Playing For Keeps

My new favorite podio book, Playing For Keeps, by Mur Lafferty takes the super hero genre to a whole new level.

It tells the story of Keepsie Branson, a bar owner in the shining metropolis of Seventh City: birthplace of super powers. Keepsie and her friends live among egotistical heroes and manipulative villains, and manage to fall directly in the middle as people with powers, but who just aren’t strong enough to make a difference. Or that’s what they’ve been told. As the city begins to melt down, it’s hard to tell who are the good guys and who are the bad.

Playing For Keeps dives deep into the philosophy of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. It poses the question: What if the super power isn’t very useful. Imagine if, after being bit by the spider, Peter Parker found that his power was the ability to frighten away spiders. It may make him a successful exterminator but it wouldn’t help him fight DocOck. The book features powers such as a waitress who can’t drop her tray, or a bartender that can make people sober instantly.

The lead character, Keepsie, got her name from one of the most creative powers I’ve seen. Whatever she owns, can not be stolen. That concept is taken to some very interesting extremes, making her far more powerful than anyone realizes. Keepsie is caught in the classic struggle between heroes and villains which, in and of itself takes interesting twists. The villains seek her help in their struggle while the heroes overbear her with posturing and threats. Keepsie and her other not-so-powerful friends are left not knowing who to trust.

While the print book is ready for purchase right now (I ordered my copy today), the audio version is released as a free podcast. Playing For Keeps the podcast is about two thirds of the way through so there’s still time to catch up and follow to the end.