2014 novel about a teenage boy's troubles in the evil overlord industry. Fifteen-year-old Alec Nightshade needs to do a final practical exam to win full membership in the Norgolian Society of Evil Overlords. He wants to avenge his aunt and guardian, who's just been killed by government soldiers. True to his profession, Alec comes up with a convoluted plan to do both by getting a hold of a kraken and subverting the prophecy that's been made about him. Naturally, it doesn't go as planned.
This show provides examples of:
- Air-Vent Passageway: Discussed by the main characters, though we never get to see the vents.
- Applied Phlebotinum: Just what do those elemental boilers run on, anyway?
- Ax-Crazy: Black Jack.
- Came Back Wrong: Averted. Dev seems to be fine afterwards, though accidents tend to follow him around.
- Chekhov's Gun: Alec's gun.
- The Chosen One: The hero, who's never named.
- Cool Old Guy: Dev recently became a grandfather.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Which sets off the rest of the plot.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Even the other overlords get nervous around Black Jack.
- Evil Laugh: Alec never quite mastered this skill.
- Evil Minions: In this world, it's a career path.
- The Good Guys Always Win: Has something to do with the good guys' monopoly on prophetic magic.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: The NSEO is more or less an anarchist group, but they do try to protect their own. The Norgolian Empire is trying to maintain law and order, and they're absolutely ruthless about stamping the NSEO out.
- Hegemonic Empire: The Norgolian Empire.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Alec believes that Imperial Troopers have terrible aim. It turns out at the end that Bobbin really can shoot.
- Kirk Summation: Walker turn's Alec's "Not So Different" Remark right back around at him.
- Morality Pet: May is this to Ionantha Walker.
- Magitek: Scry technology looks suspiciously like Skype.
- Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Ciera.
- Necromancer: Doris.
- Red Shirt: Played with. Dev happens to be wearing red. Later another character tells him it's bad luck.
- Shout-Out: To Star Wars and Star Trek.
- Theory of Narrative Causality: May be a physical law in Cannon Fodder's world. Bobbin starts to notice it's odd that the good guys always win.
- Token Evil Teammate: Ciera's the only one of Alec's minions who shows any real enthusiasm for death and destruction.
- The Unchosen One: Bobbin and Kelsey after the hero's accident.
- Westermark Effect: The reason Bobbin and Kelsey Pike see themselves as brother and sister. They're different ethnicities, so it confuses everybody else.
- Working with the Ex: Ionantha Walker and Robert Grange.
