The Sovereign Era Series

April, 1985: superhumans exist! Do you know what your children are..? "I was used to eating alone..." High school sophomore Nate Charters is barely making it. His unusual appearance, hair-trigger nervous system, and over-active metabolism marked him as a target for the jocks and cool kids long ago, and it's not getting any better. Then, on Declaration Day, Nate is astounded as anyone by the existence of metahumans, and their audacious demand for autonomy... but there's also the continued unwelcome attention of his most annoying rival to deal with... and is a self-assured older girl really interested in someone like him? To top it off, who is the mysterious Dr. Brenhurst, and what's his connection with Nate's long-dead father? Life just got insanely complicated. It's time for Nate to solve the mystery of origins and find his place in a world of mounting uncertainty and peril.   Is he part of a powerful new minority? Or just a misfit among misfits? He'd better find his answers quickly. A shadowy organization seems to know more about him than he could ever imagine. And they're closing in... BRAVE MEN RUN is the Parsec Award nominated fan favorite that helped changed the indie publishing landscape. Find out why tens of thousands all over the world are Team Nate! THE SOVEREIGN ERA READING ORDER 0) Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: How It All Got Started (free online serial) 1) Brave Men Run 2) The World Revolves Around You 3) The Sovereign Era: Year One 4) Canary In A Coal Mine 5) Pilgrimage 6) The News From Bewilder Pond ABOUT THE EXPANDED EDITION This revised, expanded edition of BRAVE MEN RUN is definitive. It replaces the "orange" edition and the Swarm Press "green" edition. Make sure you've got the right story! About 65,000 words.

It's the Sovereign Era, when the sudden appearance of men and women with remarkable powers -- Sovereigns -- changes the course of history and threatens the balance of power in the late 20th century... and Tony Fallow has a sticky problem: everything that isn't bolted down wants to literally be near him!   Fearing he must be a Sovereign, Tony travels to the Donner Institute for Sovereign Studies in the hope of being cured.   But as he tells his story to a human doctor working at the Institute, the boorish Tony soon finds his problem might be more complicated than he suspected, and bigger trouble than he could have imagined..!   ABOUT THE SOVEREIGN ERA THE SOVEREIGN ERA is Matthew Wayne Selznick's ongoing alternate history series presenting a mosaic of novels and stories detailing how the presence of super-humans changed the last decades of the twentieth century and the future of humanity.   THE SOVEREIGN ERA READING ORDER 0) Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: "How It All Got Started" (free online serial) 1) Brave Men Run 2) "The World Revolves Around You" 3) The Sovereign Era: Year One 4) "Canary In A Coal Mine" 5) Pilgrimage 6) "The News From Bewilder Pond"

The Sovereign Era: Year One is an anthology of seven short stories set in the first year of the Sovereign Era, when the appearance of individuals with remarkable powers forever alters human destiny.   ABOUT THE SOVEREIGN ERA: YEAR ONE Presenting a glimpse into the first year of the Sovereign Era! The seven stories in The Sovereign Era: Year One take place between the events depicted in the two volumes of the Charters Duology (Brave Men Run and Pilgrimage).   The Sovereign Era began in April of 1985, when Dr. William Karl Donner revealed that super-powered metahumans existed, declared their autonomy, and demonstrated his ability to enforce that demand. Arrangements between Donner and the government of the United States resulted in the establishment of the Donner Institute for Sovereign Studies, a compound in central Montana where the "Sovereigns" could find refuge and learn more about themselves.   Over the next twelve months, while the world struggled to deal with the political and social repercussions caused by the existence of the Sovereigns, the metahumans themselves mostly tried to find their place in the world.   That's what these stories are about.   FEATURING CONTRIBUTIONS BY… Mur Lafferty | Jared Axelrod | Nathan Lowell | P. G. Holyfield | J. R. Blackwell | Matt Wallace | J. C. Hutchins   Cover art by Jeffery Himmelman.   30,400 words.   THE SOVEREIGN ERA READING ORDER 0) Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: How It All Got Started (free online serial) 1) Brave Men Run 2) The World Revolves Around You 3) The Sovereign Era: Year One 4) Canary In A Coal Mine 5) Pilgrimage 6) The News From Bewilder Pond

In this novelette set in Matthew Wayne Selznick's storyworld The Sovereign Era, where the appearance of individuals with remarkable abilities changes the course of human destiny, author P. G. Holyfield presents a sequel to his own "Every Breath You Take" (featured in The Sovereign Era: Year One).   Young telekinetic Stacey Miller disappeared under mysterious circumstances shortly after the violent events depicted in "Every Breath You Take." Days later, Sovereign Conduct Enforcement Teams (SCET) investigators Adoette Smith and Joshua Wolff team with a local police officer to track down the teen Sovereign before unknown antagonists decide her time has run out.   When circumstances bring Adoette's violent, troubled past to the surface, will she be able to utilize her own Sovereign abilities in time to find Stacey Miller alive?   THE SOVEREIGN ERA READING ORDER 0) Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: How It All Got Started (free online serial) 1) Brave Men Run 2) The World Revolves Around You 3) The Sovereign Era: Year One 4) Canary In A Coal Mine 5) Pilgrimage 6) The News From Bewilder Pond

The Charters Duology Concludes as the Sovereign Era Continues! April, 1986 - On the eve of the first anniversary of the Donner Declaration, as tensions rise between humanity and the metahuman, super-powered Sovereigns, fathers and sons face desperate choices. Nate Charters (Brave Men Run -- A Novel of the Sovereign Era) struggles with his increasingly tenuous control over his temper and his powers... while Andrew Charters hopes to suppress his own bestial nature to help his distant son. Sovereign Byron Teslowski trains to join the Sovereign defense force, but a fiery new friend causes him to question his loyalties... and Marc Teslowski, determined to bring his family back together, falls in with the charismatic leader of an anti-Sovereign militant group. As Sovereigns the world over converge on the Donner Institute for Sovereign Studies, Nate, Andrew, Byron, and Marc find their paths lead there as well. Will the machinations of enemies and allies tear them violently apart on Declaration Day? This book is part of the Sovereign Era storyworld, and part two of the Charters Duology. While it can be read on its own, readers may want to read Brave Men Run -- A Novel of the Sovereign Era first to get the whole story. 97,000 words. THE SOVEREIGN ERA READING ORDER: 1) Brave Men Run 2) The World Revolves Around You 3) The Sovereign Era: Year One 4) Canary In A Coal Mine 5) Pilgrimage 6) The News From Bewilder Pond

The complete Sovereign Era story of Nate Charters! 162,000 words, including Brave Men Run -- A Novel of the Sovereign Era Revised and Expanded Edition and Pilgrimage -- A Novel of the Sovereign Era. About The Books In This Omnibus Collection Brave Men Run April 18, 1985 – A startling revelation shocks a world already wound tight by the desperate tensions of the Cold War: super-humans exist... and they demand autonomy. Until that day, high school sophomore Nate Charters thought he was just an outsider and self-proclaimed freak. His unusual appearance, hair-trigger reflexes, and overactive metabolism could have made him something special, but his differences and low self-esteem  marked him as a target for the jocks and popular kids long ago. Now, just as his unique nature catches the eye of a self-assured older girl and the sinister attention of the enigmatic Dr. Brenhurst, Nate must solve the mystery of his origins and find his place in the world. Is he part of a remarkable, powerful new minority... or just a misfit among misfits? He'd better find his answers quickly. A shadowy organization knows more about him than he could ever imagine. And they're closing in... Pilgrimage A year later, as the first anniversary of the Donner Declaration heightens the tensions between humanity and the Sovereigns, the fathers and sons from Brave Men Run must re-define who they are and who they will be as, all around, the machinations of allies and enemies reach the boiling point. Nate Charters struggles with a troubling revelation about his girlfriend and his increasingly tenuous control over his temper and his powers... while his father Andrew hopes to suppress his own bestial nature so he can help his distant son. Sovereign Byron Teslowski, sequestered with his people, trains to join the Sovereign defense force, but the influence of a fiery new friend forces him to question William Donner's motives... and Marc Teslowski, desperate to bring his family back together and restore his pride, falls in with the charismatic leader of an anti-Sovereign militant group. As Sovereigns from all over the world converge on the Donner Institute for Sovereign Studies for sanctuary and safety, Nate, Andrew, Byron, and Marc find their paths lead there as well. Will the forces aligned against the Sovereigns tear fathers and sons violently apart on Declaration Day?

It's the Sovereign Era, when the sudden appearance of men and women with remarkable powers -- Sovereigns -- changes the course of history and threatens the balance of power in the late 20th century... but not every incident involving metahumans has global significance. Some stories are more... homespun. Harrison Wheeler's folksy "The News From Bewilder Pond" public radio show ran from 1974 until 1989 as a platform for Wheeler's stories of a fictional Nebraska town (based on the host's own boyhood Minnesota home). The broad cast of characters were as gently flawed as they were charmingly human. In 1987, Wheeler revealed that some residents of Bewilder Pond had been quietly... super-human... all along. In this partial transcript from an episode that first aired on Sunday, October 4, 1987, Wheeler spins a tale of a father with a singular gift who is determined to impress his adult son's new super-powered girlfriend. Is acceptance in the cards? "The News From Bewilder Pond" is a stand-alone short story set in Matthew Wayne Selznick's ongoing Sovereign Era cycle. You don't have to have read any other Sovereign Era works to enjoy it. But you should!    ABOUT THE SOVEREIGN ERA THE SOVEREIGN ERA is Matthew Wayne Selznick's ongoing alternate history series presenting a mosaic of novels and stories detailing how the presence of super-humans changed the last decades of the twentieth century and the future of humanity.   THE SOVEREIGN ERA READING ORDER 0) Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: "How It All Got Started" (serial) 1) Brave Men Run 2) "The World Revolves Around You" 3) The Sovereign Era: Year One 4) "Canary In A Coal Mine" 5) Pilgrimage 6) "The News From Bewilder Pond"