Michael Czyzniejewski's "When the Heroes Came to Town"
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 10:41AM 
I got a copy in the mail this week of the new anthology Who Can Save Us Now? (edited by Owen King and John McNally), which includes brand new stories by Scott Snyder, Elizabeth Crane, Tom Bissell, Jim Shepard, and even my wife's favorite writer, Jennifer Weiner. It's a great looking book, and a theme I can totally get behind--all the stories are about new superheroes invented by the authors. Michael Czyzniejewski's "When the Heroes Came to Town" is maybe the shortest story in the collection, but it's also one of my favorites for its ability to stay focused on the human troubles at the heart of the story. Here are the first two paragraphs:
We felt, among other things, unimpressed. Before the heroes, life wasn't that bad, or, depending on who you asked, going pretty good. The county had just paid to have the thruway resurfaced, our boys had made it to the state semis, falling in overtime to the eventual champs, and business boomed at the tire factory up by the mall, which, in turn, made business book at the mall as well. Everyone felt good about the economy, the kids were getting into good colleges, and if a town with prettier women existed, we hadn't been there.
Which is why we scratched our heads when these heroes showed, their jaws, their capes, their stoicism, all right there on their form-fitting sleeves. Okay, so their debut was a splash, putting the fire out at the tire factory, the dark cloud lifting after three days, the smell of burning rubber and ultimate disaster disappearing soon after. To boot, they maintained the integrity of the structure, limiting the shutdown to a mere month, tires soon rolling down the line once again. A few days later, they saved that kid who'd fallen into the quarry, not one of our boys, but a kid nonetheless. Not one of us could have squeezed into that drainage pipe, let alone pounded through the twenty solid feet of bedrock to pry his ankle free. Our hats were off, and tipped. Whethere we could have fought off the supervillians and their giant mechanical attack birds isn't worth discussing. We had to give them that one, too. They had a pretty good week.
Among other things, the story is a fine example of the first-person plural voice (and, perhaps because of that, somewhat reminescent of Andy Mozina's brilliant "The Women Were Leaving the Men"). It's also a great rumination on jealousy and marital discord, and a very fun take on what might happen after superheroes swoop in and save the day. If the rest of Who Can Save Us Now? is this good, then I'm going to be very impressed.
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