How to Be a Badass Vigilante: Book One
Tight leather bodysuit? Check. Sleek getaway motorcycle? Check. Desire to thwart the plans of criminal masterminds and keep the city streets safe? Check, and check. Oh, if only fighting crime was as simple as that, but as readers will discover in Michael Anderle’s How to Be a Badass Vigilante: Book One (LMBPN Publishing), heavy is the head that wears the crown … or in this case, motorcycle helmet.
Kera MacDonagh, a recent college graduate, is working at a bar while she tries to figure out her next steps. Seems relatable enough, but things are a little more complicated when Kera’s “next steps” involve navigating life as a vigilante … who, in addition to some seriously impressive martial arts skills, fights crime with magic.
It all started when she picked up a copy of How to Be a Badass Witch on a whim. It was a joke, but the joke was on her because the spells inside actually worked! Now, patrolling the streets of LA on her Kawazaki Z900, the city’s seedy underbelly knows her only as Motorcycle Man — the vigilante whose power has caught the attention of not just LA crime circles but witches in high places.
Kera is being hunted. Two of her close friends have sacrificed their own magic to protect her. If she wants to keep her powers and vigilante lifestyle intact, Kera will have to figure out how to keep her magic’s signature hidden and protect the Motorcycle Man alias. But it would seem that some criminals have already discovered that Motorcycle Man is a woman … and mere mortals are no match for experienced witches when it comes to concealing the truth — neither are newbie magic users as it turns out.
How to Be a Badass Vigilante: Book One is the first installment of the new series in Anderle’s “How to Be a Badass …” collection, which began with the How to Be a Badass Witch trilogy. Since the publication of the collection’s first book in late November of this past year, the series has garnered many positive reviews on Amazon with readers itching to get their hands on the next part of Kera’s adventure. The good news is that the wait won’t be long; How to Be a Badass Vigilante: Book Two will publish in early March. And in more exciting news, the books have been contracted for audio through Tantor Media.
Anderle has created a world that in some ways feels cinematic in its perspective, offering readers a front-row seat to not just Kera’s journey but all the action and the many players in the periphery: Pavla, a witch and the best tracker working for the Orthodoxy, a coven from Eastern Europe; Chris, Kera’s boyfriend to whom she has recently revealed her magical abilities; James and LeBlanc, two agents working for the High Council of Thaumaturgy, a U.S.-based organization of witches; Sven, Johnny and Lia, members of an organized crime ring thwarted by Motorcycle Man; and Stephanie, Kera’s coworker and another amateur witch.
It’s a complex web Anderle has spun, but he moves each of these characters through it with a confident and deft hand. The world feels at once big — with characters traveling to far reaches of the globe — and intimate as Kera confronts relationship troubles alongside the exciting world of magic and miracles in her own backyard. With its high stakes, broad scope and endless action, the How to Be a Badass series is a stimulating adventure for urban fantasy and sci-fi thriller fans alike.
Learn more about Anderle and his new series in our interview with the author.
