Edger (the audio book) by David Beem

Welcome to the book tour for Edger by David Beem, now available in an audio book! Check out the playlist that you'll need to accompany this story, plus an excerpt. You can follow the tour for even more. Be sure to let him know your thoughts in the comments and enter the giveaway. And as always, more cowbell!

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The Official Edger Playlist
(with light commentary)

The official Edger “mixtape” can be found here. It’s meant to be a story companion for fans of the series who also love music. The Kirkus Review for Edger can be found here, and does a fine job summarizing the book for readers unfamiliar with the series.

“Nominal” —#1 Dads
Edger is about a typical Dork—tech support at Über Dork, a subsidiary of InstaTron—who has a chance at becoming the world’s first superhero. His power is entering the dreamlike Collective Unconscious, and the lyrics to “Nominal” couldn’t align more perfectly.

“Wonderboy” —Tenacious D
A superhero song by Jack Black which features in a book with a cast of slackers. Need I say more?

“Action Cat” —Gerard Way
A song about missing your ex. When we meet Edger, he’s still hung up on Kate. “Say you miss me?” the song asks. “And I said I miss you.”

“Invest” —Big Scary
“We store our secrets deep down,” is an evocative phrase, and very appropriate for a book dwelling in the subconscious hive mind of humanity.

“Junior Kickstart” —The Go! Team
A nice, action-y, upbeat song to supply the “action” portion in “action-comedy” fiction.

“The Ninjas” —Barenaked Ladies
Comedic music about ninjas! One of Edger’s dead allies is the famous Iga ninja, Hattori Hanzo.

NFL of Fox Theme Music
This piece is here to symbolize a fictional Green Bay Packer, Yourmajesty Fapa’fapa-Bal’buster.

“Milk Cow Blues” —Kokomo Arnold
Edger must find the villainous InstaTron Tron, a nano artificial intelligence which has been dart-gunned into the butt of a 900-pound Dexter cow in a porn store heist gone very wrong.

“Rocket Scientist” —Teddybears
In the scene’s finale, our heroes venture to a nightclub called Underwearld, and this song is featured. One of the influences of the Edger series is the Zachary Levi action/comedy TV show, Chuck, which also featured this song in season five.

“Rapture” —Blondie
What a weird song. What a weird book. This song is also featured while Edger and Mary are trapped inside a disco ball water torture chamber spinning above the dance floor in Underwearld. Originally, I’d thought to use “Dancing Queen,” but that song is ubiquitous to the point of cliché, and Blondie doesn’t get enough love.

“Thriller” —Michael Jackson
Also featured in finale, when an army of clones takes to the dance floor to battle our hero, who naturally summons Michael Jackson…

Posthumus Zone, NFL on CBS Opening Intro Theme
Our hero’s final boss battle is the Green Bay Packer—it’s showtime!

“Knock-down Drag-out” —Weezer
Edger is the first of a trilogy about a California boy who discovers a hidden world of super spies and supervillains locked in a knock-down drag-out war. Weezer is among the quintessential California bands, and the song is apt.

“Fake Your Death” —My Chemical Romance
Readers will understand why this song is here.

“Afterlife” —Arcade Fire
After faking your death, what’s left?

“We Do It Together” —The Go! Team
Another great, upbeat song from The Go! Team, and has the feel of a good epilogue-type song for the playlist. Edger finishes with newfound allies who will help him “do it together” going forward.

“Sweet Mary” —Weezer
While the first book in my Edger trilogy ends on a decidedly ambiguous note about whether or not Edger’s super spy “cover girlfriend” can be trusted, one thing that isn’t ambiguous are his feelings for her. Weezer’s song is about salvation, of sorts. Edger needed some saving, he was languishing in his job, old before his time, until sweet Mary rekindled his sense of adventure.

www.davidbeem.com
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Edger (2018) by David Beem

Meet Edger (Ed-jer), a twenty-six-year-old gadget retail dork destined to become the world’s first superhero! His superpower: the ability to channel the Collective Unconscious, a psychic network connecting the living and the dead. In his arsenal are the skills of Bruce Lee, the strength of Samson, the wisdom of the ages...and the dancing chops of Michael Jackson—including that one twisty foot move, crotch grab, and fedora tilt. But there's a catch... Like every psychic super power to get administered through a hypodermic needle, this one comes with a prick. Someone seems to have misplaced the booster necessary for stabilizing his superpower. Without it, Edger has three days before his brain turns to pudding. Join our Dork of Destiny as he overcomes the world’s greatest butt, two rival Cluck-n-Pray gangs, an evil cow, a Green Bay Defensive Tackle, rifle-toting assassins—and a pair of stoners who inadvertently create the world’s first supervillain after a wild night on Twitter!

Buy on Amazon

Read an excerpt:

The water is filling.

We’re spinning.

Blondie is rapturing.

Below us, the nightclub turns like a sparkling dream. Worse, Underwearld is wallpapered in phosphorescent art photos of Caleb in his Calvin Kleins.

“Hey Edger—it’s Caleb!” says Mary, banging her shoulder against the side of our disco ball water torture prison and sloshing water. “Caleb! Caleb!”

I roll my eyes. “Of course you know Caleb. Because the universe just couldn’t let me die without letting me know: Hey—Mary knows Caleb.”

“Edger, Caleb’s H.A.R.D.O.N.”

“Hard-on for you, hard-on for Kate—”

“Oh my God, Edger. Not now, okay? High Risk Agency for Regulating the Defense Of the NFL.”

“What!? That doesn’t even make any sense! It should be H-A-R-D-O—wait, somebody capitalized the freaking O—?! You know, my tax dollars paid someone to capitalize that letter O.”

“Really? Really, Edger? You want to do this now?”

“That’s what they always say too: ‘You wanna do this now.’ But notice they never balance the budget. All I’m saying is, you gotta talk about it sometime.”

“Edger! We. Are about. To die.”

So I’m panting, she’s panting, and Caleb’s down there scanning the room in front of a larger than life phosphorescent photograph of his crotch. Because apparently all paths in life lead there.

“Caleb!” Mary yells.

“Caleb!” I yell.

And so there we are, yelling our butts off, banging our shoulders into the wall, water sloshing over our faces—you know, not panicking.

Then the water level reaches our chins.

 Read my reviews from the series:

Edger

Edger Lives

Edger Forever

David Beem loves superhero movies, taekwondo, and flossing. He lives in Djibouti with his family and crippling self-doubt. To help actualize David’s inner confidence, visit his website and buy all the stuff: www.davidbeem.com

Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/David-Beem/e/B005M4NEYI/

David Beem will be awarding a $10 Amazon or BN GC to one randomly drawn commenter via Rafflecopter. Follow the tour for more chances to win!

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Review of Edger Forever by David Beem

Lock your doors! Hide your children! Republicans and Democrats are cuddling in congress! The world is on the brink. Out there is a desolate wasteland of you-want-fries-with-that oblivion. It’s all smiles all the time. Politeness, when assholery is called for.Enter Edger Bonkovich, aka Zarathustra, the world’s first superhero! Humanity is under the mind-control of the prophet Nostradamus, whose immortality makes him all but invincible. But what if it takes an immortal to beat an immortal? What if our hero must sacrifice the woman he loves to become Edger…forever? Return to the Collective Unconscious one last time for a finale so creamy and smooth you won’t believe it’s not butter.

Book Links

Goodreads * Amazon

**My thoughts**

It's the third and final installment in this series. And it is full of plenty of snort-worthy moments. Plus I feel like I learned a handful of fun new swear phrases to drop on my unsuspecting peers.

As with the other two books, this one is full of plenty of action and wild antics that I think would make for something fun to be played out onscreen. Beem's descriptions definitely had me clearly visualizing all of the quirky craziness in my head, so I think it would translate well!

Technically, you don't have to read the other two books before this one, but I think you'll appreciate it much more if you do.

Thank you to the author for providing me with a requested review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Review of Edger Lives by David Beem

Welcome to the review tour for Edger Lives by David Beem. While this is the second book in the series, I also read the first one for a bit of insight into its sequel and am including my thoughts on both of them for you. You can also read an excerpt from this book and then follow the tour to read more excerpts and see what other people think of it.

Edger Lives

Our dork of destiny rides again!

Edger is falling for Mary, his bodyguard, kick-ass spy, and cover wife. But she’s so hopelessly out of his league, it’s clear someone’s going to get hurt. Less clear? That someone may be the Prime Minister of Australia.

When Mary confesses her desire to kill the world leader whose assassination Edger’s supposed to prevent, Edger’s superpowers pick the worst time to stop working. Without a fully functional psychic superhero, their team of spies can no longer order him to probe Mary’s mind for ill intent. The stage is set for a confrontation that threatens to strip a defenseless Edger of his loyal protector just when he needs her most.

Return to the Collective Unconscious, this time with Listerine-chugging stoners, Hollyweirdos, commie-alien-kung fu robots, one space gorilla-unicorn, and an exceedingly lovesick Vladimir Putin.

Mind your fingers and toes on page 270. Those skydiving mind-control monkeys have been known to bite!

Read an excerpt:

I find Mary in the walk-in closet after her workout. Three of her peering back at me with wide eyes. Four, if we count the sweaty, pheromone-blasting, flesh-and-blood Mary in the middle.

Her hands glide down her hips as she turns sideways. The mirror reflections copy her like evil clones. Her head tilts, and her unreadable gaze scans from three angles every inch of her toned physique. She eyes the contours of her breasts in an understated Calvin Klein sports bra; she examines her sculpted midriff and the concavity of her bellybutton. The Gigantic Rock glinting in the mirrors, her thumbs dip below the waistline of her yoga pants, cruise outward along the elastic, and tug once. She bites the corner of her glossy pink lip and scrutinizes every possible curve from the waist down—and with legs like hers, it’s a long way down—before flitting up to find mine, spanning those sexual leagues in an instant, and landing her gaze like a side-kick to the gut. I can barely breathe.

Air squeezes into my lungs like I’m sucking it through a straw-sized snorkel. I’m slouching. Better stand up straight. Unlock my knees. I’ve got to get it together. If she and I are going to live under the same roof, I can’t be falling over every time she has the audacity to exist. Otherwise, I’ll need some kind of house scooter to motor around on my butt all day. Beep-beep, coming through, time to brush my teeth—well, well, don’t you look hot again—okay, faint on you later.

Available on Amazon 

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**My thoughts**

And here we have the second installment of the Edger (Ed-jer) series by David Beem. Can you read this book as a standalone? Sure, you could. The cast of characters is introduced in the beginning and there's a bit of a recap of the first book. You'll likely pick up on a lot of the pop culture references and tropes that seem to be Beem's signature. You'll chuckle and perhaps laugh out loud on occasion. But I think you will definitely better appreciate a lot of these pieces if you read the first book as well as this one. 

Edger is still just as dorky as ever. He still gets all flustered around beautiful women (read Mary) and drops a lot of weird, quirky phrases. He's still supposed to save the world and will work towards it with the help of some famous names you'll definitely recognize. Starting with Bruce Lee and Michael Jackson in the first book and spilling over into the second, you'll get a kick out of how these celebs have been reimagined in the Collective Unconscious. (Think Vladimir Putin in a most amusingly compromised position, with a little Gary Busey and David Hasselhoff thrown in.) The twists and action scenes will keep the pages turning and you just may embarrass yourself laughing if you read it in public. It is hard to explain some of these moments without spoilers and context, but the misunderstood phrases and names almost speak for themselves. (Church of Ladder Day Saints) 

And this Michigan fan will still try to forgive all of the South Bend and Notre Dame references.

I think there is more to come in some future installments. It will be interesting to see where he goes next!

Edger

Meet Edger (Ed-jer), a twenty-six-year-old gadget retail dork destined to become the world’s first superhero!

His superpower: the ability to channel the Collective Unconscious, a psychic network connecting the living and the dead. In his arsenal are the skills of Bruce Lee, the strength of Samson, the wisdom of the ages...and the dancing chops of Michael Jackson—including that one twisty foot move, crotch grab, and fedora tilt.

But there's a catch...

Like every psychic superpower to get administered through a hypodermic needle, this one comes with a prick. Someone seems to have misplaced the booster necessary for stabilizing his superpower. Without it, Edger has three days before his brain turns to pudding.

Join our Dork of Destiny as he overcomes the world’s greatest butt, two rival Cluck-n-Pray gangs, an evil cow, a Green Bay Defensive Tackle, rifle-toting assassins—and a pair of stoners who inadvertently create the world’s first supervillain after a wild night on Twitter!

Available on Amazon

**My thoughts**

If you're into cerebral science fiction and superheroes with lots of fun tropes thrown in and a mess of comedic situations, then this is definitely the book for you. I admit this isn't my usual genre of book to read, but I couldn't resist checking it out. I've even gone on to the second book in the series and will await even more to come.

You'll find references to football, historical figures, dead celebrities who come back to life in the Collective Unconscious, lots of quirky characters, and some daddy issues. This Michigan fan may have twitched a little any time the words Notre Dame were mentioned, but I shook it off and kept going. I think I literally belly laughed once Michael Jackson showed up.

About David Beem

David Beem loves superhero movies, taekwondo, and flossing. He lives in Djibouti with his family and crippling self-doubt. To help actualize David’s inner confidence, visit his website and buy all the stuff: www.davidbeem.com

Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/David-Beem/e/B005M4NEYI/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1

David Beem will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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Read an excerpt from Superhero Syndrome (Solstice Survivors) by Caryn Larrinaga

This post contains affiliate links which may pay me a small commission if you click on or purchase through them.

Superhero Syndrome

Urban Fantasy

Date Published: September 2017

Tess McBray was dying. The Solstice Syndrome had no cure, and she resigned herself to an early grave. But just when she gave up on survival, all her symptoms mysteriously disappeared.

All but one symptom, anyway. Something is wrong with Tess's hands. They absorb any material they touch, and her skin turns to wood, or steel, or concrete. It doesn't take this comic-book obsessed 21-year-old long to figure out what's going on: somehow, she's developed super powers. And she's not the only one; across the country, people are coming forward and sharing their gifts with the world. In her own city, where the police are battling a human trafficking operation, a masked vigilante called The Fox is saving lives and stopping criminals.

Tess doesn't know where she fits into this new, super-powered world. But when people around her start disappearing, she can't just sit on the sidelines. Teaming up with The Fox to create the world's first superhero duo might be the only way to rid her city of evil and save the people she loves most.

Purchase Links

Amazon * B&N * IndieBound

Excerpt

I wish I’d been with the people I loved on the day the world changed. Then again, if someone had said, “Hey Tess, reality as you know it is about to be turned upside-down. You should probably witness this moment with someone you care about. Anybody fit that bill?” I would’ve barked out a bitter laugh and told them I’d rather be alone. Which, as it turns out, I was.

The meteor shower was all over the news. CNN covered it nonstop in the hours before it was visible, bringing on astronomers and astrophysicists to explain why it was such a big deal for a meteor shower of this size to be happening in the middle of January. Apparently, our scientists were supposed to be able to predict this kind of thing. The fact that one had snuck up on our collective set of observatories and satellites was—to quote one NASA representative—“extraordinary.”

I didn’t care if it was unprecedented. I didn’t care if people around the world were calling it a sign or a portent of the Second Coming or whatever. I just knew it was beautiful, and I wanted to see one more beautiful thing before I died.

The trick was explaining that to the floor nurse.

“Miss McBray, please go back to your room.” Nurse Davies crossed her beefy arms over her chest and planted her white-sneakered feet to the floor. “We’ve been over this before. You’re in no condition to leave.”

“How do you know?” I growled. “Nobody here can even tell me what my condition is.”

I shifted the weight of my duffle bag on my shoulder and leaned to the left, craning my neck to gauge the distance between Davies and the elevators. Only a few dozen yards. Sure, she towered over me. Sure, in the month I’d been in the hospital my body had wasted away to little more than a skin-wrapped skeleton. But I might be able to make a run for it.

Davies shook her head. “Do you think you’re going to find the answers out there?”

“Maybe. I don’t really care.”

She glared at me, and I knew exactly what she was thinking. It was the same thing she’d spat at me every time I’d fought against the IV, or questioned the contents of the murky soup they forced me to eat, or requested—and then repeatedly demanded—to have my comic book collection brought into the hospital. And just when I began to worry she’d disappoint me by refusing to lean on her catchphrase, she said it.

“Stop being so melodramatic.”

About the Author

Caryn Larrinaga is a Basque-American mystery, horror, and urban fantasy writer living in Utah with her husband and cats. Her debut novel Donn’s Hill (March 2017, Immortal Works Press) was a 2017 Dragon Award finalist.

Watching scary movies through split fingers terrified Caryn as a child, and those nightmares inspire her to write now. She lives in a 90-year-old house with a colorful history, and the creaking walls and narrow hallways send her running (never walking) up the stairs from her basement. Exploring her fears through writing makes Caryn feel a little less foolish for wanting a buddy to accompany her into the tool shed.

When her fingers aren't glued to her laptop keyboard, Caryn also enjoys binge-watching Netflix with her husband, reading, playing video games, and filling up her phone's flash memory with pictures of her cats. She loves music and plays the bass guitar.

Contact Links

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Promo Link

Rose Shababy, author of 'The Blue Effect,' talks about inspiration

Trying to explain where my story ideas come from reminds me of that song from The Sound of Music. The lyrics ask, ‘How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?’ ‘How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?’ My ideas feel like that sometimes. It seems like I lose more then I capture. And even when I do, the end result is often nothing like my original idea.

The Blue Effect is no exception to that rule. I sat down and busted out five chapters to what was a completely different story before I realized I hated it. Every word I’d written sucked. So I started over, this time really focusing on the main character.

Something fantastic occurred. I began to connect to this woman, Blue Brennan, in ways I’d never connected with a character before. The lines separating us began to blur. All of her angst and drama and humor became mine, and vice versa. I soon came to love her brash ways and inimitable style. I love her smart mouth. I love her vulnerability and strength. I love her intelligence. I love her wildness.

Then one day, I realized that all the things I loved about her were qualities that I possessed. Things that I had looked at as flaws in the past became parts of me that I suddenly cherished. Through Blue, I found the ability to love myself. Oh sure, I still wrinkle my nose when I look at my butt in the mirror, but when had I ever stopped to appreciate the way I looked at the world around me or my tendency to say exactly what I was thinking?

I’ve never enjoyed writing anything as much as I’ve enjoyed writing Blue’s story. It’s a novel about superheroes, but it’s more than that. It’s really about learning to accept yourself and becoming the hero of your own story.

I hope you love Blue as much as I do.



The Blue Effect

Blue Brennan is jaded and bitter despite her pinup girl looks and a quick wit. Night after night she scours the Seattle club scene looking for someone or something to fill the emptiness inside.

When she meets the mysterious Kasey, her world stops on its axis… literally. He claims she has the ability to control time and stuns her even further when he reveals his own gifts.

Blue is inexplicably drawn to Kasey and reluctantly enters his world filled with a new breed of humanity, each with amazing powers of their own. They’re misfits like her, blessed or cursed with powerful abilities, struggling to hide their differences while pitting their powers against injustice.

Then the group discovers the existence of a nameless, faceless sociopath with nightmarish powers, and his sights are set on Blue. But Blue and her unique gifts are not only his target, they are also the key to defeating him and saving them all.

Now she must race against the clock to harness her own powers and save her new friends. Can she be more than a renegade? Can she be a hero too?

Buy on:

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The best debut novel I’ve read in years. Blue is the type of unique, honest, protagonist usually only experienced in Stephen King novels. The Blue Effect was part Fight Club, part X-Men and sucked me in from the very first chapter to the very last word. Powerfully written with a compelling plot and wicked antagonist. Couldn’t ask for anything more – except the sequel! – Robert Dugoni, NY Times Best Selling Author – My Sister’s Grave

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About the author:

Rose Shababy and her family reside in eastern Washington State. Rose grew up in the Northwest but swears she’s going to move to warmer climates someday. She’s claimed this for over 20 years, however, and has yet to move more than 75 miles away from her mother.

Rose has a deep love of all things Star Trek and yearns to travel the heavens, as well as an intense desire to be bitten by a radioactive spider. Unfortunately she sucks at science and math so she hasn’t been able bring her dreams to life, instead living vicariously through books, comics, television and film. She hopes to someday make a million dollars so she can afford to buy her way to the international space station, but she’d settle for being able to fly around the world and leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Rose also loves to cook and worked for years in a gourmet Italian grocery and deli where she learned to hone her skills. She prepares culinary masterpieces for her family, but fervently wishes the dishes would wash themselves. Especially now that her dishwashers/children are nearly grown and only one still lives at home.

Rose likes to use her free time wisely. For instance, she likes to daydream, will often read for hours until she falls asleep on the couch with an electric blanket and a warm tabby cat curled up on her hip, as well as spending cozy weekend days watching Syfy movies like Sharknado and Mega Piranha with her husband.

If Rose were a cartoon animal, she’d prefer to be a wise old owl or a sleek and sexy jaguar, but in reality she’d probably be a myopic mole with coke-bottle glasses.

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