolithic, but also formless force (i.e. Kim's "super villain"), which manifests through various demonic entities. The main characters, Malian and Kalan, know there are people, called the Darksworn, among the demon ranks, but they're mostly an off-stage, if not completely off-page, presence.  

In Gathering, the reader meets Darksworn in their own right for the first time, as opposed to solely through the heroes' eyes. The sorcerers Nirn and Arcolin, and their adept and warrior henchmen, are working to destabilize the world of Haarth, utilizing the magic and strength of beast-men known as werehunters. So the demonic elements remain, but the villains, and the evil they practice, wear a more human face. Their motivation also becomes more central to the plot.

Daughter reinforces these elements while introducing more, and more powerful, Darksworn villains, including a prince, giant in stature, with serpent hair.  Again, the demonic aspect overlays the villainy, but with the narrative returning to the Derai, who believe themselves champions of good, their actions receive closer scrutiny. Many prove comparable with those of their Darksworn enemies -- broadening the scope of what constitutes evil in the Wall of Night story, and expanding the ranks of its villains. 

I can definitely promise you further broadening, and more indepth scrutiny, in the book to come...

~*~

About the Authors

About Kim Falconer:

Kim Falconer, currently writing as A K Wilder, has released Crown of Bones, a YA Epic Fantasy with Curse of Shadows as book 2 in the series. Currently, she is working on the third book, out in 2025.

Kim can be found on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Or pop over to throw the bones or Raise Your Phantom on the AKWilder.com site

~*~

About Amanda Arista:

Amanda was born in Illinois, raised in Corpus Christi, and lives in Dallas, but her heart lies in London. Good thing she loves to travel!

Amanda is the author of the Diaries of an Urban Panther series and The Merci Lanard Files. A graduate of the SMU Creative Writing Program, she now teaches other aspiring authors and loves discussing craft, character, and structure.

You can usually find Amanda curled up on her couch with a tiny human or a dog, writing away, or otherwise on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pantherista/ Find out what she's currently doing on Instagram: @pantherista

~*~

About Helen Lowe:

Helen Lowe is an award-winning novelist, poet, and lover of story. With four books published to date, she is currently completing the final instalment in The Wall Of Night series.

Helen posts regularly on her “…on Anything, Really” blog, monthly on the Supernatural Underground, and tweets @helenl0we.

~*~

Previous “Year of the Villain” Posts:

January:      Ushering in 2024 -- & the Year of the Villain

February:    The Year of the Villain #1: The Lord of The Rings Pantheon

March: The Year of the Villain #2: Ursula Le Guin & “Earthsea”

April: The Year of the Villain #3: Tigana and Brandin of Ygrath

May: The Year of the Villain #4: Elidor and Formless Evil 

June: The Year of the Villain #5: When the Hero Is Really A Villain

July:  The Year of the Villain #6: When the Author Messes With Your Mind

August:  The Year of the Villain #7: The Evilest Of Them All

September: The Year of the Villain #8: Secret Villains

October: The Year of the Villain #9: Once Were Heroes

From the Backlist - Scary Movies From Real Life

 

The Amityville Horror (2005) directed by Andrew Douglas

 

It's time for another look at the Supernatural Underground Blog Backlist! With Halloween a week away, we thought it might be timely to dust off this October 28, 2011 post by Dakota Banks - Scary Movies (and books) with Real Life Backgrounds. 

Read the original post here, and be sure to check out all the interesting comments from readers. You can find the chilling supernatural works, The Mortal Path Series, by Dakota Banks here.

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

As Spooky Day approaches, I thought I'd take a look at some popular scary movies that have more behind them than just a screenwriter eager to cash in on the paranormal craze. These are oldies but goodies, and if you haven't seen them (or if you have), you might want to search them out for your Halloween fright-fest. Your friends might not believe you when you them them the background of these movies!

The Shining (1980)

This movie takes place in an isolated location, a large and luxurious hotel that is closed down for the winter due to impassable roads. This means the few who remain (caretaker, etc.) are trapped there as both the snow and the isolation deepen. Terrible things have happened at the hotel and left ghostly impressions behind that aren't exactly friendly to the humans in their midst. It's a psychological drama as well as a horror movie that will have you breathing fast.

Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, CO

 
The background: The movie was based on the book The Shining by Stephen King. He was inspired to write it after a stay in Room 217 of the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. In 1911, a housekeeper was nearly killed by a gas leak explosion in Room 217. Doors open and close and lights turn on and off by themselves in that room. Stephen King spotted the ghost of a small child who calls out to his nanny on the second floor. According the the staff, Room 418 is the most haunted room in the hotel. Ghosts of children playing can be heard in the hallway. The movie was not filmed in the Stanley Hotel, as many think, but the hotel does offer ghost tours and ghost hunts based on its many reported hauntings. EMF paranormal detectors are provided. There are tunnels beneath the hotel. Ooh! - read on to enjoy the entire post...

***

The Mortal Path Series by Dakota Banks

Learn more about Banks' books! They are perfect for this time of year. 

She is also a Thriller author, writing under the name Shirley Kennett. 

Happy Halloween reading and viewing!

Choose Your Weapon - Time Travel

Lee Dong Wooj in Tail of the Nine-Tailed Is the past repeating itself again?

Time Travel as a Weapon

You might think of time travel more as a mode of transportation, at least in film and literature, and you would be right. It certainly offers a way of moving characters into precarious and plot-twisting situations.

But it is also a weapon. 

If you don't believe me, read on to discover how deadly time travel can be.

In the 2016 series Travelers, future surviving humans send their consciousness back through time into people of the 21st century to change the path of humanity. Of course, they kill their hosts to do it...

Time Travel Defined

Think of time travel as a way to transport a) information (precognition as in The Minority Report) and/or b) characters forward, backward and sideways (into parallel universes). And note, even though Einstein's Relativity says time, travel or otherwise, is an illusion, quantum physics begs to differ. 

Brief Sidestep into Science

In quantum physics, we have the idea of time symmetry in that it flows both ways, forward from past to present to future, AND backward, from future, to present to past. The latter is the most common because an observer is essential to 'see' a thing for it to exist. 

As John Wheeler puts it, "...what the observer will do in the future defines what happens in the past—even in a past so remote that life did not then exist, and shows even more, that 'observership' is a prerequisite for any useful version of 'reality'."

Don't you love how 'reality' is in quotes? 

Time becomes both complex and illusory, but that doesn't stop us from using fiction to get a handle on it.

Wheel of Time depicts time with a seven-spoked wheel marking the seven Ages. The turning of this wheel and the events of each Age generate the Great Pattern, a predefined plan which defines the past, present and future -  not unlike Hindu and Buddhist representations of time.

The Sub Genres of Time Travel in Fiction

Writing time travel in fiction offers a way to weaponize a character as well as play with the time/space continuum. And the best part of this, to me, is you can cross genres like crazy to do it. TT includes multiple classes of Speculative Fiction from SF, Fantasy and alternate history to even more obscure niches. 

We have books and films ranging from Fantasy, like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and The Dragonriders of Pern, to Fairytale like Rip Van Winkle to the War subclass like The Edge of Tomorrow (adapted from Hiroshi Sakurazaka's All You Need is Kill), Alt History like Outlander, comedy as in Groundhog Day and of course SF from H. G. Wells' 1895 classic The Time Machine to comedy/SF Back to the Future. 

I played with the symmetry of time in deadly ways in the Quantum Enchantment series, specifically Arrows of Time.

Time can change the course of history.
Right, Mr. Queen?

As well, we have works across more Spec Fic subgenres like Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Wheels of Time to the wonderful array of KDramas such as Lovely Runner and Mr. Queen.

Conclusions

The point is, that time travel isn't always a glitch in The Matrix. It can be used to correct the devastating collapse of humanity (Terminator), to win the battle and save the day, for example...

"By making use of time displacement equipment, agents from both sides (pro Skynet and anti Skynet) are deployed on missions designed to either ensure, alter, or eradicate the status quo as perceived by the participants at the time." - Terminator Universe 

Now that is some weapon!

On a more subtle level, there is the temporal fugue portrayed in Creatures of Light and Darkness by Roger Zelazny where our hero moves through time, adding himself to a causality loop so his 'copies' can join the fight. The possibilities here are endless!

* * *

Do you have a favorite time travel book, film or game? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Choose Your Weapon Series 2024

Poison

The Perfect Storm

The Sword

Firearms

Ranged

Spells

Unarmed

Curses

Time Travel

Invisibility

* * *

About Kim Falconer

Kim Falconer, currently writing as AK Wilder, has released Crown of Bones, a YA Epic Fantasy with Curse of Shadows as book 2 in the series. Currently, she is working on the third book, out in 2024.

Kim can be found on  AKWilder Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

Throw the bones, read your horoscopes or Raise Your Phantom on the AKWilder.com site

Zombie Lovin': What's Up With The Undead? -- More 'From The Backlist' Goodness!

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With Halloween clearly on the horizon, what better time to feature a lil Zombie Lovin'? Namely, Terri Garey's microfiction that checks out what's up with the undead?

We loved it the first time around and bet you'll enjoy the fun just as much today. Sure hope so! :D

Terri Garey

Zombie Lovin': What's Up With The Undead? by Terri Garey

When did zombies become the new black? Zombies are everywhere these days, including zombie romance. When I first heard the concept, I was baffled; how could love, sex and romance work if you (or your partner) were one of the undead? What if you kissed and your lips fell off? (Just kidding! Kinda.)

Anyway, one day last year, just for fun, I took a moment to imagine how in the world one could mix love with lividity, and came up with this short little pre-Halloween, tongue-in-cheek tale I'd like to share with you.  I must warn you, if you haven't read my books yet, you're about to find out that I have a slightly weird sense of humor. :-) But if, like me, you don't mind a giggle or two at the expense of the undead, read away, and enjoy:

Zombie Love

LOVE STINKS, AND SO DOES YOUR BREATH by Terri Garey

“Is that a femur in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”

Donna snuggled in closer to Derek, brushing the dark hair from his eyes with one hand. Unfortunately, a clump of it remained in her fingers, and she knew this particular boy toy’s time was limited. That was the problem with zombies—their shelf life was much too short, the pesky problem of decomposition being one she hadn’t solved yet.

Even embalming didn’t help, and she didn’t care for waxy buildup on her fingers any more than she did her floors.

“Brought you a present,” Derek murmured, with a lopsided grin, “for our two-week anniversary.” His breath reeked of blood and sausages, which made sense considering his job at the local meat packing plant. With a flourish, he whipped a hand from behind his back, and offered her his prize.

“How sweet,” Donna squealed. “It’s a heart!”

“Yeah, baby,” he answered smugly, blood dripping between his fingers. “A fresh one. Nothing but the best for my girl.”

“Awww,” Donna said, “I got you a present, too.” She let go of him long enough snatch her purse up from the bed. Digging inside, she brought up an object about three inches long. Picking off a piece of lint before handing it to him, she announced, “I usually wait at least a month before giving my boyfriend the finger!”

Derek and Donna both died laughing, which was long overdue, considering Donna had been dead for two centuries, and Derek for two weeks.

She eyed him with regret as she giggled, knowing his laughter would soon be a thing of the past, much like Horatio’s, the guy who’d gotten her into this fix. It had been Horatio’s idea to visit the cemetery in Edinburgh that night two hundred years ago. Bodysnatching had been a good way to earn some quick cash back then, unless your body happened to be the one that got snatched, of course.

Poor Horatio, she’d known him well, until that shovel had come out of nowhere, and smashed his head in. The doctor who’d done it hadn’t hit her hard enough, though, and she’d woken up in his laboratory to find him on top of her. After that, what was a ghoul to do except defend herself? It was only after she’d killed the doc with his own dirt-encrusted shovel that she’d found the secret book lying on his desk, in plain sight, and learned the ancient grimoire’s secrets about how to reanimate the dead.

“Hey, baby,” Derek said, interrupting her musings. “I got a perfectly good boner going to waste here.” He grabbed her hips and pulled her close again. “What say we get naked and put it to good use, hm?”

Donna smiled. She’d learned a few secrets about herself that night, too, including how her brush with death and her newfound ability to reanimate dead flesh left her with a taste for more of it. Immortality had cost her soul, but she was pretty sure she didn’t need it where she was going.

“Absolutely,” she answered, with a smile that revealed her own teeth, pearly white and perfect. Her eyes glowed red as she began to tug his shirt from his pants. “No use letting a good piece of meat go to waste."

...

To read the rest of Terri's post, including a link to the "Thrill the World" event (where people all over the globe join together at the same time to dress in zombie costume and dance to Michael Jackson's "Thriller", in an annual attempt to break the Guinness World Record for "largest simultaneous Thriller dance"), click here.

To find out more about Terri Garey, including her fun & fabulous Nicki Styx series, go here.