Russ Linton

Nineteen-year-old Spencer Harrington is the son of the Crimson Mask, the world's most powerful
superhero. Since witnessing his mother's abduction two years ago, he's been confined to his father's arctic
bunker. When the “Icehole” comes under attack by a rampaging robot, Spencer is forced to launch into his
father's dangerous world of weaponized human beings known as Augments.

With no powers of his own save a multi-tool, a quick wit and a boatload of emotional trauma, Spencer
seeks to uncover his mother's fate and confront his absentee father. As he stumbles through a web of
conspiracies and top secret facilities, he rallies a team of everyday people and cast-off Augments. But
Spencer soon discovers that the Black Beetle isn't his only enemy, nor his worst.

I’m a pantser, which means minimal to no plotting. Often, I start with a vivid scene and start typing and see what happens. I usually have a general overview of the world and a broad idea of the direction I want to see the plot head, but the details all get hammered out on the fly. Often, this leads to interesting discoveries and sometimes I rethink the entire direction. It’s very liberating.

I manage to pull this off almost entirely thanks to a gaming career that predates my professional writing by a few decades. I was always the guy selected to be the gamemaster because I could cobble together a cohesive plot line on the fly while reacting to player decisions. Writing is in many ways easier because I’m the only one with input into the story!