I also have a romantic suspense series called Dirty, Dark, and Deadly which chronicles the life of three assassins who grew up as part of a global shadow government called The Company.
So I guess Biker Batman (as my inner circle have been calling this book since its inception) is a mash-up of those two stories, but with a whole new world and set of characters.
I got the superhero idea when I was driving by the Centennial Airport not far from my house. There’s this building over there, kind of sitting out in the middle of nowhere, and it seriously looks like a place Batman would work. It’s got a cool Gothic feel to it, all gray stone and imposing atrium windows.
And if you drive by the Centennial Airport (which is pretty much only for private jets that service the real-life millionaires of the Denver Tech Center) at just the right moment, those corporate jets come in for a landing right over your car. This is a freeway, BTW, and I’ve seen it happen a dozen times at least and I never get tired of it. You can see faces looking out the window, that’s how close those little jets are to your car.
So I started thinking about those people inside those jets. And off to the right was that weird Gothic Batman building, so I got this idea for a psychotic corporate billionaire who is really a misunderstood superhero. You know, Batman. But not, since he’s taken. (The original idea is Thomas’ story, not Lincoln’s) And that superhero thing just kind of stuck in the back of my mind. I think this was before 321 even came out or maybe around that same time.
But I had learned my lesson first-hand about writing genres that don’t appeal to mass audiences. And a superhero romance? I just didn’t know. I pushed that shit aside quick and went back to writing that lovable Merc story.
But then I was a little bit sad about ending all these Company books (Wasted Lust is the last of them, and that released in June). I really love that story line. Especially Come Back. It’s still in my top three favorites. Wasted Lust is probably my number one at this point. Ford had that spot until I wrote the end of Wasted Lust, that’s how much I love it.
So I was a little bit sad when I was in Atlantic City for a book signing with my co-blogger, Kristi, and my assistant, Jana, and decided to pitch Biker Batman to them.
I didn’t know what Kristi would think. I pitched it to her first because Jana was snoring at the time. And she was like, “Oh, fuck yes. Write that shit.” But then I had Jana to contend with. We butt heads over plot all the time. We are so totally one hundred percent opposite when it comes to plot, I don’t even know why we are friends. I don’t even know why she likes my books. She’s so romancy and my books are so… not. :) But for sure, she keeps me from going off the rails all the time. So if you like my books, next time you see Jana, say thank you!
So when Jana woke up and I started telling her my idea, I fully expected a, No, hell no, you will not ruin your career with a superhero romance!
But she said the same thing Kristi said. Write that shit, she loved it. And if Jana loved it, maybe it wasn’t so crazy? She got a little obsessed with it, to be honest. She’d message me in the middle of the day with an idea… “I think Sheila needs more time.” “I think Sheila should be trying to manipulate Molly into getting pregnant.” I think Sheila…” She has a lot of fucking opinions about Sheila.
And really, once I got on board with the plan to write a superhero romance, I plotted out four books in record time. Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet. ;) Case, Thomas, and Atticus will shock the shit out of you.
I admit, writing a superhero romance sounded a lot easier than it actually was. For one, I’m not even a superhero comic reader. I have seen most of the movies and I have a background in the biological sciences, so I can do SF with the best of them, but superhero fans are a serious sort of bunch. So I ended up doing a lot of research on The Dark Knight and the psychology of Batman to get a handle on the Lincoln character.