James Alan Gardner

Future Washington is a collection of stories by noted science fiction writers from around the world, and the political spectrum, which looks at possible futures for the U.S. capital.

Only days have passed since a freak accident granted four college students superhuman powers. Now Jools and her friends (who haven’t even picked out a name for their superhero team yet) get caught up in the hunt for a Mad Genius’s misplaced super-weapon. But when Jools falls in with a modern-day Robin Hood and his band of super-powered Merry Men, she finds it hard to sort out the Good Guys from the Bad Guys - and to figure out which side she truly belong on. Especially since nobody knows exactly what the Gun does.

Monsters are real. But so are heroes. Sparks are champions of weird science. Boasting capes and costumes and amazing superpowers that only make sense if you don't think about them too hard, they fight an eternal battle for truth and justice . .. mostly. Darklings are creatures of myth and magic: ghosts, vampires, were-beasts, and the like. Their very presence warps reality. Doors creak at their approach. Cobwebs gather where they linger. Kim Lam is an ordinary college student until a freak scientific accident (what else?) transforms Kim and three housemates into Sparks - and drafts them into the never ending war between the Light and Dark. They struggle to master their new abilities - and (of course) to design cool costumes and come up with great hero names. Turns out that "accident" was just the first salvo in a Mad Genius's latest diabolical scheme. Now it's up to four newbie heroes to save the day, before they even have a chance to figure out what their team's name should be!