Tell me what to read

[Missaukeean]

I really enjoyed "Soon I will be Invincible" and am looking for similar reading material.

[Matthew E]

Okay.

If you like superhero fiction, your best bet is the Wild Cards series. The older volumes may be hard to hunt down, some of them, but the newest one that just came out this year is a good jumping-on point for new readers.

Flyboy Action Figure Comes With Gasmask, by Jim Munroe, comes with my highest recommendation.

The recent novel Devil's Cape, by... I want to say Rob Rogers... is also quite decent.

There are others. Lots of them. But I think those are the best.

[jessecuster3]

Superfolks by Robert Mayer was a fun read.

[Karl J Barnes]

John Varley's collection of short stories,Superheroes is pretty interesting take on the subject.

[howyadoin]

Superfolks by Robert Mayer was a fun read.And hugely inspirational for Busiek, Morrison, etc.

[Neal R]

John Ridley wrote two novels set in a world where Superheroes are outlawed in the US after one of their skirmishes wipes out an american city. "Those Who Walk in Darkness" and "What Fire Cannot Burn." It's done from the POV of a cop inside a unit specially trained to take out the superheroes that are still hiding. The premise feels like a rejected TV pitch (and it may have been at one time, considering this guy writes TV/Film and novels) but he does a good job playing within the world he set up.

[berk]

I really liked Superfolks, so I third that recommendation.

I've seen a few superhero-based novels on the shelves lately; no idea if any of them are any good. Can't recall the titles right now ... I'll edit them in if I remember.

[Matthew E]

More:

If you can track down the two anthologies of superhero-ish short stories coedited by Neil Gaiman way back when, Temps and Euro-Temps, go for it; they're worth it.

I second the recommendation for Varley's Superheroes; quite worthwhile.

Not a huge fan of Superfolks. I thought it was on the meanspirited side and, like so many superhero novels, a bit underwritten.

The John Ridley books are all right.

Also consider Minister Faust's From the Notebooks of Doctor Brain. Yes, some of the story elements are kind of tedious, but the other ones are really intriguing (Logogenesis! Wow!) and overall it's one of the more interesting entries in this little corner of a genre. Of course, Faust is generally worth a look.

[howyadoin]

Not a huge fan of Superfolks. I thought it was on the meanspirited side...Really? I thought it was absolutely a love-letter to superheroes.

[berk]

Really? I thought it was absolutely a love-letter to superheroes.yeah, I didn't think it displayed any contempt for the genre at all; quite the opposite. I was impressed with the sympathetic view taken of the various characters, and the emotional force of the protagonist's predicament. The whole thing was just really well done. The idea itself was cool enough if your a comics fan, but the execution took it over the line between "pretty neat" and "outstanding."

[Rabid Trekkie]

Well its from the good old days of the pulps but Baen books first reprint of The Spider: Robot Titans of Gotham is a great book. The superhero action is more along the line of Batman than the others but I loved the first story and will be reading the second and third stories in it soon.

Also can't wait to start the second volume, City of Doom.

[insidemyhead]

I really enjoyed "Soon I will be Invincible" and am looking for similar reading material.

That book is on my short list of what to read next.

I read Hero by Perry Moore a couple months ago and enjoyed that. It definitely sounds similar to Soon I Will Be Invincible.

[jessecuster3]

So are there any other recommendations? I would be interested in hearing about some other books that feature superheroes in some respect.

[a. non]

Nobody Gets The Girl by James Maxey is a fun read. It's about an invisible man, a super-genius, and the genius' two super-powered daughters.

[healthier]

Study the general news in books and don't study the violent stories which affect your sleep. Go for something interesting to you.

[decisionmaker123]

I am not much into superhero books and novels but currently i am reading "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow.
It has opened my eyes to many horizons and has lighted a ray of motivation, positivity and optimism.
I am also a big fan of Harry Potter. Have you read all 7 books and all 5 movies of it?
Its an awesome series. Try going through it if you have not. You will go crazy on all of them.