Superheroes don’t fuck

I owe this wisdom to my aunt (What can I say? I come from a long line of people who take way more responsibility than it’s healthy and also love to swear). It’s not literally about superheroes but the moment she told it to me I thought of Superman and his issues with intimacy, where he can’t even successfully date a total workaholic like Lois Lane (or Lex Luthor, if you are fanfic inclined).

Stories are always about a truth we cannot name or point at directly, so it’s hardly surprising the 20th century produced a man who hid his identity while doing good and became famous for it, is it? A man who feels so alien that he tries his best be more human than humans, better than everyone else, a perpetual martyr who despite his powers…

·       Keeps standing up the woman he loves

·       Lives in a ratty apartment even though he could commute from an island paradise

·       won’t stop to eat (or often, absorb some light from the sun that he needs to stay alive)

·       Overworks both as Superman and as Clark (Definite proof that no one can get it all done

because you can always add something to the list to make yourself feel a little guiltier)

No wonder he has no time to fuck.

The tragedy is how human it is to want to be able to do everything for everyone (ELSE) and to forget to look after ourselves, or, you know, to take the same to fuck/eat/nap/enjoy.

And that brings me to my latest protagonist, Kallen Guin (Did my subconscious name him after Kal El from Krypton?) who of course is an omega who is asking too much of himself and letting the world take way more than he can give without losing his soul.

The reason this happens is quite obvious; it is something I do. Something people with a high degree of feminine energy (which is what omeganess stands for, ofc) have a tendency to do.

We live in a world with an excess of masculine/yang energy (also known as capitalism or the survival of the fittest) and that means either you force yourself to behave in a way that fits society’s expectations of non-stop productivity (completely ignoring or subverting all natural cycles, from the seasons to age to your current health/fitness needs) or you fail.

Fail, yes. That’s what not getting all the boxes ticked in your list feels like, doesn’t it? That is literally what they call it when it’s a test in school, where they of course train us up to join the productivity train.

BUT Kallen discovers something in The Price of Ice that I think we all instinctively know but are scared to explore. What about all those things that we do not need to struggle for? The things that come to us because we attract them with our confidence, our love, our gentleness.

I’m not talking law of attraction here, though sure, same principle would apply. I’m talking about the way someone laughing aloud will catch your eye, their joy like a beacon that makes you want to go closer.

You have felt that, right?

And you have been that someone, haven’t you? Dancing unselfconsciously, so full of joy you felt it spill all over the room, bounce off someone’s smile and come back twice as strong?

That’s magnetism and it’s how feminine energy gets shit done.

To keep on the superhero tangent, ask Aquaman (who’s never going to be as popular calling marine animals to him and calming down sea monsters), or Wonder Woman with her lasso of truth:

Marston created the Magic Lasso as an allegory for feminine charm and the compliant effect it has on people. 

And yet, either we are told this power is not real because its energy is not outwardly directed… Or that it is real and it’s a sort of perversion. “Wiles” they called it when women smiled and charmed to get what they wanted. “Will” they call it when a man pushes through everything (and everyone) to get what he wants.

Funny how that works out, isn’t it?

Like getting what we want is only okay if we pay for it in sweat, blood and tears (ours or others’).

With The Price of Ice, I took that hypocrisy as a given (you are shocked, I know) but I thought of another question that is more interesting to me.

Supposing both powers are equal and balance each other out, how come I have been told I can only use one for all occasions? And what if I learned to use the other one? What if what’s got masculine energy razing the whole world is how dormant feminine energy is under all the guilt we carry around?

Here is the Instagram post that inspired this.

The Price of Ice is now out on my site (Paypal only) and Payhip (for card payments) and it will come out on Amazon KU on the 13th.

And here is chapter 1 of the book, which is pretty masculine (and rated very explicit).

The Price of Ice

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