• The Rules of Supervillainy

  • The Supervillainy Saga Volume 1
  • By: C. T. Phipps
  • Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
  • Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (4,866 ratings)

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The Rules of Supervillainy  By  cover art

The Rules of Supervillainy

By: C. T. Phipps
Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
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Publisher's summary

Gary Karkofsky is an ordinary guy with an ordinary life living in an extraordinary world. Supervillains, heroes, and monsters are a common part of the world he inhabits. Yet, after the death of his hometown's resident superhero, he gains the amazing gift of the late champion's magical cloak. Deciding he prefers to be rich rather than good, Gary embarks on a career as Merciless: The Supervillain Without Mercy. But is he evil enough to be a villain in America's most crime-ridden city? Gary soon finds himself surrounded by a host of the worst of Falconcrest City's toughest criminals. Supported by his long-suffering wife, his ex-girlfriend turned professional henchwoman, and a has-been evil mastermind, Gary may end up being not the hero they want but the villain they need.

©2015 C. T. Phipps (P)2015 Amber Cove Publishing and C.T. Phipps

What listeners say about The Rules of Supervillainy

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Use My Powers for Wha???

Thank you so much for sharing this precautionary tale. Since obtaining my powers I've had quite a lot of peer pressure to use them for good. I attribute some of this to the fact that I still haven't officially "come out of the lair." But I also may have been a bit hasty in choosing my first sidekick. You see, I believed I would be able to use my villainess wiles to seduce my young apprentice to the benefits of working on the dark side. But so far all attempts to overpower his goody two shoe conscience, whom he refers to as "Mod" (morals on duty,) have failed miserably.
Until listening to this supervillainy rules guide, I had begun to question my decisions. And I now believe I was actually under some sort of Mod mind control!! Never fear, I have now designed my own hat, which blocks any attempt to access my brain or thought patterns. It's perfectly stylish but will cause sudden death to any trespasser.
And I am continuing forward in my studies to be the next criminal mastermind of the South.
I look forward to the next lesson and eagerly await its arrival. Until then...
Supervillains Unite!

~Miss Hospitality

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43 people found this helpful

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Amazing - Get it!

This is honestly one of the best books I have ever read/listened to in my entire life, and I have read a lot of books. The cover and blurb did not catch my attention. I passed over it the first time I saw it, but a friend mentioned it, so I listened to the audiobook. Within a few minutes, I downloaded it on Kindle Unlimited to enjoy it twice. I will reread and re-listen to it many, many times.

The humor is very unique and exactly in my taste. I could not ask for anything better than this book. The plot is very silly, but the humor is threaded into it brilliantly. If this author had a hundred books like these, I would buy a new bookshelf and fill it with them. I have never gushed over a book before, except for one book series that is still my favorite. My friends can't get me to shut up. I can't believe I almost missed out on this treasure.

I want to include quotes from the book, but I'll leave the surprise for the readers/listeners.

The narrator did this book justice. He brought an amazing book to life. I loved the performance and his dry tone was perfect for Gary. I did have some trouble confusing Gary with the cloak's voices, but it wasn't distracting.

Overall, Jeffrey Kafer did a great job and I would be happy to listen to more audiobooks by him. C.T. Phipps did an absolutely amazing, fantastic, exceptional, brilliant job and I WILL read anything he publishes. I want the second book in this series yesterday.

I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

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37 people found this helpful

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Such a fun story. Brilliant performance by Kafer

This book came on my radar when I posted my review of Villain's Rule by M.K. Gibson read by Jeffrey Kafer. Melissa @ My World...in words and pages, who saw that review on Twitter, pointed out this book to me. I'm so glad that she did. It was another really fun listen for me.

So, The Rules of Supervillainy is an interesting story. It focuses on Gary Karkofsky. Gary is just a guy, until he finds a package. It turns out to be the cloak of the newly deceased superhero. Now Gary isn't the superhero type. He is more of the supervillain type, so he decides to use the cloak for bad instead of good.

So, Gary decides to go in and break of a bank robbery for his first villainous act. He stops the bank robber and even kills some of them, which sounds good right? But he makes off with the loot instead of letting the bank have it back.

He then takes a call from the police chief. A rich man's daughter is kidnapped. The police chief wants the cloak-wearer to help. Gary, aka Merciless: The Supervillain Without Mercy! (which his sentient cloak reminds him is redundant). Gary agrees, but wants the reward that was offered.

Back to the cloak. It is sentient. The cloak knows a lot from being worn by superheroes over the many years. It keeps that knowledge as it moves from one wearer to another. Merciless is the first supervillain to wear the cloak, and this isn't something that the cloak likes. It wants to see Gary help people. Luckily, Gary isn't all bad. But you can feel the cloak's dismay sometimes.

I won't go into the whole story. Just know that this is pretty funny. There some really funny villains that Merciless fights, like Ice Cream Man and the Malt Shop Gang who shoot acid ice cream and freeze rays and Typewriter, who actually wears a typewriter on his head.

Then there are two characters who turn on their boss to takes sides with Merciless. Cindy Wakowski a.k.a Red Riding Hood. Cindy and Gary knew each other before becoming villains. They even had a fling back in the day. Gary is now happily married though. There is also Diabloman, who was at one time the most notorious villains of all time, until an ailment made it difficult for him. He is now acting as a henchmen for bad villains (as in not very good at their job), that is until Gary offers to pay him to mentor him in villainy.

This was a great start to a series. There are plenty of laugh out loud moments. I'm excited to pick up the next book in the series (which I've already downloaded).

Narration
So the first full-length book that I listened to with Jeffrey Kafer is very similar to this one. They are both funny books about villains. I was a little worried when I first started they would sound the same. However I needn't be worried, he tackled these two stories completely differently. With Villain's Rule, Jackson Blackwell is a very dry character that Jeffrey Kafer voiced very dryly. Gary Karkofsky in not a dry character, so Jeffrey didn't voice him dry at all. He does a great job with women's voices. I just love how he took two books that were very similar in premise, but he tackled them in a very different manner.

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31 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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extremely entertaining and fun listen

I loved this, it was an extremely entertaining and fun listen, I can’t wait for more to come out in audio. So I’m not sure where to start. Merciless is a supervillain but is not truly evil, really just your every day average guy who happened to get the Reapers Cloak…..he is a bit clueless at times (Ultra Girl) but it helps make him a more likable character. Along the way he gets a mentor and a “Hench Wench” or more politically correct “Hench Person” and ends up doing quite a bit of good while trying to be evil. I am not really comic book reader but this makes me want to go give them a try. The book had me hooked from the intro, and had me laughing throughout. And, did you know there really is an Evil Overlord List with the top 100 Rules for Supervillainy….my husband pointed that out to me while we were listening (he loved this one too), but before I get to the list I just need to say that as usual Jeffrey Kafer did an awesome job on the narration…..the dry sarcastic tone he gave Gary was perfect. I really hope he continues to narrate the series.

So, here are the rules to supervillany from the Evil Overlord list……I only included the first 20 in the review but please click on the link to read the rest….



This Evil Overlord List is Copyright 1996-1997 by Peter Anspach.

The Top 100 Things I’d Do
If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord

1. My Legions of Terror will have helmets with clear plexiglass visors, not face-concealing ones.
2. My ventilation ducts will be too small to crawl through.
3. My noble half-brother whose throne I usurped will be killed, not kept anonymously imprisoned in a forgotten cell of my dungeon.
4. Shooting is not too good for my enemies.
5. The artifact which is the source of my power will not be kept on the Mountain of Despair beyond the River of Fire guarded by the Dragons of Eternity. It will be in my safe-deposit box. The same applies to the object which is my one weakness.
6. I will not gloat over my enemies’ predicament before killing them.
7. When I’ve captured my adversary and he says, “Look, before you kill me, will you at least tell me what this is all about?” I’ll say, “No.” and shoot him. No, on second thought I’ll shoot him then say “No.”
8. After I kidnap the beautiful princess, we will be married immediately in a quiet civil ceremony, not a lavish spectacle in three weeks’ time during which the final phase of my plan will be carried out.
9. I will not include a self-destruct mechanism unless absolutely necessary. If it is necessary, it will not be a large red button labeled “Danger: Do Not Push”. The big red button marked “Do Not Push” will instead trigger a spray of bullets on anyone stupid enough to disregard it. Similarly, the ON/OFF switch will not clearly be labeled as such.
10. I will not interrogate my enemies in the inner sanctum — a small hotel well outside my borders will work just as well.
11. I will be secure in my superiority. Therefore, I will feel no need to prove it by leaving clues in the form of riddles or leaving my weaker enemies alive to show they pose no threat.
12. One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in my plan that he is able to spot will be corrected before implementation.
13. All slain enemies will be cremated, or at least have several rounds of ammunition emptied into them, not left for dead at the bottom of the cliff. The announcement of their deaths, as well as any accompanying celebration, will be deferred until after the aforementioned disposal.
14. The hero is not entitled to a last kiss, a last cigarette, or any other form of last request.
15. I will never employ any device with a digital countdown. If I find that such a device is absolutely unavoidable, I will set it to activate when the counter reaches 117 and the hero is just putting his plan into operation.
16. I will never utter the sentence “But before I kill you, there’s just one thing I want to know.”
17. When I employ people as advisors, I will occasionally listen to their advice.
18. I will not have a son. Although his laughably under-planned attempt to usurp power would easily fail, it would provide a fatal distraction at a crucial point in time.
19. I will not have a daughter. She would be as beautiful as she was evil, but one look at the hero’s rugged countenance and she’d betray her own father.
20. Despite its proven stress-relieving effect, I will not indulge in maniacal laughter. When so occupied, it’s too easy to miss unexpected developments that a more attentive individual could adjust to accordingly

Audiobook was provided for review the publisher.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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24 people found this helpful

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Fun!

I'm a huge fan of the Dresden Files and Bill the Vampire. This series is starting off in the same irreverent, hilarious tone. The nerdy, yet loveable, hero (well, supervillain), the quirky sidekicks... my son and I listened to the first 2 hours of this on Sunday afternoon in the car. We both resumed on our personal devices as soon as I stopped the car. It's now Tuesday, and he's asked me to purchase the next book! This is huge! Phipps is a new to me author, but quickly becoming a favorite. Kafer does a great job with the audio, his voices are all perfect, and the sound quality is excellent.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Not what I was looking for

In my constant search for something as good as Dresden files, Iron Druid, Grimnoir, or the steelheart series I come across a lot of " almost, but not quite as entertaining" stories.

The constant focus on the main character and his life made the story boring. His first two engagements as a Supervillain should have been funny or exciting (especially with the outcomes given) but I found myself not really caring. I was constantly waiting for the story to engage me.

The closest book I can compare it to the Confessions of a D list Superhero, where you discover that not all heroes are heroic and not all villains are evil. This never got to that level or deconstruction

I think the overemphasis on his wife and his past relationships (the writer really went deep into all of the main characters relationships) kept the story from developing. It's a shame, because it seems to be a pretty well thought out universe where some fun, funny and exciting stories can be told.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A Prime Example of A Professional Audiobook!

I read the book, and enjoyed it enough to also listen to the audiobook. When I saw that Kafer was the narrator, I knew I couldn't go wrong. I was NOT disappointed. A well-written book, it is further translated into an even greater experience by a flawless narration. I highly recommend it, and I'm looking forward to Charles Phipps next book!

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Delightful story, disappointing narration

The story was good, with plenty of twists and well developed characters, but I had to give up on the audiobook about halfway through and just read the rest. The narrator didn't do different voices for the characters, which normally doesn't bother me, but with first person present and Cloak constantly snarking at Gary's internal monologue, it was hard to distinguish which character was speaking. It turns out that in the print version, Cloak's comments are italicized, which is why we don't have "[sarcastic quip], Cloak said" more often, and another reason why the narrator should have done more to make Cloak distinctive. It was also a huge missed opportunity for comedy, because right when Cloak is introduced, his voice is described as "dry and otherworldly, as if Christopher Lee had Darth Vader's reverb".

However, I had a lot of fun with this book, because not only was it hilarious, but it dug into some of the criticisms I have of the superhero genre with surprising wisdom. Gary is a lot like an adorably anarchistic Harry Dresden, who is one of my favorite fantasy characters, and his relationship with Mandy is heartwarming. All told, I'm definitely looking forward to reading the rest of the series, and just doing the silly voices in my head.

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Can I give this 10 out of 5??? AMAZING.

OK, I finished this a while ago but have only gotten around to writing my thoughts now, and that's simply because on finishing this the only thought in my head was phenomenal. I couldn't think of anything else to say about this!! Trying to write the review after finishing would of been like this: Plot - phenomenal, characters - phenomenal, overall - phenomenal! Doesn't make for a detailed review, but it's all I could think of! Let's hope after a few weeks of simmering that I can come up with something better ;)

Gary is a normal guy who, on receiving a magical cloak through the mail, turns into a supervillian (well, so he thinks anyway). i think the blurb pretty much explains it all so I'll try to make sense of my thoughts!

I'm hesitant to read Superhero/Supervillians books because a lot of them have fallen flat, that is until I read a certain other book called Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson and it blew me away! So upon starting this, I lowered my expectations from that book and plugged in my earphones. Well, I think this more than lived up to what I hoped and indeed, surpassed my hopes. It's right up there with Steelheart!!

This was such a fun and often times, hilarious listen. So many times I was laughing and snickering at the witty dialog and banter between Gary and the cloak, Gary and the supervillians and Gary and every other character! Its extremely well written and I loved pretty much everything about it.

All the characters were awesome but Gary was the best. He wants to be rich so decides that he will become Merciless: The Supervillain Without Mercy but ends up doing good things while thinking he is bad. His bond with the cloak was such fun because the cloak belonged to a brilliant superhero but now Gary owns it. It felt like, the cloak was rolling it's eyes at Gary and his antics! It was hilarious listening to the two of them!!

The world the author created was amazing too. There isn't any backstory, per say, but we don't need it. The author makes it such a way that you believe the world and are ready to dive right in. Magic is real, superheroes/villians are real and the normal folk just have to live with it. It's an amazing world and on I want to jump into again!!

Anyway, I loved everything about this, from it's fun and witty dialogue, to it's enjoyable cast of characters, and from it's well written and developed world to it's engaging plot, this is a must read! I am so impressed with this and am really really hoping book 2 comes out soon. It's definitely one that needs more exposure and one I hope gets it too!! Such a brilliant book and one I can't recommend enough.

Once again, Jeffrey Kafer nails it. He has such an easy voice to listen to and gives just the slightest change of tone to characters, that you find yourself glued to your earbuds. I always enjoy his narration and he is one narrator I will always recommend.

*I received this in exchange for an honest review from Audio Book Blast.*

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Had so much potential!

"Left wing beta non-practicing Jewish man gets powers and decides to be only sorta evil."

The premise had great potential, and if you look past the overt political drive, it's a fun story. It's a twinkie of a book, lots of fluff and filler but not much meat, which I imagine was the point. The characters are a little flat and cliche, but again i believe that was the point. Drop the political agenda, and this book gets a great deal better! Overall though a fun listen! Especially since is the same narrator that does the "D-List Super Villain" books!

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