Introducing the Mutant Ranch series of novels, a mainstream approach to introducing comic themes and characters to traditional literature! For CBM fans, the first book in the Mutant Ranch series is being offered completely free, no strings attached, for a limited time. I would love your feedback after you have read it.
I remember trying to defend comics as legitimate “literature” to friends (even pulling the old argument that hieroglyphics predate WORDS) and mostly getting laughed at. I’ve argued their side, too in my dark days. It killed me that people who never read a comic in their life assumed they knew what the stories are – just pictures of scantily clad women and overly muscled guys/monsters fighting in weird ways.
I’m not even a hard-core fan, though I’m coming back around, but I recognized the value of the real stories, lessons, and themes. There is a lot of value to comic story-telling. But how do you breech mainstream culture and help them see it? That’s part of the journey I’ve undertaken.
The Mutant Ranch series is my mainstream attempt at telling comic themed stories and issues. Mutant registration is handled nicely in X-Men. Do you realize the “grown-up” lessons and parallels of that topic? I do. Personal responsibility is possibly the most addressed moral lesson of comics (the whole “with great power comes great responsibility” thing). Do you realize the value of those lessons parents try so hard to parrot to their children? I do.
So what should you expect from the Mutant Ranch series? From the series as a whole, you’ll experience the full range of comic themes with plenty of fighting, politics, love, loss, hurt, triumph, powers, conflict, confusion, and such that we love from our comics. But, I know comic fans enough to realize that I should add a disclaimer: Book One is laying the framework for the series and while there are some action moments throughout the book, it is the least action-packed of the series. It lays the groundwork for all readers to understand the alternate reality of a super-powered world – the hardcore comic fan and the person who isn’t familiar with our culture. Please read it with that person in mind and let me know what you think here or on the comments form at the end of the book.
For fans of the ComicBookMovie.com site I have provided the first book in the Mutant Ranch series free. Please use this link: cbm.mutantranch.com and take a look around the site before downloading the book (or just download my book).
It has been a real pleasure to write this book and I am enjoying writing the second book even more!