The Libri GmbH The Super Spectacular Totally Amazing Adventures of Bambi Fries (It's Pronounced Freeze) Paperback

Set in 1996 against the backdrop of the mid-90s economic expansion in a Southern California aerospace town, seventeen-year-old Bambi Fries mysteriously gains the ability to pause time for exactly eight and a half seconds within a thirty-foot sphere. Her power does not grant her super strength or flight, but it gives her moments of absolute stillness and clarity. Her tech-savvy friend Sunny Vashishtha helps test her rules and creates a website for her, which catches the eye of Craig Tannenbaum, an opportunistic marketing consultant. Tannenbaum attempts to turn Bambi into a marketable local superhero-insisting her name be pronounced like the potato-and pairs her with Brandon Coyle ("Captain Velocity"), a young man who can run at a constant speed of six miles per hour. While Tannenbaum pushes corporate tie-ins, comic book licensing, and publicity stunts, Bambi uses her brief pause in time for understated, real-world moments: predicting the trajectory of falling scaffolding to save a toddler, finding an escape route during a canyon wildfire, and responding to fan mail from people enduring personal hardships. Around her, the speculative 1990s comic book bubble bursts for local shop owner Otis Mbeki-Lyle, and her laid-off father struggles to find his footing in the booming economy. Bambi ultimately uses her pause to give her father emotional clarity about his career. Decades later, Bambi retains her unexplainable power, continuing to use her eight and a half seconds to pause and appreciate the quiet moments of life.