The Power of Zahn is the coming of age story of a thirty-something megahero named Hans Halvorsen.  On December 6, 1994, as his band, The Spitting Cobras, is one gig away from a record deal, fate disguised as tragedy freezes Hans to the core and sinks its teeth deep into his left forearm, leaving the mark of the Great Beaver and sending Halvorsen into a deep coma he’ll come to refer to as the Darkness.  Hans, in a sense, dies on that day and Zahn is born.

The sounds of old country music and a quiet voice find him in the black.  The voice belongs to Bart Featherstone and speaks of Hans’s destiny as the prophesized hero of Cherokee folklore.  He invites Hans to join his honkytonk band, the Flat Tail Pickers, in Oklahoma.  A decade passes and the voice and music, his only companions, depart in a sad farewell.

The ex-farmhand from the north country of Luck, Wisconsin soon wakes to find a 32-year-old balding mug staring back at him in the mirror.  An aching void has replaced the prime of his life in one long, painful blink.  Two large teeth jut from his gums, the first sign of his emerging mega-abilities derived from the flat-tail beaver.  The world Hans knew is gone.  Seattle grunge music-his life’s work-is now locked away forever in the annals of rock history.

In a state of confusion, Hans jumps into his 1970 Ford pickup, lovingly named Old Blue, and journeys 2,000 miles to rural Oklahoma and the banks of the scenic Illinois River for answers.  At Cherokee Bob’s Floats outside of Tahlequah, Hans finds a new band, a new love, and true gang of friends. He encounters his evil nemesis Capon, as well as the Power of Zahn that dwells within himself.

At the heart of the story is the battle between Zahn and Capon:  The Great Beaver Spirit versus the morally bankrupt, cockfighting billionaire.  Hans’s powers are a matter of spiritual fate, and frankly he would rather not carry the burden.  Capon’s supernatural evil came at the highest price, a rotten deal that sent his soul to the Devil in exchange for a handful of ridiculous powers.

Capon, a coked-out Mafioso type fronting as the founder and C.E.O. of Capon’s Chicken Chunks, masterminds a plot to break the hearts and wallets of the Cherokee Nation. There’s only one thing the beaver man can do to save them, but it takes the entire odyssey for Zahn to realize his destiny.

The story is true to the superhero genre, but also dives into uncharted waters. Gone is the bustling Metropolis; in its place are the small town of Tahlequah and the river which dances along its outskirts. The book is an ode to the country people of Oklahoma and the state’s natural geography.

Hans’s supporting gang and rockabilly band mates, Bart Featherstone and Dusty “Unit 3” Spetz, own the story as much as Zahn.  Unit 3, haunted by the fact that his beloved son from his third common-law marriage is jailed for running Capon’s meth lab, is willing to do anything to gain his freedom.  Bart Featherstone’s love of music coupled with heartbreak provides a sweet and tender side to the story, while his driving need for revenge shades the story in darkness.  The love triangle between Loraine Getter and her suitors, blue collar Hans and the silver spoon son-of-a-politician, Thomas Tucky, adds romance.

The Power of Zahn is social satire drenched in irreverent and absurd humor.