Vulkan (The Blacksmith of Very Bad Things) was the world's greatest supervillain twenty years ago. Then something unique happened. His fiendish plot for world domination - transforming most of the world's energy sources into fruity flavors of gelatin - actually worked. Now Vulkan has everything he ever wanted - the world at his feet, his own island paradise, a decimated superhero community, a beautiful ex-superheroine wife, and a genetically engineered miniature elephant with a genius level IQ. But ruling the world is not all it is cracked up to be. His tyrannical regime is a bureaucratic drudgery, his kids may be plotting to kill him, and there is no one left to fight - until Vulkan comes face to face with a shadow from the past desperate for revenge and the one foe he doesn't know how to defeat - his own mortality. Is it too late for him to turn the world on its head one more time, and if so, how will he be remembered? As the greatest villain in generations or as a hero?
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Dwain Smith is the writer of several autobiographical novels detailing his experiences as a detective that can communicate with inanimate objects, a middle-aged supervillain, and a modern day mythological hero. He lives in the Washington, DC area.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must-have Guide,
By Christopher O'Brien (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Supervillain's Guide to Philanthropy (Paperback)
The cautionary tale of Vulkan is one for all aspiring supervillains to take to heart. And, it's also hilarious. In a schadenfruede kind of way.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly Entertaining,
By GneralTsao (Washington, DC, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Supervillain's Guide to Philanthropy (Paperback)
Whenever we see over-the-top villains, we know there's no chance they will succeed. They will be undone by their own hubris. Their underlings will betray them in a power grab of their own. The good guy's reinforcements will come in just in time.
Vulkan, the title-supervillain and the book's pro/antagonist has managed to avoid or control all of these tropes of comic books and action movies. Twenty years later, he's the most powerful man in a world that is equal parts utopia and dystopia. This already entertaining porridge of irony is complemented by Vullkan's self-loathing and nostalgia as he realizes how soft he's become and tries to recapture the excitement of his youth. Fans of The Venture Brothers will feel right at home with the tongue-in-cheek depiction and deconstruction of costumed action figures and super-scientists. Also, I was delightfully surprised to find myself drawing comparisons to Neal Stephenson's near-future post-state settings in Snow Crash and Diamond Age. In summary: it was a good, fun read and I look forward to more of Dwain Smith's work in the future.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
