Wow -- Keith Kornell sure can write! I would imagine a musical score by John
Williams playing as the hypothetical cinemascope camera zooms in upon
O’Malley’s Bar in Scranton Pennsylvania and goes in for a close up of the face
of a beautiful, seductive blonde with piercing eyes that change from grey, to
blue, then to green as she stares at the lens and penetrates the minds of the
viewers. Altered by a mutation caused by
“epsilon radiation” in her community, the men of Scranton mutated to idiots, imbeciles and morons, whereas the radiation had the opposite effect on the women
in the town, having them become super empowered. Paralleling the Marvel Comic’s superhero characters in superpower profiles, the
Bitch-In-Black, known as the B.I.B., is real, and nothing like the candy coated
vanilla Superman. She is real down to
her equivocating values of morality and insatiable sexual desire.
Keith Kornell narrates the story through the eyes of a
reporter, not the Jimmy Olsen or Clark Kent kind, but a cool, hip and intelligent
street-smart thinker, disbeliever, but totally impressionable character. His words flow like a combination of the Guy Noir character in Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion radio show,
mixed with a Mickey Spillane tough
guy. Kornell hits you with candid talk,
a bit harsh at times but doesn’t hold back on his inner most thoughts, and that
is totally refreshing in a super-hero story. Not the “G” rated thinking that needed to pass the censor’s desk in the
1960’s, but a cool, Internet savvy way of take-it-or-leave-it talk. Kudos to Keith Kornell!
Saving a doomed commercial airplane when one engine explodes
and the other flames out, or foiling a bank robbery are the common super hero
acts of defining events, but Keith Kornell takes the B.I.B. back to being a 33
year old single working mom, with day-to-day stress and normal values. He cleverly interlaces the dialogue of the
reporter, along with the story of the superwoman, writing her thoughts in italics. This proves to be an original juxtaposition of storylines, an
entertaining relief of characterization and he makes it work in an extremely enjoyable
fashion in his book.
Time flew by as I paged the eBook version of this crafty
piece of contemporary fantasy. Before I
knew it I was approaching the end of the story but found myself yearning for
more. Reading it on a Saturday afternoon
was the perfect time of the week for taking in some childish fun, coupled with
fresh and exciting creativity. One
thing’s for sure – I want more! The good
news is that there’s more to come.
Buy this book at Amazon.com
