It’s a superpowered world, and Sam Sanchez is trying to find her place in it.
Sam has always been stuck between expectations and who she wants to be. At 17, finding the power to define herself continues to be complicated by opposing legacies of her parents, growing up in a nation struggling with its own identity.
Will she play it safe like her unpowered and overworked dad? Will she seize every moment like her celebrity mom, renowned for her volatile speed? Or will Sam come into her own power and be what music, media, and society promised was possible – anything she wants? And at what cost?
Join Sam’s heroic journey through identity and power as she navigates life at home in southern Pennsylvania and beyond, playing powers soccer, supporting local disaster response, and even fighting crime as a pro-hero abroad.
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Available as a single novel and individual acts with exclusive cover art!
Act 1: ORIGIN
It’s Sam’s seventeenth birthday, and she’s still powerless. Who does that make her in a world where power literally defines you?
One of the few students without abilities at Harrisburg Area Powers and Technical High School (POWTech), she’s determined to prove herself on the soccer field anyway. Her unpowered dad wants her to play it safe. Her celebrity mom wants her to embrace power—especially if it’s the same as hers—and take risks.
When Sam’s powers finally arrive, they change everything… except what matters most. She’s still stuck and only beginning to discover who she wants to be.
Act 2: THE CALL
Sam’s story continues in Act 2: The Call. Rides? Fried food? Thousands of Pennsylvania youth competing to join regional power clubs and earn federal scholarships? Get set for a superpowered summer!
Sam attends the State Powers Fair hosted by Mom and Dad’s old club, the Garden Girls, and she isn’t sure what to expect. In a twist, unpowered people are being admitted for the first time, and a series of elaborate challenges seem specifically designed to push her and her new friends – the B-Listers – to their breaking points. But if her parents did it, how hard could it be?
With her title of “Fastest Person” on the line, Sam’s mother answers her own challenge at the DRIVE4life summer fun run. Will the mysterious challenger show up? Will her knee replacement hold up? Will Drive race to victory or lose everything? For Sam and Drive, it’s time to show everyone who they are…
Act 3: LEGACY
For all of Sam’s choice and power, her place in the world changed in an instant: new family dynamics, a rift between friends, the complicated source of her powers, and the tragic loss of someone whose presence had just started to define her. But Sam has never been one to give ground!
Sam seeks out adventures near and far, pushing her developing powers against natural disasters, criminal elements, threats of pure fantasy and radical political interest alike. Will her shields endure? Will she surpass her parents’ expectations at last? Will she go beyond her own limits? Or will she discover that we are defined more by our actions in defeat than any temporary victory?
No matter how much things change, who we are is often defined by legacy – how we’re remembered, what we leave behind, and who we’ve empowered along the way.
The events of Hero Samwich conclude in Act 3: Legacy, but Sam’s story is far from done…
Near-Sighted Fellow Works 