SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I love SFF, but I especially love superheroes. There are many powers that are common, popular, and even overused. I’m curious what are some of the unique powers you’ve come across in your reading. The best metric for “unique” is that their isn’t a DC or Marvel equivalent that is mainstream enough for the casual fan to know. So The Flash is out, but someone like Stone Boy may count because of how creative people have to be to use him. I’m okay with anything that you think up, too. Maybe it’s a neat idea, but you don’t know if anyone has used it. Someone else here may come up with a good example.

Some examples I enjoyed are:

Clockblocker could freeze any object outside of time. It became immovable for a random amount of time (up to ten minutes, I think).

Xibalba would turn into black acrid smoke that served as a portal for the Mayan gods. Anything inside the smoke would be obliterated. Xibalba couldn’t control the residents in the smoke, so fratricide was always a concern. Kind of like The Mist, but if it was sentient.

The Sleeper wakes up with a completely new power each time. Usually he’s an ace, but sometimes he comes back as a joker (animal mutations and social stigma included).

Matter-eater Lad has indestructible digestion. If you threw in regurgitation, he’d also have a pocket dimension.

Nijigen can make his whole body go two-dimensional. He can also just flatten arms or legs to make razor-sharp blades (like the T-1000).

Being able via mental power to make people boil and burst in flames from the inside.

you might want to include the book or books those characters are in...

Matrim Cauthon, or Mat as he is commonly known, is a lead character in the The Complete Wheel of Time series. What makes Mat such a powerful character is the fact that he has extraordinary luck. In fact, in any situation where chance is involved, things will always work out in his favor, no matter how unlikely the odds are. Throughout the books Mat pulls off some unbelievable feats based on luck and his ability is so good that he can even sense when something important is about to happen before it does.

Marissa Meyer’s Renegades has a super hero that can draw anything into existence. So he draws himself indestructible armor, flamethrowers, etc. I thought it was super creative and fun.

I've always thought about the power to know where anything you want is. Not, you know, how to get it, but know where it physically resides.

"Honey? Have you seen my keys?"

*Looks off in thought* "Yes. Call your boss and say you're gonna be late. They're currently about 2 miles down the street and 20 feet underground. I think Junior flushed 'em."

Allison wrote: "I've always thought about the power to know where anything you want is."

(view spoiler)[ Not Your Sidekick (hide spoiler)] has this!

Anna wrote: "Allison wrote: "I've always thought about the power to know where anything you want is."

[book] has this!"

Aaand shelved.

Allison wrote: "I've always thought about the power to know where anything you want is. Not, you know, how to get it, but know where it physically resides.

"Honey? Have you seen my keys?"

*Looks off in thought* ..."
That would be a good one for an urban fantasy detective story. Evidence would always be located.

That find-anything power is actually used in a Fantasy detective series, but I’m blanking on the name.

There is one character in the anthology Masked who has a unique power. He can take on the abilities of any other superhuman... by eating part of them.

The weirdest superhero I’ve ever seen is Fatman, an obese guy who turns into a flying saucer. I don’t know which drugs his creators were on when they came up with him, but I’ll bet they were plentiful.

I think you all just discovered Frozone’s wife’s super power!!!!

“Honey, where’s my super suit?”

Ryan wrote: "I think you all just discovered Frozone’s wife’s super power!!!!

“Honey, where’s my super suit?”"

HA!

I loved the character 'Domino' in the movie 'Deadpool 2', in which her superpower is 'luck'. Boy, I would love to be as lucky as her? It was actually well done and very hilarious.

I love Super Hero fiction, so this thread is great.

Clockblocker in the first post is from Worm, which is a completed web serial that is basically the length of a multi book series. That whole story has tons of cool and unique powers. Another of the many strange powers from that story is Bitch (yes that's her name) who can turn dogs into huge monster versions of themselves. They are described as being about the size of a car.

Drew Hayes has two super hero stories set in different worlds, and he's got some very creative powers in there. In the Super Powereds spin off book, Corpies, there is a guy who can lift anything as if it weighed almost nothing. So he could pick up a car and throw it like it was a toy, but it would still hit with full weight and force. In one of the other books in the Super Powereds series, there is a guy that gets more strength/endurance the more alcohol he drinks. Then in the first book of the Villain's Code series, Forging Hephaestus There is a guy who can pull out any item from a video game. We only see weapons and armor in the first book, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were more possibilities. Then in the same book, there is a really strange but fun power with tons of potential uses. There's a girl who can make old sayings have power. It's hard to explain, but for example, she'll say "liar liar pants on fire," and the person she directs it at will have their pants burst into flame if they lie. She says "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," and the more hurt you are, the stronger you get.

I'm sure there are others I'm not thinking of, but those are the one that immediately came to mind.

Michel wrote: "I loved the character 'Domino' in the movie 'Deadpool 2', in which her superpower is 'luck'. Boy, I would love to be as lucky as her? It was actually well done and very hilarious."

I haven’t seen that yet, but I’m reminded of Teela Brown from Ringworld who is the result of multiple generations of intentional breeding by the Puppeteers, who were attempting to breed humans for luck.

Luck was considered a sort of low-grade psychic power, influencing the outcome of events. Which is a silly notion, but it results in one of the all-time great realizations when the Puppteer named Nessus is wailing about how Teela’s luck should have protected them from the various misadventures they experienced, and Louis Wu points out that what was lucky for her didn’t mean it would be lucky for them. Nessus is all like, “Oh shit.”

Ohh, that's good/creepy, Trike!

I recall a story (but not the name, help!) where a child could predict the future, except that it turned out she didn't predict it, she created it. So all these players were out trying to get her and it scared her, someone clarified, and all these assassins, world-class fixers, psychiatrists and whatall were like "oh, we're so boned." Probably right about then a building collapsed on some of them.

Trike wrote: "That find-anything power is actually used in a Fantasy detective series, but I’m blanking on the name."

Something from the Nightside?

colleen the convivial curmudgeon wrote: "Trike wrote: "That find-anything power is actually used in a Fantasy detective series, but I’m blanking on the name."

Something from the Nightside?"

That’s probably it. Good call.

Bobby wrote: "In one of the other books in the Super Powereds series, there is a guy that gets more strength/endurance the more alcohol he drinks..."

I've known guys who THOUGHT they had that super power...

Allison wrote: "I've always thought about the power to know where anything you want is. Not, you know, how to get it, but know where it physically resides.

"Honey? Have you seen my keys?"

*Looks off in thought* ..."

This is fantastic haha.

Allison wrote: "Ohh, that's good/creepy, Trike!

I recall a story (but not the name, help!) where a child could predict the future, except that it turned out she didn't predict it, she created it. So all these pla..."

Maybe the Penelope Bailey series which starts with Soothsayer ?

Conal wrote: "Allison wrote: "Ohh, that's good/creepy, Trike!

I recall a story (but not the name, help!) where a child could predict the future, except that it turned out she didn't predict it, she created it. ..."

That does sound remarkably like what I was saying!