Coast to Coast Stars

By Dawn Vogel

Cerulean City, California. Home to the film industry, beautiful beaches, an extensive harbor, and superheroes. With superheroes come supervillains, and conflict between the heroes and villains of Cerulean City has persisted for generations.

Coast to Coast Stars introduces a reluctant visitor learning about the heroes and villains of Cobalt City's sister city on the other coast, then follows a few of these heroes and villains throughout their respective histories in five short stories, some of which are published here for the first time. Meet J.J. and the Justice family of heroes, Preethi, Cyclone and Celadon Cyclone, Doctor Ruthless, and Cobalt City's own Gray Dawn, the alter ego of pop sensation Cassidy Sweet!

• Language: English
• Publisher: DefCon One Publishing
• Release date: Jun 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463725092

Dawn Vogel

Dawn Vogel has been published as a short fiction author and an editor of both fiction and non-fiction. Her academic background is in history, so it’s not surprising that much of her fiction is set in earlier times. By day, she edits reports for historians and archaeologists. In her alleged spare time, she runs a craft business, helps edit Mad Scientist Journal, and tries to find time for writing. She lives in Seattle with her awesome husband (and fellow author), Jeremy Zimmerman, and their herd of cats.

Book preview

Coast to Coast Stars

Dawn Vogel

Cover art by Luke Spooner

Copyright 2020 Dawn Vogel

Smashwords Edition

historythatneverwas.com

patreon.com/historythatneverwas

Happily Never After is Copyright 2018

A Sixteen Step Plan to Supervillainy and A Pale Imitation are Copyright 2019

Say a Little Spell and Comeback Tour are Copyright 2020

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

Table of Contents

Happily Never After

Say a Little Spell

A Pale Imitation

Comeback Tour

A Sixteen-Step Plan to Supervillainy

About the Author

About the Artist

Happily Never After

(Cerulean City, California, 1998)

Some things about being a late-bloomer pop star kinda suck. Like being twenty-three and on a mall tour. I'm supposed to muster up false enthusiasm about shopping and fun, but the college interns who concocted this plan have clearly never listened to my music. My songs are about being the odd girl out, the one who isn't like her peers.

And that's me, in a nutshell. I'm not like other girls. Granted, being from Cobalt City and being not like other girls means something different. I'm not a superhero, I just have a voice that doesn't require a mic. I use one to keep up appearances. And I can be weirdly persuasive. Which is probably why I'm five years into a pop career in an industry that takes pretty young things, chews them up, and spits them out. Too bad my voice couldn't get me out of this mall tour.

We're in Cerulean City, California, and the mall is right on the beach, so I can watch the ocean when we're not doing sound check, or going over my set list, or the million other demands on my attention. The new intern, Ruby, doesn't think I should open with Happily Never After--too much of a downer, she says--despite this being the Happily Never After Tour. I don't care about the song order. I'm too busy watching the waves.

Being near the ocean always relaxes me. My dad always said it was like the water was my true home. The water near Cobalt City is way too cold for most people to swim in. I don't mind it, at least in the summer. I can practically feel the water here, warm and gritty with salt and sand.

There's a bar down by the water, hastily thrown up right at the edge of the surf, probably moved each day depending on the tides. The tables are set so your feet get washed over every once in a while. It looks divine.

I'm going to go get a drink, I say, extracting myself from my low-slung hammocky chair.

Clive, one of the interns, shakes his head, eyes wide. You can't, Miss Sweet. We'd need to send security with you, and the paparazzi are crawling this place today. What kind of drink would you like? We've got runners who can get you something.

I sink back into my chair. Another reason being a late-bloomer pop star sucks? Most of your fans are underage and have this weird assumption that you must be their age too. The tabloids have a field day if you go out drinking, calling you a bad role model or hinting at rehab on the horizon.

My gaze stays fixed on the ocean, even when one of the interns presses a drink into my hands. Whiskey with lemon and honey. The drink science says is best for my vocal cords. Whatever.

Something incongruous in my field of vision gives me pause. There's someone dressed all in black standing at the edge of the water, and I can feel their gaze on me, even at this distance.

It's 90-something degrees out there, even with the breeze off the ocean. They've got to be roasting. I get back out of my chair, walk over to the window, and press