Literature / All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault

Stop me if you've heard this one before. A vampire, a werewolf and a demon walk into a bar...

All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault is a Science Fantasy Superhero novel written by James Alan Gardner, first published in 2017. Combining elements of classical superhero mythology with supernatural horror and fantasy, the story is set in an Alternate Universe where supernatural creatures such as vampires and demons revealed their existence to the world in 1982, offering the ultra-wealthy and powerful the chance to join their ranks. In the 35 years since, monsters and other supernatural beings have become the world's new elite class, lording it over humans, while being held in check by both a strict code of conduct and the emergence of "Sparks", super-powered individuals who act as the "Light" counterpart to the forces of the "Dark".

The novel's narrator is 21-year-old Chinese-Canadian college student Kim Lam, who, along with their friends and housemates - glamourous Miranda, cavalier Jools and level-headed Shar - is caught in a Dark experiment that accidentally gives them astonishing superpowers, thus inducting them in the ranks of Sparks, despite their utter lack of experience or desire to fight evil. It's not long before they discover that a particularly notorious supervillain has set a plan in motion that will test their newfound abilities to their limits. As Kim says, "Spectacularity ensued".

The novel has gained a following due to its methodically-scientific approach to superpowers, off-kilter sense of humour, and being a Decon-Recon Switch of many fantasy and superhero tropes. A sequel, titled They Promised Me the Gun Wasn’t Loaded, which is told from Jools' perspective, was released in 2018.

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Tropes:

• Action Girl: The protagonists all naturally become this after gaining their powers.
• An Arm and a Leg: Diamond wears a glove that shoots incredibly powerful miniaturized missiles from the palm as part of his battle suit. Unfortunately, he doesn't consider what might happen if he fires one while a Sizeshifter made of one of the hardest, most resilient minerals on Earth happens to sneak inside the barrel...
• The Alcoholic: Jools, who has a tendency for sneaking in glasses of vodka.
• Aliens in Cardiff: Or more like, Monsters and Superheroes in Waterloo, Ontario. Downplayed, however, by the fact that they're not just in Waterloo, they're everywhere; it just so happens that Waterloo is where the protagonists live.
• Amazon Brigade: The team, who end up standing together against an incredibly dangerous foe after gaining superpowers.
• Animorphism: The Inventor (a.k.a. Invie), a genius Spark engineer who transformed into a basset hound at some point prior to the events of the novel. Despite this, he's still capable of inventing incredible Spark technology (don't ask how). According to Grandfather, he actually prefers being a dog, as it means he doesn't have to make small talk.
• Apocalypse How: Diamond's plan involves causing a Class 3a by ridding the world of the Dark entirely, who, while not as numerous as humans, literally rule the planet. The void left by the absence of the world's ruling class, along with the deaths of scores of normal humans in the process, would likely lead to a Class 2.
• Aura Vision: Kim's "Spark-o-Vision" allows them to see when their team-mates use their abilities, represented by auras of different colours (Jools is green, Miranda gold, and Shar violet/purple). Kim can also see invisible magic and Spark tech this way.
• Ax-Crazy: Lilith, especially at the end.
• Badass Bookworm: All four main characters are studying STEM fields, and are therefore able to approach many situations with a strong scientific stance. Taken up to eleven with Jools, who goes from being the most athletic, yet the least bookish, of the four to a literal human library with the fighting strength and abilities of Captain America.
• Big Bad: Adam Popigai, the metal-skinned Mad Scientist who is actually the supervillain Diamond in disguise.
• Brown Note Being: Many Darklings are this to humans to varying degrees, ranging from merely "creepy and uncomfortable" to "literally pants-shitting, vomit-inducing terror".
• The Call Knows Where You Live: Being a Spark unfortunately means that you have no choice but to accept becoming a hero, because Refusing the Call won't stop enemies from constantly hunting and attacking you. Grandfather relates a story about a Spark who did just that, and tried to live a normal life, which ultimately resulted in his wife being killed and his daughter losing a leg.
• The Cape: Most (but not all) Sparks are this. One of the novel's main arcs deals with the main characters struggling with having to live up to the ideals that Sparks represent.
• Chekhov's Skill: One of Kim's main abilities is size shifting. At one point, Kim accidentally goes from miniscule to near full size directly under Jools' chin, knocking her out cold due to being in mineral form. Kim later weaponizes this as an attack against an enemy.
• Chekhov's Gun: The rift generator, the device that grants the main characters their superpowers. It's ultimately a weapon designed by Diamond to "infect" Darklings with superpowers, which kills them. The climax of the novel involves the team attempting to shut one down that's large enough to kill ninety percent of the nearby local population.
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: A Spark's powers partly work this way, with the main characters discovering fairly quickly that they have a small window in which they can define what their powers can do, either through belief, or by simply stating out loud "I can do X". Likewise, if they believe that their powers can't do something, then they won't.
• Coat, Hat, Mask: Zircon's Spark outfit consists of this: a white tuxedo with tails featuring a white top hat, and a thin white scarf as a mask.
• Contrived Coincidence: An actual, honest-to-god side effect of being a Spark is that you're guaranteed to accidentally stumble upon some villainous plot or random event threatening the lives of innocents. Likewise, that act of saving a random innocent will likely result in a vengeful Darkling being wronged and deciding to come after you for revenge. Lampshaded to the point where Zircon and the team start expecting this to happen.
  Zircon: We inhale luck and exhale unintended consequences.
• Crapsack World: Although not as obvious as it might seem at first glance, the world the characters inhabit is almost completely ruled by creatures of darkness, who treat regular human beings as second-class citizens at best. The worst examples of the Dark don't even care about breaking the Dark Pact, and are more than willing to kill and consume normal humans if they think they can get away with it. And sure, Sparks exist, but consider that all the rules of collateral damage still apply, with a battle between the two sides having the potential to do enormous devastation. The book makes it very clear that, unless you keep your head down, it can be just as easily bitten, zapped or blown off at a moment's notice.
• Creator Provincialism: Both played straight, and averted. Gardner sets the story and (most of) its sequel in his current home town of Waterloo, Ontario (and was a graduate of the University of Waterloo, which the main characters all attend). However, despite all the action being contained there, we do occasionally hear about goings-on happening in the rest of the world, due to the fact that both the Dark and the Light are spread out worldwide. It's implied that, as much as Diamond's plot to destroy the Dark might seem like the biggest world-ending threat for the team, there are Sparks fighting similar battles all over the planet, all the time.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Justified. There are many Spark geniuses in the world, with the knowledge and ability to build anything from flying cities to battle robots. Unfortunately, the downside of being one of these Sparks is that the person inevitably becomes what's referred to as a "Mad Genius" given enough time, with the implication being that having Super-Intelligence drives someone insane, leading them to become obsessed with building crazy Weapons of Mass Destruction. This actually becomes a major plot point for Jools in the sequel.
• Deadpan Snarker: Kim & Jools.
• Depopulation Bomb: Popigai invents a device that opens a rift to a dimension that grants anyone exposed to it superpowers. Sounds great, except for the fact that any Darklings and most humans who are given powers shortly explode afterwards, which is his ultimate plan to rid the world of the Dark entirely.
• The Dragon: Elaine Vandermeer serves as this to Popigai. Subverted, as it's revealed in the final act that she's actually undercover and working against him for the Dark Guard.
• The Dreaded: The Dark Guard are this for Darklings, being the ones responsible for enforcing the laws laid out in the Dark Pact.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: The Bride and the Widow. Most vampires in general are also presented like this, with specific mention going to Lilith (although substitute "brunette" for "every colour a hairdresser can produce").
• Evil Gloating: Diamond is very, very fond of this. He even uploads his evil speeches to YouTube.
• Expy: The main characters have powers similar to other established superheroes:
  • Zircon: Ant-Man (Sizeshifter), Emma Frost (Elemental Shapeshifter - specifically, a mineral form)
  • Ninety-Nine: Captain America (peak human physical condition), Reed Richards (Super-Intelligence), Wolverine (Healing Factor).
  • Aria: Black Canary (Ultrasonic Scream), Sue Storm (Force Fields), + Flight
  • Dakini: Professor X (Telepathy), Jean Grey (Telekinesis)
  • Diamond as well, with his Powered Armor, Gadgeteer Genius abilities, foreign background, and lofty world-ending goals, could be seen as one for Doctor Doom.
• Eye Scream: Kim shoots Lilith in the eye with a tranquiliser dart. She reacts much as you'd expect.
• Fantastic Racism: Diamond's ultimate goal is to wipe out all Darklings on Earth, believing them to be nothing more than Always Chaotic Evil monsters.
• Faux Affably Evil: Diamond comes across as polite, and even somewhat likeable, in his speeches. Just a shame that he's a xenophobic megalomaniac attempting to commit mass genocide.
• Feminist Fantasy: The protagonists are hyper-smart young women^note although Kim identifies as non-binary who are imbued with incredible superpowers and must work together to take on a maniacal supervillian.
• Glamour: Part of the effect of becoming a Spark is that, when you put on a mask and costume, it literally alters people's perception of you so that all they see is the heroic figure you are. This is regardless of whether your outfit completely disguises your face or not; you can go up to a close friend or family member dressed in costume and they will completely fail to recognize you, unless they see you out of costume using your powers, or you or someone else tells them. This even extends to changing your fingerprints, blood type and DNA.
• Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Aria's Spark outfit is a glamourous, gold Venetian-style ball gown, complete with gloves and feathered mask.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Invie has the ability to give this to people just by licking their heads.
• Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: The two characters at the centre of the story that Kim relates about the first time Sparks appeared are all but outrightly stated to be this universe's version of Superman and Lex Luthor.
• Lightning Bruiser: Jools as Ninety-Nine, whose body is altered to peak physical conditioning.
• Magic Versus Science: It's clearly stated that the two cannot be used at the same time, and cancel each other out. Whether this is a result of the Dark and Light being diametrically opposed or simply an incompatibility between the two is unknown. Diamond actually exploits and weaponises this incompatibility in his plot to destroy the Dark, inventing a machine that imbues anyone caught in it with Spark powers. Any Darklings and most normal humans exposed have a brief period wherein they're incredibly powerful - before they explode spectacularly.
• Meaningful Name: Discussed when the team are trying to come up with their Spark names. Kim, being a geology major, decides on Zircon, a mineral known for its physical resistance and longevity; sports-mad Jools calls herself Ninety-Nine, after Wayne Gretzky's hockey number; Shar calls herself Dakini, both the name of female spirits from Hindu mythology, as well as a term for human women with a certain amount of spiritual development, which Shar, being the most spiritually-grounded of the four definitely is; and Miranda, already a skilled singer before being granted a super-powered voice, goes by Aria.
• Mind Rape:
  • Kim uses the term verbatim to refer to a vampire's Compelling Voice and its effect on humans.
  • Kim feels this way about Shar's ability, after, when they're all attacked by Lilith and her henchmen, Shar takes over Kim's body without asking in order to see what's occurring through Kim's eyes. Kim is fully concious of what is happening, and likens it to being "violated". It causes a serious strain on their friendship for a while, although Kim is later able to admit that, as much as they hate what happened, they understand Shar did it for the right reasons.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In the finale, Diamond broadcasts a speech detailing how his machine will turn everyone within a 6 mile radius (namely, the population of the nearby town, which is three hundred thousand) into a Spark - and kill 90 percent of them, innocent humans included. Zircon mentions that, if he hadn't taken the time to emphasize this last fact, the team might have been tempted to walk away, thinking that more Sparks may not be a bad thing. Instead, it galvanizes them to go all out in stopping him.
• The Omniscient: While not a strict example of this, Jools is able to instantly know everything about a given subject when she wants to. Kim likens it to her brain being wirelessly connected to the internet, downloading any and all information she needs.
  • Kim's "Spark-o-Vision" is a limited version of this, allowing them to psychically cast their vision in every direction, and perceive far more of the world around them than is available to their eyes. It sort of works much like the camera in a Third-Person Shooter video game, albeit with much greater range, and the ability to see through walls.
• One-Steve Limit: Amusingly discussed when the team are choosing their names. Both Kim and Shar think that Miranda - being a blonde, statuesque, classically-trained opera singer with a super-powered voice - should go by Valkyrie, only to be informed by Jools that there are numerous Sparks bearing the name.
  Jools: Oh fuck, you do not want to know what the one in Osaka wears.
• Our Ancestors Are Superheroes: Grandfather, who's both the Biblical Adam as well as being (possibly) the first Spark.
• Power Makeover: Another side effect of being a Spark is that your body changes to become more like a typical superhero. The team groans that this means they can all expect to grow 36DDDs.
• Required Secondary Powers:
  • If Zircon shrinks small enough, they're essentially able to fly due to being so light, they can ride the air currents much like an insect would. Unfortunately, this also means that they’re at the mercy of wind currents, changes in momentum can send them careening off in any direction, and they're only as fast as they can flap their arms.
  • Ninety-Nine may have the strength and resilience of Captain America, but she isn't invulnerable. Notably, if she hits, or gets hit by, something much, much harder than her, it will do the same amount of damage as it would anyone else (thankfully, she can get over it).
• Rule of Cool: Invoked in-universe as to why Sparks can do what they do, despite the science saying it should be otherwise.
• Running Gag:
  • Referring to anything that Jools can do as "Olympic-level", even if it has nothing to do with sports (Olympic-level lock-picking, Olympic-level seamstress, etc).
  • The team waiting for their changing Spark bodies to develop 36DDD breasts.
• Science Fantasy: Where to start? Superheroes, giant robots, vampires, werewolves, demons, goblins, and other supernatural creatures aren't only real, they're an indelible part of society. Likewise, both magic and highly-advanced technology stand side-by-side (although their effectiveness against each other is debatable), and are so ubiquitous that the main characters barely bat an eyelid at some of the stuff they encounter.
• Screwed by the Lawyers:
  • A hilarious In-Universe example involving Diamond: he used to put background music in his evil speeches before uploading them to YouTube, only to have them pulled after copyright claims by BMI and ASCAP.
  Diamond: Note to self: fill their headquarters with anthrax.
  • The reason that beings of the Light are called "Sparks"? A Darkling managed to successfully copyright the term "superhero".
• Statuesque Stunner: Miranda/Aria is often described like this.
• Supernatural Elite: The Dark Pact pretty much ensures that practically every single person of substantial wealth and/or power are one of these. Given the (initially) 10 million dollar price tag that came with converting to the Dark, this comes as no surprise. After 35 years, the Dark essentially rule the world by the simple fact that if you're one of the regular elite, you'll inevitably join the Dark as well.
• The Unmasqued World: In 1982, a newspaper advertisement announced the existence of the Dark to the world, offering to convert anyone who could pony up the cash. By the time of the novel's events, the supernatural world openly co-exists alongside that of normal humans.
  • Grandfather says that Sparks have also always existed in the shadows, and that it was the first appearance of the Spark he nicknames "Big Blue" (strongly implied to be Superman) that led to their own public emergence.
• Villainous Breakdown: Lilith goes apeshit after the team try to tell her what will happen to her following her being given Spark powers, and she attacks Aria, eventually trying to beat through Aria's shield with her bare hands while screaming "Fuck you!!" over and over.