Hello out there in Sheanland!

When last we spoke, I was headed to Lunacon 2017, facing the prospect of a reading and sitting on 9 panels, most of them about science-related topics.

I’m thrilled to report that Lunacon was a success!  At least, as far as I could tell.  My reading was one of 8 in a block of authors in my writing group, the Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers.  We had a strong showing at the ‘con, with members sitting on multiple panels throughout the weekend.  And the reading was no different.  Marcy Arlin read her short “Brooklyn Fantasia” (forthcoming to Diabolical Plots next year), and Sam Schreiber read from his Analog story, “Facebook Screamed and Screamed and Then I Ate It.”  Fred Stesney, Brad Parks, Rob Cameron, Elliotte Rusty Harold, and Connor Drexler all read fantastic stories or excerpts, both published and unpublished.  I read an excerpt from “Super Action Excite Team Go!”  The fiction-starved crowd seemed to appreciate our humble offerings, and was sated.

I met some lovely authors, scientists and fans throughout the weekend, and received heartwarming feedback on my panel performance.  Overall, it was a wonderful experience, and I can’t wait to do it again.

But that’s not why I’m writing to you today.  Today, we’re turning our gaze out to the web fanzine “Tangent Online,” which just reviewed Intergalactic Medicine Show Issue #56, which, if you’ve been paying attention, has my story “Super Action Excite Team Go!”

Reviewer Rebecca DeVendra had this to say:

“Super Action Excite Team Go!” by Matthew Shean is about regrowth, literally and figuratively. A middle school student deals with family tensions while helping his brother re-grow an arm; the scenes of the limb process drawing strong parallels to the memorable scene in the movie Deadpool. The characters are heartfelt, but do not resonate as much as middle-school dramas like Stand By Me or Stranger Things. It does, however, leave the reader with the warm-fuzzies at the end as there’s sweetness indicative of such coming of age tales.

Now, it never pays to respond to reviewers, and I don’t plan to start here.  All I’ll say is that you can do a lot worse than have your 5000-word short story compared to an amazing Rob Reiner movie based on a Stephen King masterpiece.  And I will gladly take “…leave the reader with the warm-fuzzies at the end as there’s sweetness indicative of such coming of age tales.”  Gladly!

Now, apparently, my story has strong parallels to parts of Deadpool.  Watching that’s been on my ‘to do’ list for a while now.  I guess I’d better get on that!

Here I Go…

Matt