Today is launch day for the new poetry collection from Matt Betts. As editor Stephanie Wytovich will surely tell you Underwater Fistfight is like no other poetry collection you’ve read! Betts is a pirate-poet who takes science fiction and throws it in the brig with horror while he sits outside the cell, laughing as they duke it out. He’s a regular Davy Jones, a sailor’s devil, claiming the lives of these poems and dragging them down to the locker to dissect, inspect, and sift through their stories and characters like plunder.
Excerpt: The Great Zombie Pyramid Scheme
The toughest part
is convincing those first
two people.
After that, everyone
is more than happy
to bite their friends.
Praise for Underwater Fistfight
“Quirky is not only one of my favorite words, but what I also strive to be. In my life and in my musical/TV projects. I’m happy to see someone else out there spreading some good quirk around. But, what strikes me, is that in a fantasy/sci-fi world of Deathbots, zombies, mad scientists and monsters, there can be so many touching, even poignant beats. (Also, something I strive to do in my work.) Serve up your quirky with a side of heart and soul. It’s not an easy path to walk. Pee Wee did it, The Shazzbots do it, and so does this book. Trust me, I would know, I’m a Space Captain. Underwater Fistfight… Come for the Deathbots, stay for the feels.”—Ian “CAPTAIN CAPTAIN” Hummel, The Shazzbots
“With a wicked sense of humor, a wicked style, and, at times, just plain wickedness, Underwater Fistfight, is a rare combination of poetic genius and laugh-out-loud brilliance. Not to be missed.”—Bram Stoker nominee Peter Adam Salomon, All Those Broken Angels
“Every time I open this book, I re-read various passages in new and different lights; I purposely like to thumb through when I’m in different moods, to experience Betts’ situational objectivity through a variety of landscapes—underwater fistfight indeed! This isn’t a must-read; it’s a must-read-over-and-over.”—Jerry Macaluso, Effects Designer (Toxic Avenger II&III), Producer (Night Skies) and Founder of Pop Culture Shock Collectibles, Inc.