NOT SO U

J.J. Wade

Description

"Everyone's favorite celebrity super is dead, and everyone thinks I killed him.

My face is plastered on every screen everywhere as the nation's #1 most wanted.

I blame the bow tie.

Now my not so super friends and I are being hunted by one of the most powerful organizations in the world, and we have no idea who to trust.

I'm quickly learning that no one is who they seem, not even me.

Without superpowers, against a world full of supers, I don't know how we are going to get out of this mess alive."

~ Eli

Shazam meets Community in this fresh twist on the superhero genre. NOT SO U takes us on an edge-of-your-seat adventure ride you’ll never want to stop. Escape into this imaginative, humorous dystopian world with a cast of unforgettable characters, including a main character anyone can easily identify with.

Fans are raving about NOT SO U:

"Extraordinary Read!!! You want a great read? This is the book to get."

~ Amkala

“Great first book! Loved the unique premise and the complexity of the characters. Looking forward to the second book.”

~Mike Scanlon, Author of Tugboats and Taxis of NYC

"Outstanding! Not able to put it down, a real page turner!”

~Ryan

"J.J. makes reading about superheroes fun and exciting again!! Reading [NOT SO U] really makes you feel like you're in the book and you're a superhero."

~Glenn Davis

"Hilarious Edge-Of-Your-Seat Adventure Ride! Could not put this down! Fast-paced, relatable characters mixed with a sense of humor that had me laughing out loud."

~ J.K. Yohe

What are you waiting for? Scroll up and click the buy now button to find out why readers all over the world are raving about NOT SO U!

Sujets

• Science Fiction
• Adventure (Guyana)
• Adventure
• Fiction
• Action

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 13 juin 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665562249
• Langue: English

Extrait

NOT SO U
J.J. WADE


AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: [phone]
 
 
 
 
 
 
© 2022 J.J. Wade. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
Published by AuthorHouse  06/13/2022
 
ISBN: 978-1-6655-6225-6 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-6223-2 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-6224-9 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022911046
 
 
 
 
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
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
 
About the Author

To my Daughter , may you never stop creating.
And to my wife, I wouldn’t be where I am without you.
I love you both very much.
CHAPTER 1

“Seriously, I don’t know who named them, but come on. A drunk eight-year-old could have done better.”
So, there’s my 7:00 a.m. alarm, blaring away. Not sure why I bother to set it. The anticipation of continuing my slow decent into madness, here at Nottoway Southern University, has me wide awake every morning at 6:30 a.m. This university, which is better known as Not So U, is a place where us non-special, non-super types can enjoy not being super or special together.
They call it Not So U for that obviously clever reason. But also because of the Not Sos attending. What is a Not So you ask, well…me. It is a person who did not develop a super or enhanced ability when they went through puberty. We are just normal humans; we are Not So super.
And since we all attend Nottoway Southern University, a Super thought it was funny to tear all the letters off the side of our administration building, except for the letters Not So U . The school fixed them a few times over the years, but each time, a Super just ripped them down again. So the university finally accepted defeat. In fact, very few people remember that Not So U even has another name.
Let me help bring you up to speed. About forty years ago (there is a lot of debate around the actual time this all started), kids beginning puberty also started to develop super abilities. You may have picked up on the fact that we refer to them as Supers. There are four identified types of Supers.
First, I’ll start with Super Fasts, who are also known as Road Runners. They are really rare. Not because of the rarity of one occurring versus another super type, but because of the chances the person will live and survive as a Road Runner.
Allow me to explain. Your super ability, when developed, is likely to affect multiple areas of the body. So a Super Fast must learn to control their body, be constantly aware of their surroundings, and in many cases take special meds. The meds are to avoid things like a heart pumping so fast it explodes in their chest, or sneezing so hard the Super blows the back of their skull out.
Most of the news stories and obituaries about Supers are about Road Runners. You’ll read about a Super Fast who was not able to control their speed or turned a blind corner and ended up splattering the side of a building or bus. Pretty gruesome stuff.
Some can be kind of funny though. One of my favorite stories is the guy who got third degree burns masturbating. Can you imagine? You can look at me all judgy, but you know that shit is funny.
Another type are the Super Strongs, or Lennys. I know, the names are so well thought out. It probably took a committee of sixteen and cost thirteen million dollars to decide on the official names, but that’s it. So Super Strongs, officially. Unofficially, Lennys. These ones are pretty obvious.
If you’re familiar with Of Mice and Men, you’ll get the name. If you’re not, well shame on you. Seriously, why are you reading this? Go read that, then come back and finish this.
Lennys are exactly that, strong as hell but about as sharp as a sack of wet mice. Most of the time, when a Lenny becomes a Lenny, they drop out of school. They either think they’re going to be famous or just go straight to work.
Lennys are the most employable. They can work in construction, be bodyguards, and of course, be Gladiator Games contestants. These games have replaced professional wrestling, boxing, mixed martial arts, bum fighting, and hell, just about anything.
Sure, you can argue the science of boxing, the fundamentals of MMA, and the history and traditions of wrestling. I mean seriously, fundamentals? The sporting world is fundamentally fucked, and we all know it.
None of that means anything when you watch two or more people punch each other through a building, or beat the shit out of each other with boulders, steel beams, car doors, and whatever else is available to be used as a weapon. That’s what people will pay to see.
So we’ve got strength, speed, and of course, you can’t go without the flight ability. So Super Flies (note: we left this name alone for obvious reasons) are pretty common, as far as the super abilities’ ratio goes.
Super Flies have the ability to make their bodies lighter than air. With practice and training, Super Flies can move themselves through the air, and some who master it can fly at pretty great speeds.
Some think it is chemically based, where their bodies create bladders filled with lighter gases, like Helium. And some believe it’s the person’s ability to alter magnetic forces and use repelling magnetism to fly and move.
One scientist, who was a Super Fly, described it like a helicopter’s controlled fall, with bursts of speed and thrust to reset the fall. That shit sounds good to me. In truth, I’ll care more how it works if and when I develop my own ability of flight.
As you might expect, governments jumped all over Super Flies when their abilities developed. I mean, why not? Think about it. You could give a bunch of people some automatic rifles and, bam, instant air force.
You laugh, but a small country, who shall remain nameless, tried this. A group of Super Flies were sent to attack a neighboring country. Word spread on social media, prompting a group of civilians to grab their hunting rifles. Next thing you know all of the invading Super Flies were shot down.
You see, even with the ability of flight, you are still a person. You’re susceptible to things like thin air, cold temperatures, and such. Because of that, the invasion force didn’t fly very high and were easy targets. Not so smart.
Which brings us to the rarest of the Supers, Super Smarts. Seriously, I don’t know who named them, but come on. A drunk eight-year-old could have done better.
Anyway, Super Smarts, or Wileys (as in super geniuses), are actually the ones with the most variations. Some are telepathic, others are just crazy smart. And there are urban legends of some who can see into the future and even predict things. I call it probability and statistics, but whatever.
See, with the human mind being such a mystery, add in a little superpower and you have no idea what you’ll get. This is one of the reasons why Wileys are so rare. Because if one is identified, there are certain sectors of the government who come looking, and sometimes collecting, without permission.
I have firsthand experience with this. I’ll share that story with you in a minute.
CHAPTER 2

“I’ve been noticing a lot of white vans driving around, but I haven’t heard of anyone getting free puppies or candy.”
So you now know that for the last forty-ish years, when kids started going through puberty, most of them started to develop one of four types of super abilities as well.
To continue, when this all first started happening, the school systems were at a loss on what to do. Kids were coming back from summer break with the ability to smash bones and explode heads with a dodgeball. I know these examples sound pretty specific. That’s because, well, they are.
Remember Sarah Parrot, who you bullied in the fourth grade, or little Micky Baker, who you pantsed during his solo in the school’s production of A Christmas Carol? Well those kids remembered that shit, and now they had the ability to get some payback. The schools didn’t test for abilities or separate kids. So let’s just say that there are more than a few child murderers running around in the world.
I remember this time period fondly. My younger brother and I did not develop powers. Filled with a fear of losing friends, being bullied, or worse, I decided to fake that I had them. Now you can’t fake flight or speed or strength. People will want to see it or test you. But what you can fake is being a Wiley. Keep in mind, no one really knows just what power a Super Smart has or will develop. Most of the time, people just take your word for it.
So when I was fourteen, I dyed my hair black. And I mea