Praise for Adam Christopher
"Adam Christopher has distilled the purest elements of our modern super-hero fascination, and crafted prose that reads as beautifully as the finest panels, invested with all the power, creativity, and force that both mediums can muster. This is traditional heroism with a decidedly wicked and iconoclastic twist. Inventive, engaging, bewitching, and delightful, a feast as much for fans of the tropes as for the innocents amongst us."
Greg Rucka, New York Times bestselling author of Alpha, The Punisher and Batman
"Seven Wonders is everything that's great about superhero novels – a fast pace, a complicated plot, iconic characters, and an unlimited effects budget. Absolutely wonderful."
Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of Discount Armageddon and Ashes of Honor
"A cool, clever, wickedly twisty superhero story… You can, and will, provide your own pictures…"
Mike Carey, New York Times bestselling writer of The Unwritten and X-Men
"A blast of pure pleasure. This is Watchmen meets NYPD Blue, while The Incredibles stroll by; fast-moving action infused with Christopher's infectious love of pulp fiction and the superhero genre."
Philip Palmer, author of Version 43 and Hell Ship
"Rocketing ahead on a super-human combination of lightning-fast story, sharp-witted writing, a supervillain who will give you chills and a superhero team as diverse and complex as the Avengers or the Justice League, Seven Wonders is, quite simply, the superhero novel we've all been waiting for."
Caitlin Kittredge, author of The Iron Throne and Street Magic
“Seven Wonders is the exploded view on superheroes. Set pieces are described in colourful visuals like enhanced comic frames and the heroes' physical vulnerability is deftly shown in a way only novels can. Adam Christopher forges superhero glamour with the gritty proceduralism of police noir."
SL Grey, author of The Mall and The Ward
"Superheroes, we've always been told, are far above the common man in both powers and nobility, but Adam Christopher unrelentingly tells the story of heroes struggling to guide the world long after they've lost their own way. Seven Wonders slams readers in the gut from the very first page and then just keeps on firing cannons, giving readers the same choice as every single citizen of San Ventura – either duck and cover, or ride along with the laser."
Paul Tobin, author of Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man
"Witty and cinematic, packed full of spectacular set-pieces, labyrinthine plot twists and devious double-crosses, and populated by an imaginative array superheroes as flawed and fallible as the citizens they're sworn to protect, Adam Christopher's Seven Wonders is the literary equivalent of a lazy Saturday morning with a stack of your favorite comic books: pure, unadulterated fun!"
Owen Laukkanen, bestselling author of The Professionals
"A novel with the best of superhero traditions: cool adventure, great action, and heroes and villains with genuine personality."
A Lee Martinez, Alex Award-winning author of Emperor Mollusk vs the Sinister Brain and Gil's All Fright Diner
"An exhilarating, rocket-heeled ride. Adam Christopher grabs the super hero story crashes through the comic book frame and carries it straight into your mind's eye. These pages are filled with gleaming spandex, sinister motives and explosive action. Seven Wonders is wry, sly and ready to fly."
Tom Pollock, author of The City's Son
Never too dark and never too campy, this book's just the right amount of fun."
Stephen Blackmoore, author of City of the Lost
"Adam Christopher is a bold new voice in the prose world, merging the literary with genre into a explosive new vision for modern fction."
Joshua Hale Fialkov, Harvey-, Eisner- & Emmy nominated writer of I, Vampire, Echoes and Tumor
"Seven Wonders is a rollicking roller-coaster of a novel – Christopher has created characters you care about and a plot that doesn't let up, all wrapped up in prose as feisty as its superheroes… Ka-pow! I loved it. A must-read."
Alison Littlewood, author of A Cold Season
"With Seven Wonders Adam Christopher has proved himself the master of a new type of noir for the modern age. A noir where Chandler meets the Avengers on pages of delightfully crisp prose. A noir favoured with echoes of Sin City and Watchmen. A noir that's simply marvel-ous and entirely his own."
Sarah Pinborough, author of The Chosen Seed and Mayhem
"Adam Christopher grabbed everyone's attention with his debut novel Empire State, and his follow up Seven Wonders will surely please all of his readers who have been waiting breathlessly for more. A smart, entertaining, energetic take on the superhero genre."
Victor Gischler, writer of X-Men and Deadpool
"An awesome heroic adventure that cannot slow down. This book was so much fun!"
Mur Lafferty, John W. Campbell Award-nominated author and editor of Escape Pod
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Empire State
ADAM CHRISTOPHER
SEVEN WONDERS
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Deleted Scenes
For Sandra, always and forever.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Head down the Pacific Coast Highway in California and you won't find a turnoff for the city of San Ventura; it doesn't exist, although you might reach San Buenaventura – more commonly known as Ventura – if you go far enough south. Any resemblance between the real seat of Ventura County and the fictitious Jewel of the West Coast as presented in this book is entirely coincidental.
Likewise, you won't see the Draconid meteor shower if you look to the night sky in summer, in the Northern Hemisphere at least; you need to wait until early October in our universe.
"Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.
It has been ten years since my last confession.
In that time, I have murdered and terrorized.
I have destroyed the city."
SAN VENTURA, CALIFORNIA – Jewel of the West Coast! The Shining City! A modern metropolis of industry and commerce, a city synonymous w
ith progress!
And a city in thrall of THE COWL, that superpowered supervillain whose identity is concealed by the famous dark hood, that evil-doer who enacts his reign of terror with the help of the enigmatic and mysterious BLACKBIRD, the Mistress of the Night, her features concealed behind a bird-like mask!
But hope is not lost, for the Shining City is home to the last group of superheroes, that band of marvels who keep the city safe as they prepare for the ultimate showdown with their arch-nemesis! Watch the skies, for they are THE SEVEN…
W
ise is their leader, that champion of champions who carries the amazing atomic power of the very sun itself within him! No villain is a match for the supreme strategies of Earth's superman, AURORA'S LIGHT!
O
ut of the ordinary, her mental powers read the secrets of the criminal mind, and in her anger unleash a psychic lightning storm that none can weather! Villains can hide nothing from the penetrating gaze of BLUEBELL!
N
ight-stalkers, take flight! For there walks among you a magical warrior woman, born of a lost tribe of Arabian nomads blessed with a supernatural link to the animal kingdom! Beware the claws of SAND CAT!
D
efying the laws of physics, gifted with access to the Slipstream, that nth dimensional plane beyond the ken of modern science that bestows speed and flight! There are none who can outrace the silver speedster LINEAR!
E
xiled from Mount Olympus – the sole survivor of the Hellenic Pantheon! Carrying the Hammer of the Gods with which he creates his magical weapons, this Architect of Power is HEPHAESTUS!
R
obotic… yet alive! Forged from a mysterious alloy known only to his creator Hephaestus, no foe dare challenge the Supra-Maximal Attack-Response Titan, the giant machine-man SMART!
S
trange is the cold light she wields from the unfathomable depths of space-time, that esoteric energy that illuminates her mighty powerstaff! Mystery surrounds this visitor from another world, for she is THE DRAGON STAR!
"Thanks, Mary, and good morning San Ventura for Thursday the fourth. I'm Sarah Nova and here's a recap of your top headlines this morning.
"Astronomers at the South Cal Catadioptric Observatory say that this year's Draconid meteor shower will be the biggest and brightest on record, with up to five thousand meteors an hour predicted to hit the skies over the West Coast at the shower's peak. With just seven weeks to go, the hills of North Beach are expected to be even more crowded this year as spectators vie for the best vantage point, with officials advising people to get there early. Traffic restrictions will be in place on the North Beach suspension bridge and City Hall has called in extra buses to run on the free shuttle route.
"Shares in Conroy Industries are set to open this morning at a record high after late trading yesterday pushed stock above the $1,000 mark. The price represents the highest ever achieved by the San Ventura technology company, which is the county's leading employer, and puts Conroy Industries' market capitalization nearly $10 billion ahead of Apple Inc., its closest competitor in terms of value. Conroy Industries' performance stands in sharp contrast to other tech firms, which are…"
CHAPTER ONE
It wasn't until the following week that Tony realized he could fly.
He knew it was coming, of course. Well, hoped it was coming. Hell, the last week had been one wild ride, so it was inevitable – he dared to suggest – that the most glorious, most enjoyable of all superpowers would hit sooner or later. Typically, of course, it had been later, the last of his powers to manifest. But who was complaining? Tony could fly, game over.
Sure, he could freeze a can of beer with a glance and light the gas hob on his stove with a flick of the wrist. He could chop firewood up at his old man's lodge in the hills with his bare hands. He also thought, maybe, that if the skin of his hand was like the steel blade of an axe, perhaps he was bulletproof as well. That would sure be handy in a city as dangerous as San Ventura, but hardly the kind of superpower you could just test, unless you were the kind of guy who got a kick out of Russian roulette.
A city as dangerous as San Ventura. The Shining City, right? Uh… yeah, right. Tony shifted his weight, trying – failing – to get more comfortable in the awkward squat in which he found himself on a warm Thursday morning. He wobbled, momentarily losing his center of gravity, but couldn't risk moving his hands from the back of his head. But, under the black, empty gaze of the gun barrel that very quickly appeared in his face, he found his balance again and remained quite, quite still. Unspeaking, but apparently satisfied, the gunslinger pulled the barrel of his Kalashnikov upwards and walked on, the wet creak of his leather combat boots loud from Tony's low position near the floor of the bank.
Tony really hated Thursdays. And didn't this one just take the cake.
With the thug's back moving away, Tony glanced around. A few desperate eyes were on him, wide and white, furious that he'd attracted the attention of one of the raiders, but relieved in a shaky kind of way that he hadn't got them all shot. Tony wasn't sure if an apologetic smile was appropriate, so decided not to bother and returned his attention to the cheap carpet tiles in front of him. A distraction came anyway as the leader of the robbers threw a few more heated words out of the window at the cops gathered in the street outside.
Robbers? The word stuck in Tony's mind. Fuck that. Robbers? What the fuck kind of robbers walked around with AK-47s, or whatever the hell their guns were? They were big guns; automatic assault rifles, with the distinctive curved magazines that only weapons bought on the Kazakhstani black market had. As far as Tony was concerned, the name "AK-47" applied to all that kind of shit. It was a bad, bad scene.
Which meant they weren't bank robbers. Bank robbers wore black jeans, and balaclavas, or maybe pantyhose (over their heads, anyway). Bank robbers ran in, maybe three or four, waving handguns and shouting at everyone to get the fuck down and fill this fucking bag, bitch, and nobody fucking move. And a few kicks and punches later, out the door, leaving old ladies to cry and bank clerks to comfort each other while the police carefully crunch on the scattered candy of broken glass spilt from what's left of the front doors.
Machine guns, combat boots − hell, combat uniforms − weren't the purview of bank robbers. These guys were pros.
No, thought Tony. Even more than that. Organized, disciplined, efficient. There had been no shouting, no running. A dozen men, black-booted, black-suited, each identical and anonymous behind something approaching a paintball mask crossed with a respirator. They came in silence and calmly took up what must have been pre-assigned positions, before their leader clicked something on the side of his mask and told everyone to crouch on the ground with their hands on their heads. Two of his men broke off and brought the bank manager from his back office, and the leader began politely asking a series of questions.
It was surreal, dreamlike, which at first gave an illusion of safety. It was only when the cramp started to bite that reality began to crystallize.
So not robbers, professionals. Soldiers, masked and uniformed. In San Ventura. Soldiers? No, henchmen. Which meant…
Shit. The one day I go to the bank, the one day I go to the bank in, like, a whole year, and I walk right into a classic piece of San Ventura villainy. Because henchmen and AK-47s and raiding a quiet bank with overwhelming firepower meant just one thing.
The Cowl.
"Your threats are noted, officer, as is your lack of understanding and situational awareness. Discussion terminated."
The leader turned away from the window and walked behind the main counters, through the now-open security door, around to the main lobby where his eleven soldiers stood over two dozen civilians. One AK-47 for every two members of the public. Tony felt sick.
The bank manager wasn't talking. Normally, Tony would have seen him as a proud man, defiant to the end, captain-going-down-with-theship kind of loyalty – if he was watching this on World's Most Awesome Bank Robbery Shoot-outs 7.
He could imagine the manager's smoking, bullet-ridden body being stretchered out at the end of a day-long siege, with mugshot and eulogy in Friday morning's San Ventura Ledger-Leader, with quite possibly a civic funeral the next week complete with police honor guard and respectful mayor in attendance. The mayor would later give one of his all-too-regular press conferences decrying the Cowl and swearing justice would be served, and the citizens of San Ventura would shake their heads and turn off their televisions and lament the dark times that had fallen on the Shining City.
But right now, the bank manager was just being a dick. It's just a bank, it's just money, Tony thought. The anger and frustration rose as he watched the Cowl's mercenary orbit the bank manager like a panther looking for an opening. Stop being such an asshole. Tony's lips almost shaped the words, willing the bank manager to suck it up and open the safe. Give them the money.
Except… money? It wasn't money. Couldn't have been money. The Cowl's resources were legendary, his ill-gotten wealth rumored to be as close to infinite as any human being could ever hope to approach. The last thing he needed was cash. Diamonds, perhaps? Jewels, or gold? Because all supervillains liked to dive into a vault of treasure and swim around like Scrooge McDuck, right? No. There must have been something else, something locked in a safety deposit box in the vault. Something small, but important; important enough for the Cowl to take it by force, something important enough for the bank manager to risk his life and the lives of his staff and customers, even in the face of a dozen machine guns from central Asia.
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