Sarah Kuhn’s Heroine Complex

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Sarah Kuhn

Sarah Kuhn

By Carl Slaughter: Betsy Wollheim has a gift for discovering new talent.

HEROINE COMPLEX

by Sarah Kuhn

Heroine COmplex cover

The first in a DAW series on Asian-American superheroines.

Being a superheroine is hard. Working for one is even harder.

Evie Tanaka is the put-upon personal assistant to Aveda Jupiter, her childhood best friend and San Francisco’s most beloved superheroine. She’s great at her job—blending into the background, handling her boss’s epic diva tantrums, and getting demon blood out of leather pants.

Unfortunately, she’s not nearly as together when it comes to running her own life, standing up for herself, or raising her tempestuous teenage sister, Bea.

But everything changes when Evie’s forced to pose as her glamorous boss for one night, and her darkest secret comes out: she has powers, too. Now it’s up to her to contend with murderous cupcakes, nosy gossip bloggers, and supernatural karaoke battles—all while juggling unexpected romance and Aveda’s increasingly outrageous demands. And when a larger threat emerges, Evie must finally take charge and become a superheroine in her own right…or see her city fall to a full-on demonic invasion.

PRAISE

“Sarah Kuhn creates characters you want to befriend, worlds you want to live in, and situations you can’t begin to imagine. Heroine Complex is at once fiendishly snarky yet colossally big-hearted.”

—Javier Grillo-Marxuach, writer and producer for Lost, creator of The Middleman

“Smart, sexy, and filled with beautifully fleshed-out/kick-ass women, Heroine Complex is the kind of read that sticks in your brain like a fanged cupcake…. I adored it.”

—Amber Benson, author of The Witches of Echo Park

“The superheroine we’ve been waiting for; the urban fantasy we deserve. Sarah Kuhn is the total package: comedy, tragedy, and sincerity. Grab your cape. We’re saving the city.”

—Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of the October Daye series

“Every page of Sarah Kuhn’s novel delighted me immensely…. Kuhn’s writing is bouncy and engaging, and Evie is very clearly spun into a captivating character. I also have to give Kuhn props for balancing romance and humour and drama, and making me wish that Heroine Complex would go on just a little bit longer.”

—Book Riot

“Onomatopoeias? Check. Snarkiness? Check. Kick-ass Asian-American superwomen saving San Francisco from demon-possessed cupcakes? Check and check, Kuhn’s Heroine Complex is a ridiculously fun read.”

—RT Reviews (top pick)

“Witty…. Kuhn starts of the novel with vivacity and a tongue-in-cheek narration.”

—Publishers Weekly

“A fresh take on a superheroine story. Full of wit and of course danger!… This seriously was an entertaining read. The character development was superb.”

—Boundless Books

“Love the humor and wacky hijinks, along with character development…. This is everything I’ve ever wanted in a book!“

—Dreaming of Cats

BIO

Sarah Kuhn is the author of Heroine Complex—the first in a series starring Asian American superheroines—for DAW Books. She also wrote The Ruby Equation for the comics anthology Fresh Romance and the romantic comedy novella “One Con Glory,” which earned praise from io9 and USA Today and is in development as a feature film. Her articles and essays on such topics as geek girl culture, comic book continuity, and Sailor Moon cosplay have appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Apex Magazine, AngryAsianMan.com, IGN.com, Back Stage, The Hollywood Reporter, StarTrek.com, Creative Screenwriting, and the Hugo-nominated anthology Chicks Dig Comics. In 2011, she was selected as a finalist for the CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) New Writers Award.

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133 thoughts on “Sarah Kuhn’s Heroine Complex”

  3. I am writing about a superheroine also, so I bought “Heroine Complex.” I figured I could learn something, like how to get more than one Amazon review.

    I just started reading, and I laughed in Chapter One at the HORROR glamorous Aveda rages over after the demon cupcake fight. I know I am in for a fun ride. I liked “One Con Glory,” so I am not surprised. But I am JEALOUS!!!

    I have not even finished Chapter Two yet, but I am endorsing this book right now. Buy it and read it. Your funny bone will thank you.

  4. I note that the protagonist on the cover looks kinda like the superhero version of the author; remove glasses, jazz up hairdo, nobody would suspect it’s the same person!

  5. To have a hairdo with bangs in your mundane look, then jazz it up to have a hairdo without bangs in your superhero look, would be an unusual superpower.

    Also, the book looks fun. And the approval from Dave suggests that my initial reaction – “yeah, but I’m too far removed from a teenage girl to really like it” – is probably wrong.

  6. We just got this in a recent order at the library and I can’t wait for it to be processed so that I can check it out. It looks like so much fun!

  7. This is waiting on my kindle for me to get to it. I’m saving it as a treat for when I need something fun after I read one of the emotionally difficult books I have qued up.

  8. Sarah’s getting extra free advertising with Mike being sick.

    I think it’s working on me… book sounds like great fun. Possessed cupcakes!

  11. Hope someone’s appertaining you appropriate beverages and otherwise restoring your health and spirits.

    back to lurking….

  12. Since this seems to have turned into the Get Well Soon Mike thread, I’ll add my good wishes here. Feel better soon, Mike!

  15. I visited Mike earlier today. He is on the mend and doing much better. I brought him his Kindle so he can check in and maybe even do a post. But it will be more than a few days before File 770 is back up and running.
    Any well wishes posted here I will forward to his wife to take to him.

    John King Tarpinian

  17. @JKT: Good to hear. We can certainly chatter amongst ourselves with no problem, so Mike needs to rest up and be ready for Worldcon.

  20. lurkertype: It is doubtful that Mike will be able to fly out to WorldCon to accept any Hugos that might be headed his way this year.

  21. @JKT: Sorry to hear that, but I’m glad he’s on the mend. I think about Mike every time I get a new comment e-mail from File770 (which is often). I hope he continues improving until he’s ship shape! Best wishes to him!

  22. Glad to hear Mike’s on the mend. I’ve been trying not to worry too much at this uncharacteristic silence.

  23. Glad someone brought him his kindle.
    Bad enough being sick, but without reading as well – just no.
    (Get well soon, Mike.)

  33. Looks like I put my well wishes on the wrong thread. Get well soon Mike and don’t push the recovery.

  35. I think I already wished Mike “get well” on the other thread, but just in case, “Get well soon, Mike, and all the best for a speedy recovery.”

  36. Another perennial lurker popping in to wish Mike a speedy recovery! We may not say much, but we are always watching and we support you!

    (That came out much creepier than I intended. Ooops, my bad.)

  38. To answer a question asked by others: Yes, Mike is in the hospital and is being watched over by a cadre of medicos.

  41. Hospital??

    Get well soon, Mike! Sending GoodThoughts and HealingEnergy with a Boxing Analogy of your choice.

  46. The guy goes into the hospital —a bad case of Twonk’s Disease? Who knows? — and all hell breaks loose on his blog! Whatever is going on, hope it turns out okay. Get well ASAP, fellow news hound!

    Yesterday I was at Joe Siclari and Edie Stern’s house with Australians Robin Johnson and DUFF winner Clare McDonald-Sims, and there on an overburdened dining room table was an issue of F770 from 1982, awaiting scanning. Why does that issue seem like it came out just yesterday? Or are we all getting long in the tooth?

  47. Hospital? Yikes! Best wishes for recovery and may you have the best of doctors! Don’t worry about us at all. We’ll just mutter among ourselves as long as necessary.

  50. And here I assumed you just had a cold….

    Get well soon; we’ll keep the File770 fires burning for you, Mike!

    (And not by flaming each other, either. Because we’re Filers, not trolls…. <smile>)

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