When I was a wee lass, I had a bit of an unhealthy preoccupation with the game Mech Warrior 2. This interest in giant machinery grew naturally into a pre-teen obsession with Gundam Wing and then later The Big O. I don’t think anyone was surprised by my fangirl squealing during Pacific Rim. In short, I love battle mecha. What is strange though, and even I admit this, is that it took me a really long time to come around to power armor and battle suits. The amount of resistance I threw up for the Iron Man movies was rather uncharacteristic. I continue to find myself hesitant to accept the smaller, precursors to my beloved giant warbots.

My reticence is waning, though. In large part due to stories like David Barr Kirtley’s Power Armor: A Love Story, which is about  time traveling renegade Anthony Blair, who never-ever-ever takes off his power armor. As you could probably assume from the title, there is also a woman. A woman who does not want Anthony Blair in his power armor for a variety of reasons, including the desire to be close to the man in the iron suit. But also to maybe kill him.Power Armor is a fun story that manages to stay ahead of the reader, while simultaneously leading the reader to believe they are smarter and ahead of the game. There’s always something joyous in reading something so sharp. I’m full enough of myself to always think I’ve got things figured out at the beginning. Some of the time that works out. A lot of the time I feel cheated because obviously my ideas are better. I’m kidding of course, but it’s always nice to find something that is delightfully smarter than you.

Go check it out. David Barr Kirtley’s Power Armor: A Love Story can be read for free(!) in Issue 43 of Lightspeed Magazine. It original appeared in John Joseph Adam’s anothology Armored
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