Introduction
INTRODUCTION
XAVIER REEVES
You know how the main character in a superhero book usually opens up with how he/she got the powers and how he or she became the superhero saving the world while juggling with other commitments? Well, I’m not going to do that with my situation. That is just overkill for my standards.
All I have to say is that I’m back with my own sequel. That’s right, I have my own sequel. It seems like the author of this story of mine decided to expand my life a little bit and make it into a series. Well, all I can say is thanks to him, more teens and young adults of color can read my story and see that anything is possible.
Now, what can you expect in the sequel? Well, there will be a new member that is cooler than he’ll expect, a lot of figure skating from the both of us, plenty of drama, crime-fighting, friendships being strengthened, family drama, ignorant young women who are bound to be femme fatales, and an unexpected visitor with a surprise no one will see coming. I won’t give too much away, lest I ruin the story for you.
As I have said before, this is definitely not your typical superhero novel. Nor is it your typical teen-fiction novel. There is so much more than that. And as rare as it is for a guy to have his story told (and a teenaged guy at that), I believe that guys have drama as well as girls. I’m not being sexist, just keeping it real. And I also believe that young Black men can be so much more than what society labels us to be (in jail, strung out on the streets, dealing drugs, or in a casket at a funeral home). We can be heroes, leaders, innovators, dream-makers, researchers, anything we set or minds to.
Now, I won’t lie to you, there won’t be too much profanity and violence, but there will be triggers of blackmail, emotional abuse, bullying, and anguish. So, I completely understand right now if you want to walk away and forget the whole thing. But hear me out. The stuff I mentioned earlier (the friendship-bonding, the ice-skating, the crime-fighting)? Those are included as well as some good times. You have to add in some bad memories to balance out the good, or else the story will get too campy or too gory and gloomy. It’s about maintaining the balance of two different ideals, like good and evil, war and peace, joy and anguish, night and day, love and hatred.
But enough about me. Here is the new kid, Dante.
DANTE COPELAND
I’m definitely not your typical bad-boy teenager with a lot of teen angst.
Yeah, I have powers of my own and I intend to do a lot of bad things, but it really gets old at times. I just want a place to belong and have a second chance of living a normal life. Granted, these powers of mine won’t go away, but I just want to have a place to belong without feeling judged or hated for wanting to be different. But it’s all easier said than done, thanks to a clingy and overly cynical cousin of mine along with her equally bitter friend. They want me to hate anything that isn’t deemed “Black-American culture” for them, lest they see me as a threat. But in my book, they already see me as an expendable digit. All I want is to break free and set my own course. And if I can find it in this coastal town that boasts of second chances and new beginnings for everyone, then so be it.
So, readers, are you ready to continue with this journey? Then grab some snacks (beignets if you represent the state of Louisiana), grab a drink (chicory-spiced coffee if you’re from Louisiana, Dr. Pepper if you represent Texas), pull up a chair, put on some good music from the nineties, and get ready for another ride.
Welcome back to Crystal Pointe, where anything is possible. And we mean ANYTHING! The saga continues on...
