It’s my Birthday and to celebrate I am going to talk about something I wrote! As you know I had a story accepted in the upcoming DOSA Files Anthology of superhero stories.
Superhero fans rejoice! The DOSA Files: Tales from the Supervillain Rehabilitation Project Anthology is launching June 27th.
If you love epic tales of heroism, humor, and heart, you’ll adore this collection.
Featuring stories from:
H.L. Burke, Sarah Pennington, Amber Gabriel, Karen Eisenbrey, Rena Gail, Jake Tyson, K.M. Carroll, C.O. Bonham, Michelle L. Houston, and Jenelle Leanne Schmidt.
About the Book:
10 Authors, 10 Stories, Endless Ways to Save the Day!
The Award-Winning Supervillain Rehabilitation Project series expands with this new ten-story anthology of exciting superhero (and villain!) tales.
Enter a world of superpowered heroes… and villains. Of epic adventure and hope.
In this collection you’ll find tales of humor, action, and suspense. Meet brave heroes, quippy villains, and desperate vigilantes.
All featured stories are PG or lower, making this a great read for all ages, but especially for fans of superhero fiction, heartfelt moments, and snarky humor.
Featuring New Superhero Stories from Award Winning authors as well as exciting new voices in the genre.
Are you ready to save the day?
Available on Amazon June 27th! Get your copy: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D5JS32QJ
Add it on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/212327283-dosa-files
My Inspiration for “Letting Off Steam.”
My story “Letting Off Steam” is a very fan service filled story filled with cameos from established SVR characters. But did you know it actually ties into another novel in the universe? Power Through is book three in the Supervillain Rescue Project. (The one with Marco on the cover.) From this book, I borrowed the setting, the villian, and of course Marco.
The truth: I just really wanted to write a story with Marco in it.
The more interesting version of the story behind the story:
As soon as Heidi mentioned that she wanted to open up her superhero universe to other authors, I knew I wanted to be included. I have read all the SVR books and had a wish list of all the things I wanted to know more about or include in a story.
I knew I was going to use Marco and an early draft actually had the story almost entirely from Marco’s POV. But once I realized that Violet was the more important of the characters I slowly took away Marco’s POV to make room for hers. But the more I wrote Violet, a.k.a. Valve, the more I figured out who she was and the more this became her story.
For Violet’s backstory, I took a cue from Stephen King. I always thought that Carrie was not a horror story but a superhero origin story in which the person chooses the wrong path. Why does Carrie become the villain? Because she has no support system or safe place to go. Her home life is just as bad as her school life.
So Violet also needed to have nowhere to go. Her dad hates sables and school is only survivable by pretending to not exist. There’s also the whole girls attacking her in the locker room thing too.
Next I needed a villain, and I needed one that would have a good reason to visit the abandoned steampunk park without knowing that someone was already living there. Who better than the man who used to use it as a lair. I also included Seth Wallace’s sister who appears in Captured by a Supervillain book three in the Supervillain Romance Project series, because I wanted the satisfaction of the two villains named Wallace actually interacting with each other.
But the real reason I wrote this story is — I really wanted to use the abandoned steampunk park as a base for a vigilante steampunk superhero.
My favorite part of the story was fleshing out the Jules Verne theme park. I went through the original descriptions and tried to make sure nothing I added contradicted them while also not repeating anything. After fleshing it out I really want to go there.
I used to work at an amusement park when I was younger. I pulled a lot of the feeling of walking through an empty park from that experience. Amusement parks are so different when you’re alone. They’re suddenly too big and too quiet and you feel so small walking through them.
The DOSA Files: Tales from the Supervillain Rehabilitation Project Anthology is available on Amazon June 27th! Get your copy: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D5JS32QJ
Add it on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/212327283-dosa-files
DOSA Needs Your Help!
The Cryptographer is targeting DOSA and scrambling their communications. We need your help to solve the codes and unscramble the messages.
Scattered throughout the various blog posts are six clues. Find them all and solve the puzzles to get a secret passcode. That passcode will give you entry to this form: https://forms.gle/55fAGSXAyyjDEFCw9
If you succeed DOSA will give you a chance to win a library of books written by the DOSA archivists.
One lucky puzzle solver will win a mini-ebook library of titles from our authors. (Winners chosen July 1st, 2024)
OR
One lucky puzzle solver will win a mini-paperback library of titles from our authors (US shipping only).
Decrypt Message Two:
ᛏᚺᛁᛜᛊ ᚨᚱᛖ ᚷᛖᛏᛏᛁᛜ ᛊᛖᚱᛟᚢᛊ, ᛊᛈᛖᚲᛟᚨᛚ ᚨᚷᛖᚾᛏ. ᚹᛖ ᚨᛏᛏᛖᛗᛈᛏᛖᛞ ᛏᛟ ᛊᛖᚾᛞ ᚨ ᛗᛖᛊᛊᚨᚷᛖ ᛏᛟ ᛚᚨᛚᛖᚺ ᚨᛊᚺᛖ, ᚺᛟᛈᛁᛜ ᚺᛖᚱ ᛏᛖᚲᚺ ᛈᛟᚹᛖᚱᛊ ᚹᛟᚢᛚᛞ ᛒᛖ ᛖᚾᛟᚢᚷᚺ ᛏᛟ ᚢᚾᛞᛟ ᛏᚺᛖ ᚲᚱᛁᛈᛏᛟᚷᚱᚨᛈᚺᛖᚱ’ᛊ ᛗᛁᛊᚲᚺᛁᛖᚠ, ᛒᚢᛏ ᛁᛏ ᛊᛟᛗᛖᚺᛟᚹ ᚱᛖᚹᚱᛟᛏᛖ ᛟᚢᚱ ᛗᛖᛊᛊᚨᚷᛖ ᛁᚾᛏᛟ ᚨ ᚱᛁᚲᚲᚱᛟᛚᛚ ᚨᚾᛞ ᛊᚺᛖ ᛒᛚᛟᚲᚲᛖᛞ ᚢᛊ. ᛁᛟᚢ ᛗᚨᛁ ᛏᚱᚢᛚᛁ ᛒᛖ ᛟᚢᚱ ᛟᚾᛚᛁ ᚺᛟᛈᛖ. ᛏᚺᛖ ᛊᛖᚲᛟᚾᛞ ᛚᛖᛏᛏᛖᚱ ᛟᚠ ᚦᛖ ᛈᚨᛊᛊᚲᛟᛞᛖ ᛁᛊ ᛟ.
Check out the other stops on our blog tour to decode all the encryptions and enter to win!
June 20th:
June 21st:
http://Cobonham.com (You are here, obviously!)
June 22nd:
https://authorambergabriel.com/blog
June 23rd:
https://corinnejet.wordpress.com/2024/06/23/hl-burke-exclusive-interview/ (post goes live 6/23/2024 6:30 AM PST)
June 24th:
http://creatingforcreator.wordpress.com
http://kmcarrollblog.wordpress.com
June 25th:
https://www.rachaelritchey.com
June 26th:
https://kareneisenbreywriter.com/blog/
June 27th:
Don’t forget: once you’ve solved all the clues and discovered the passcode you can enter to win one of two epic prizes here: https://forms.gle/55fAGSXAyyjDEFCw9
C. O. Bonham 
Jun 24, 2024 @ 22:43:08
Want to know something funny? I had forgotten that Seth Wallace’s sister was a character that had appeared before! So while I looked through the different SVR books to verify descriptions of the other previously mentioned characters, I just came with a voice for her on the fly. As soon as I read this post and remembered that she was in Captured by a Supervillain, I had to hurry and double-check that I hadn’t given her a voice that was at odds with her description. Quite happily, the voice I picked matches her perfectly! Whew! Lucky me 😁
Jun 21, 2024 @ 00:59:23
Much codez. Such cyphers. Much wow.