A warm welcome to author Cari Z joining us today on her Riptide blog tour for new release “Where There’s A Will”.

Why write a Hero?

Panopolis began as a series about villains, or at least, anti-heroes. The first two novellas follow the original couple’s villainous exploits and their dark, twisty romance that survives the nastiest things I could throw at it without killing someone. I’m not joking―I got emails about that. Mostly positive, but some “OMG WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?” Clearly, I’m not the only one who likes a good anti-hero. Why, then, did I choose to make Where There’s A Will focus on the staunchest, most reliable hero that Panopolis has to offer? Why on earth would I write a book about Freight Train?

Part of my reason is wanting to examine the mirror effect in this series. Your villains are only as good (or bad) as the heroes they fight against, and I’ve dropped enough crumbs about Freight Train at this point that I thought it was time to explore him in more depth. The truth is, just like my villains aren’t completely evil, Freight Train isn’t unreservedly good. He evolved from a cookie-cutter, crack-pow sendup of every square-jawed, law-abiding superhero out there into a man with serious reservations about his employer, his work, and his own ability to do the only thing he thinks he’s good at. Freight Train is, at his heart, an example of the kind of hero that actually interests me: the kind that fights through all his personal shit to do the work he feels is important.

Freight Train is the hero that’s always taken for granted. He dislikes his partner and doesn’t trust his manager. He’s not the smartest guy, he’s not the most handsome, and he doesn’t have the motivation that comes from fighting for the love of his life (at least, not in the beginning of the book), but he still gets up every morning and fights crime. He does what he has to do while looking for new options, and I think that’s life for a lot of us. It’s not glamorous (although his sort of is) but it’s honest, and of all his traits, Freight Train’s honesty—at least with himself—is one of my favorite things about him.

Plus, his best friend is a villain. So there’s no telling what sort of trouble he might be getting into. Or rather, there is—but you have to read Where There’s A Will to find out.

About Where There’s a Will

Being a Hero in Panopolis means living the high life: parties, money, influence, even reality television. And I’m one of the most powerful Heroes in the city. I have plenty of fans, a manager who looks out for me (after himself), and a job that pays the bills. I should be enjoying myself.

Unfortunately, the downside of my superpower means I can’t touch anyone, which tends to put a damper on things. I probably don’t deserve all those perks anyway, since I’m working in secret with two of Panopolis’s biggest Villains to undermine GenCorp—my main sponsor and the company that controls what gets through my force field.

I obviously don’t trust my corporate overseers, but they’ve hired a new scientist who actually seems interested in helping me. Dr. Mansourian might have the answers to all my questions—not to mention a starring role in most of my dreams—but he’s hiding something big. If I let him have what he wants, I might not live to regret it.

Then again, the way things are going in Panopolis these days, I might not live either way.

About Cari Z

Cari Z was a bookworm as a child and remains one to this day. In an effort to combat her antisocial reading behavior, she did all sorts of crazy things, from competitive gymnastics to alligator wresting (who even knew that was legal!) to finally joining the Peace Corps, which promptly sent her and her husband to the wilds of West Africa, stuck them in a hut, and said, “See ya!” She also started writing, because some things she just thought she could do better. She’s still climbing that ladder, but can’t stop herself from writing, or from sharing what she creates.

Cari enjoys a wide range of literary genres, from the classics (get ‘im, Ahab) to science fiction and fantasy of all types, to historical fiction and reference materials (no, seriously, there are so many great encyclopedias out there). She writes in a wide range of genres as well, but somehow 90% of what she produces ends up falling into the broad and exciting category of m/m erotica. There’s a sprinkling of f/m and f/f and even m/f/m in her repertoire, but her true love is man love. And there’s a lot of love to go around.

Cari has published short stories, novellas, and novels with numerous print and e-presses, and she also offers up a tremendous amount of free content on Literotica.com, under the name Carizabeth.

Connect with Cari:

• Website: http://cari-z.net/
• Blog: http://carizerotica.blogspot.com/
• Twitter: @author_cariz

To celebrate the release of Where There’s a Will, Cari is giving away ebooks of both Where There’s Smoke and Where There’s Fire, a $10 Riptide credit, and a Panopolis t-shirt. Leave a comment to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on May 7, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!