A retired superhero opens a deli. Who walks in?

Arlo J. Wiley, Paul Smith, and Eric Sipple are pleased to announce THE DELI COUNTER OF JUSTICE, a forthcoming superhero short story anthology.

For decades, Carl Cook fought crime in the city of New Caliburn as the superhero Piecemaker. He never made the front ranks of The Heralds, New Caliburn’s elite superhero team, but he carved out a place for himself and his sidekick Crashtest. Carl eventually realized the toll heroing had taken on his life, leading to his divorce and alienating his daughter Tabitha (who is secretly following in his footsteps). In an attempt to move on and take charge of his life, Carl hung up the cape and opened Cook’s Deli. By exploring New Caliburn and the world around Cook’s Deli, THE DELI COUNTER OF JUSTICE shows the impact Carl had as a superhero and continues to have outside the costume.

The three of us aren’t the only ones contributing to the anthology. Several other authors, to be named later, will be delving into the weird, wild world of New Caliburn and its citizens, costumed and otherwise. Right now, if you’re thinking, “Wow, this is the most incredible thing I’ve ever heard! I sure wish I could have gotten in on it!”, fear not! (Also, bless you.) We still have room for a fresh voice or two to join the project. If you’re interested, please contact us at delicounterofjustice@gmail.com.

You can look for the book, which we will be self-publishing both digitally and in print, in the spring or summer of 2014. We’ll have more specific dates as we get further along. To keep up to date on all things Deli-related, please follow our Twitter account @justicedeli and like our Facebook page.

About the authors

Arlo J. Wiley and Paul Smith host the more-or-less weekly podcast Gobbledygeek. They ran a successful series of Joss Whedon-related panels at the 2013 Alabama Phoenix Festival, and both have contributed to the pop culture website Screen Invasion. You can find their website here, and on Twitter @UnpluggedCrazy and @Haunt1013.

Eric Sipple is the author of the YA fantasy novel Broken Magic. He wrote the short story “She Says Goodbye Tomorrow” for the anthology Hot Mess: speculative fiction about climate change, and has written and directed short films. You can find his website here, and on Twitter @saalon.

Please direct all inquiries to delicounterofjustice@gmail.com.