Super Born: Seduction of Being

Keith Kornell
Audacious Press (2010)
ISBN 9780982645208
Reviewed by Marty Shaw for Reader Views (10/10)

 

While reading “Super Born: Seduction of Being,” I was frequently reminded of one of Clint Eastwood’s old movies, “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly,” so I thought that would be the best way to bring this review to you.

The Good – A decent story peeks through from time to time. I liked the comic book idea of women having super powers because they happened to be born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a city saturated with epsilon radiation. The reason for the radiation is half-heartedly explained, signifying that the ‘why’ isn’t important; it merely exists as a way to move the story from one point to another. We’re also left to wonder why this radiation didn’t affect a larger part of the female population. Again, this is a point that the reader isn’t meant to ponder for any length of time.

The B.I.B. (beotch-in-black) is actually written as a believable character; a single mom coming to terms with the powers she finds herself possessing. Even though she can carry a plane safely to the ground, she deals with normal struggles on a daily basis. This combination easily made her my favorite character.

The Bad – Mr. Kornell would benefit from having another pair of eyes look over his story before publishing it. Any picky readers who cringe at missing commas and awkward sentence structures might have a rough time with this one. I also think writing a story from a first-person point of view is risky, and the risk is doubled when you’re writing that way for two characters.

The plot is pretty thin in places, existing only to move things along, and there are some huge holes that we’re apparently not supposed to notice. Personally, I was shocked to discover that the B.I.B. was completely oblivious to a certain character’s plans when she spent a significant amount of time spying on that person. Of course, if she had been aware of those plans, the story would have had to go in a different direction.

The Ugly – There are various types of humor, ranging from dry and sarcastic to high-school -level bathroom humor. There’s also a form of humor known as slapstick, humor that is so much larger than life that it takes a subtle hand to use it well. “Well, over there I see two young men. One is trying to get through a closed door and the other is repeatedly opening the men’s room door in his face… What a******s. Over there, I see a guy trying to get on a bar stool and, every time he does, he slides off onto the floor! What a d**k.”

This is the type of ‘humor’ encountered throughout the whole book. Certain words had to be censored in the above example because the apparent belief is that a few dirty words will transform something into an ‘adult’ story. There’s also a very odd scene where people take turns wearing a hat with antlers while another person shoots at them. I believe it’s possible to portray people as unintelligent without making them appear to be so impossibly stupid.

On the subject of adult content, I feel it’s necessary to advise potential readers that there isn’t much seduction in “Super Born: Seduction of Being.” You’ve come to the wrong place if you came here looking for sexual tension or erotic scenes, although there is an admittedly interesting sex scene without actual sex that takes place as our two main characters are flying over the city.

Many fiction writers will say that fiction works best when it’s surrounded by elements of reality. For me, there just isn’t enough reality in “Super Born: Seduction of Being” to make the fiction fly.

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